Jesus was sure, some will walk with him in white

JESUS WAS SURE, SOME WILL WALK WITH HIM IN WHITE
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Revelation3:4 4
Yet you have a few peoplein Sardis
who have not soiledtheir clothes. They will walk with
me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The PresentBlessednessOfThe ConsecratedLife: A Whit Sunday Sermon
Revelation3:4
S. ConwayThey shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. This is
Whit Sunday, and its very name carries us back in thought to the literal and
impressive manner in which the Christian Church of the early centuries was
wont to interpret our text when she celebratedthe FeastofPentecost. Forit
was at this feast - so the Book of the Acts tells us - that there were reaped for
Christ and his Church those famous firstfruits of the harvest of converted
men, which in the ages to come Christ's ministers should gatherin. On that
day there were added to the Church some three thousand souls, who were all
straightwaybaptized according to St. Peter's word, "Repent, and he baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissionof sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The Day of Pentecost,therefore,
became a chosenday in the early Church for the receptionby baptism of
converts to the Christian faith. On that day they who had lived heretofore in
Judaism or in heathenism were clothedin white robes, and gatheredin
numerous throngs at the baptisteries of the churches; there, with music and
holy psalms, and with many elaborate symbolic ceremonies, theyreceivedthe
initiatory rite of the Christian Church. But the most striking feature of the
day was the processionofwhite-robed candidates, and that so fastened itself
on the mind of the Church, that the day which commemoratedthe Feastof
Pentecostcame to be called, as it is amongstus still, Whir or White Sunday,

Alba Dominica, or the white Lord's day. Those who were on that day baptized
had been counted worthy - for they had renouncedheathenism or Judaism,
and had confessedChrist - to he numbered amongstthe Christian fellowship.
And hence they were arrayed in white garments;for was it not written, "They
shall walk... worthy "? And it is told how not seldomthese baptized ones
would ever afterwards carefully preserve their white robe as a perpetual
reminder of their vow of consecrationto Christ, and at the last, when they lay
down to die, they would have it put on once more, and in it they would be
buried. But whilst it is interesting to note how the mind of the ancient Church
expressedby such symbolism its understanding of this word before us, it is
more important to us to getbeneath the metaphor, and to ascertainits
meaning for ourselves today. And that meaning is surely this - that the
consecratedChristianlife is a blessedlife. The white robe of the baptized told
them, no doubt, of the characterand responsibilities of that life; that its
characterwas to be holy, and that their responsibility and obligation were to
strive after holiness, and to he content with nothing less. But in our text it is
not so much responsibility and obligationthat are meant, but the blessedness
of the Christian life. Let us speak, therefore -
I. OF THE WORTHINESS WHICH WINS THE WHITE ROBE. The few in
Sardis who are to be counted worthy are they who, unlike the rest, "have not
defiled their garments;" that is, the character, whichis the vestment of the
soul, and which they had received, they had kept undefiled. Fora new
characteris given to him who truly comes to Christ; he is a new creature, and
the blood of Jesus Christ cleansethhim from all sin. This is no mere doctrine
of theology, but a factin Christian experience. Forthe mind in which we come
to Christ is in nature, though not in degree, Christ's own mind - that mind of
which his atoning death was the expression;the mind that condemns sin, that
trusts in the forgiving love of God, and desires above all else the love of God.
Such was the mind in which Christ died, and which was the real atonement.
For the mangled flesh of the Lord and the bleeding body had no atoning
powersave as they declaredthe mind which was in him. And it was a mind
that could not but be infinitely acceptable to the Father, could not but have
been a full, true, sufficient atonement, ablation, and satisfactionto his heart,
the Father-heartof God. And because, wheneverwe come really to God in
Christ, the movements of our minds are in this same direction, and we come
clothed in this mind, though it may be but imperfectly, yet because our mind
is like in nature, though not in degree, to the perfect mind of Christ when he
died for us, therefore are we acceptedin him, and for his sake pardoned, and

made possessorsofa new character - his mind - which is the garment we are
to keepundefiled, and which those who are counted worthy do keepundefiled.
II. OF THE WHITE ROSE ITSELF. It tells:
1. Of purity. "Blessedare the pure in heart." Oh, the joy of this! It is good,
when temptation comes, to be able to grip and grapple with it, and to gain
victory over it, though after a hard struggle. Oh, how far better this than to
miserably yield, and to be "ledcaptive by Satanat his will"! But even this
falls far below the blessedness whichthe white robe signifies. For it tells of an
inward purity, like to his who said, "The prince of this world cometh, and
hath nothing in me." There was nothing in him on which the tempter's power
could fasten, and to rise up to this heart-purity is the glory and joy promised
by the white robe.
2. Of victory. White was the symbol of this also, as wellas of purity. He who
went forth "conquering and to conquer" rode upon a white horse - so the
vision declared. They who had come out of the greattribulation were clothed
in "white robes," and elsewhere we are told they had "overcome by the blood
of the Lamb." And this blessednessofvictory the consecratedsoulenjoys.
"Sin shall not have dominion over" him. "In all things" he is "more than
conqueror." One of the very chiefestblessings of the Christian faith is that it
makes the weak strong, and to them that have no might the faith of Christ
increasethstrength. Facts of everyday Christian experience prove that it is so.
3. Of joy. White garments are the symbol of this also. And the truly
consecratedheartshall know "the joy of the Lord." The saints of God in all
ages have found that "he giveth songs in the night." Who should have joy if
not the true-hearted Christian man?
III. HOW WE MAY WIN AND WEAR THESE WHITE ROBES. Through
entire surrender to Christ. There is no other way. If we retain our ownwill
and keepurging its claims, these white robes are not for us. The consecrated
life is clothedthus, and that life alone. - S.C.

Biblical Illustrator
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis.
Revelation3:4
A solemn warning for all Churches
C. H. Spurgeon.I. GENERALDEFILEMENT.
1. A vast deal of open profession, and but little of sincere religion. You can
scarcelymeetwith a man who does not call himself a Christian, and yet it is
equally hard to meet with one who is in the very marrow of his bones
thoroughly sanctifiedto the goodwork of the kingdom of heaven. We meet
with professors by hundreds; but we must expectstill to meet with possessors
by units.
2. A want of zeal. Ah! we have abundance of cold, calculating Christians, but
where are the zealous ones? Where are those who have an impassioned love
for souls?
3. The third charge againstSardis was that they did not "look to the things
that remained and were ready to die." This may relate to the poor feeble
saints. And what does the Church do now? Do the shepherds go after those
that are wounded and sick, and those that are weary? Yes, but how do they
speak? Theytell them to perform impossible duties — instead of
"strengthening the things that remain and are ready to die."
4. Another charge which God has brought againstthe Church is, that they
were carelessaboutthe things which they heard. He says, "Remember,
therefore, how thou hast receivedand heard, and hold fast; and repent." If I
am wrong upon other points, I am positive that the sin of this age is impurity
of doctrine, and laxity of faith.
II. SPECIALPRESERVATION. "Thouhasta few names." Only a few; not so
few as some think, but not as many as others imagine! There is not a church
on earth that is so corrupt but has "a few." Since there are but a few, there
ought to be greatsearchings ofheart. Let us look to our garments and see
whether they be defiled. The fewer the workmen to do the work the greater
reasonis there that you should be active. Be instant in seasonand out of
season, becausethere are so few.
III. A PECULIAR REWARD. "Theyshallwalk with Me in white, for they are
worthy." That is to say, communion with Christ on earth shall be the special
reward of those who have not defiled their garments. Go into what company
you please, do you meet with many men who hold communion with Christ?
Oh, Christian! if thou wouldst have communion with Christ, the specialway

to win it is by not defiling thy garments, as the Church has done. "Theyshall
walk with Me in white, for they are worthy."
1. This refers to justification. "Theyshall walk in white"; that is, they shall
enjoy a constantsense of their own justification by faith; they shall
understand that the righteousness ofChrist is imputed to them, that they have
been washedand made whiter than snow, and purified and made more
cleanly than wool.
2. Again, it refers to joy and gladness:for white robes were holiday dresses
among the Jews. Let thy garments be always white, for God hath acceptedthy
works."
3. And lastly, it refers to walking in white before the throne of God.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The believers at Sardis
John Johnstone.I. THOSE PERSONS WHO ARE HERE SPOKEN OF
WERE TRULY HOLY. Those men were the glory of their Church; and we
might have expected that the heavenly purity of their principles and their
conduct would have shed around them a highly beneficialinfluence, and
would have induced many others to have pursued along with them a course so
splendid in itself, and so happy and brilliant in its termination.
II. The passagerepresents these truly holy persons as only FEW IN
NUMBER. The truly holy, in every age of the world have borne but a very
small proportion to the greatmass of mankind.
III. These holy persons were found IN A PLACE WHERE GREAT
DEGENERACYPREVAILED. Religionis like the snowdrop that flowers
amid the colds and frosts of winter, or like the violet that blooms in all the
beauties of its varied and vivid tints, and breathes all the richness of its
fragrance unhurt by the foul and noxious weeds that flourish in its immediate
vicinity.
IV. The few holy persons in the church at Sardis had THE PROMISE OF
GREAT HONOUR BEING CONFERRED UPON THEM. White, in the
inspired volume, is frequently used to denote the holiness of the Christian
character, and, at the same time, to represent the success, the prosperity, and
the honour which all enjoy who possessit.
(John Johnstone.)
Sardis

J. Hyatt.I. THE COMMENDATION AND THE HONOUR WHICH OUR
LORD BESTOWED UPON THE FEW EXEMPLARY CHARACTERS IN
THE CHURCH AT SARDIS.
1. Garment is put for a holy life answerable to a professionof discipleship to
Jesus Christ. There were a few disciples in the church at Sardis who were
clothed with the garment of humility: "as the electof God, holy and beloved,"
they had "put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness," and"long-suffering," and had been enabled "to adorn the
doctrine of God," their "Saviour," by a holy and uniform consistencyof
conduct.
2. When we considerthe power, the subtlety, the enmity, and the vigilance of
Satan; and the innumerable sources ofseduction by which the people of God
are constantlysurrounded; and the many sinful propensities that lodge within
their own hearts, we are surprised that any of them pass through life without
defiling their garments. Nothing could be more unaccountable, did we not
know the cause oftheir preservation. They "are kept by the power of God,"
or it would be impossible they could stand secure from falling, even for a
moment!
II. THE DISTINGUISHED HONOUR WHICH OUR LORD PROMISEDTO
CONFER UPON THOSE CHRISTIANS IN SARDIS WHO HAD NOT
DEFILED THEIR GARMENTS.
3. Our Lord gives encouragementto His faithful disciples, by assuring them of
His final testimony of approbation. "I will confess His name before my father,
and before His angels."
(J. Hyatt.)
Christian life has powerto resist adverse influences
E. L. Hull, B. A.There is nothing on earth that has such powerto destroy
Christian life as a societyof men who bear the name of Christ without
manifesting His spirit and life. A dead Church is a mightier obstacle to
Christian vitality than the influences of the world or the sneers of the keenest
infidelity; it freezes the influence of truth, it paralyses the power of prayer, it
lays its cold hand on the pulses of the Christian's faith, chilling them into a
death-like sleep. But yet, with that fact before us, we shall try to show that
every Christian may overcome those influences which hinder his life. We shall
try to show that we have no right to be weak Christians, moulded by social
circumstances, but are bound to be Christians whose deep life makes
circumstances its servants.

I. TRUE CHRISTIANITY CAN CONQUER ADVERSE SOCIAL
INFLUENCES. Now here it must be granted as an obvious factthat some men
are more liable to be swayedby socialinfluences than others. Those whose
characteris weak, andwhose feelings are strong and undisciplined, are
doubtless more easilycarried awayby mere impulse than men of naturally
strong characterand powerof self-control. But yet it is possible for us to gain
an elevation above such influences, for in Christianity we candiscern the
elements of a power which will conferit. We shall perceive this by glancing
briefly at the manner in which circumstances andsocialinfluences attain their
greatestswayovermen; and then by showing how, in a true Christian life, the
sources ofthat powerare overcome.
1. The absence of a ruling emotion is one greatelement in the powerof
circumstances. Now true Christianity is essentiallythe enthronement of one
feeling in the heart — the love of Godthrough Christ, and because that feeling
ascends to the eternaland unchanging, it must pre-eminently give a firmness
to the characterthat defies the force of circumstances.
2. The absence of purpose in life is the other element in the powerof
circumstances, forit is too obvious to need illustration, that a purposeless life
must be the creature of circumstances, andat the mercy of every influence.
Now a true Christian life-purpose is a life-surrender to God; it is to live
constantly as in the eye of the Eternal King, to exist that we may be self-
consecratedto Christ and attain a resemblance to Him; a purpose not
visionary but sublime — a purpose not attained in the middle of life nor at
life's close, but going onward into the life of boundless ages. But it will be
more obvious that such an aim in life must shut out the force of
circumstances, fromthe fact that it canonly be lived through an independent
and individual conviction of Christian truth. We want men who are not
echoes, but voices;men who draw their inspiration from prayer rather than
from preaching, from individual self-consecration, and not from collected
sympathy. Then should we feel less that external things can effectthe
grandeur and earnestnessofour Christian life. And one other fact will bring
all this to a personal and direct application. We must be thus conquerors over
circumstances and opposing forces, forour Christianity will ever be weak. We
must be men, not spiritual infants, or we shall lose our Christian mission in
life.
II. THIS CONQUEST CONTAINSIN ITSELF THE ELEMENTSOF
EVERLASTING BLESSEDNESS. Who does not feel it better to be alone with
Christ in struggling with opposing influences than to be up-borne by the
current of popularity and stimulated by the flattery or friendship of men?

And when thus we gain, through our own battle, a deeperinsight into the
mystery of that life of Jesus, andhave the consciousnessofa growing
fellowship with Him, we are already being clothed in the white garments of
eternity, and walking with the Son of God.
(E. L. Hull, B. A.)
The undefiled few
R. Tuck, B. A.I. THE UNDEFILED FEW.
II. THE PRESENTPOWEROF CHRIST'S UNDEFILED FEW. It would
appear to be one of the Divine arrangements that the many should be blessed
in the powerand influence of the few. No single phase of human life but has
been lifted up into dignity for ever through the example of some noble moral
hero. There are everthe few in political life who see clearly, graspprinciples
vigorously, and lead aright the unthinking many. There are many students in
the walks ofscience and literature who never reachbeyond the common level,
and in eachage there are a few men of genius like Bacon, and Butler, and
Newton, and Herschell, who rise high up above their fellows, the giants of the
intellectual world. The principle may even be seenworking within the
Church.
III. THE FUTURE GLORY OF CHRIST'S UNDEFILED FEW.
1. They who struggle after goodnessnow shall find themselves then settled in
goodness forever. He who tries to reachChristlike purity daily finds his
dangers growing less, his temptations becoming fewer, his struggles evermore
surely ending in the victory of the good.
2. Above all, these undefiled few shall have a communion with Christ of an
extraordinary intimacy and preciousness. "WithMe."
(R. Tuck, B. A.)
The two garments
T. L. Cuyler, D. D.The words "garment," "robe" and "raiment" are used in
the Scriptures to typify character. Whena man repents of sin and joins
himself by faith to Jesus Christ, he is clothed with a new nature. He "puts on
Christ," so that there is not only an inward faith in Christ, but some good
degree of outward resemblance in daily conduct. This may be called the
garment of grace. It means Christian character. Now characteris not
determined by a single act, but by habitual conduct. It is a fabric made up of
thousands of threads, and put togetherby uncounted stitches. However
thorough may be the cleansing process wroughtupon the heart at the time of
conversion, yet no one becomes absolutelyspotless. We live also in a defiling

world. If we walk through certainstreets in this city we must be on the
lookout, or our clothes will become besmirched. A goodman goes to his place
of business and finds himself in the atmosphere of Mammon. It is every
citizen's duty to take a citizen's part in politics; but when he becomes a
zealous partisan there is plenty of "pitch" around in the caucus and the
convention, and unless he is a conscientious man he is apt to be defiled. In
sociallife he encounters the prevailing trend for show and selfindulgence and
expensive living. On a white surface the slightestspotshows painfully; and it
is no easything to keepthe spiritual raiment clean. Yet by the indwelling
powerof Christ's grace there are those "evenin Sardis" who keeptheir
spiritual garments comparatively clean. If a true followerof Christ becomes
soiledwith impurity, he grieves overit, repents of it, and hastens to that
Saviour who pardons and restores. Bysuch processescanonly the garment of
grace be kept from utter disfigurement and defilement. By and by this
garment of grace shall be laid aside for the garment of glory. The one is for
time; the other is for eternity. The first garment is a Christian character
formed by the regenerating Spirit of Godin this world. The other is a
Christian charactercompleted, consummated, and glorified in that world
wherein entereth nothing whatsoeverthat defileth. They "walk with Jesus in
white, for they are worthy." Determine that whateverothers may do you will
be a thorough and consecratedservantof your Master, "evenin Sardis."
Determine that you will keepthe garment of characterundefiled. If all Sardis
is infected with the lust of gold, let not the cankereatinto your soul. However
many in Sardis rush off into frivolities and into these scenes offolly that make
deathbeds terrible, do you choose ratherthe joys of holy converse with the
Masterin the "upper chamber."
(T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
The few in Sardis
C. S. Robinson, D. D.I. The RARITY of those who are the true saints on the
earth. Sadly the truth presses onevery mind that it is the many who are
sluggishand fruitless, it is only the few who are faithful. A little band of
executive Church labourers produce what eachyear gathers.
II. Their PURITY. They "have not defiled their garments." Holiness of life is
more than vividness of experience.
III. The PROSPECT ofthe saints.
1. The word here rendered "walk" means to accompanyaround. Thence it is
applied to sharing the continuous lot of one with whom we dwell.

2. "Theyshall walk with Me." The companionship is that of Christ Himself,
for it is He that is here speaking.
3. It is the symbol of glory hereinafter to be revealedto believers. Here are
two thoughts distinctly suggested, eachof which has greatvalue. The one is
that the glory of that future state is not so much in its triumphs and trophies
as in its graces.The glory is its sinlessness,its perfect freedom from all
pollution. So it is of much more importance what we shall be than what we
shall have. Then the other thought is that holiness here is its own reward, here
and yonder too.
IV. The PREROGATIVE ofthe saints. "They are worthy." The significance
of this statementtakes its force from the connectionin which it stands. One
prerogative is assertedin their behalf; they are proper companions for God's
Son.
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The duty of maintaining an unsullied character
J. Main, D. D.I. CONSIDER THE GREAT DIFFICULTYOF PRESERVING
INNOCENCEAMIDST SURROUNDINGCORRUPTION.
1. The natural abhorrence which rises in the breast at the first appearance of
its detestable form is insensibly weakenedand effacedby repeatedviews of it.
There is, besides, in the view of a multitude running to do evil, a temptation of
peculiar force.
2. Amidst the universal infection of vice some men there are whose particular
constitution, or want of experience in the ways of the world, expose them
greatly to its deadly influence. The man of goodnature, and of an easy, pliable
temper, who suspects not the treachery of others, becomes an easyprey to the
temptations of the wicked.
II. THE DIGNITY AND EXCELLENCE OF THAT MAN WHO,
NOTWITHSTANDING EVERYASSAULT, MAINTAINS AN UNSULLIED
CHARACTER.
III. ENFORCETHE IMITATION OF CHRIST'S EXAMPLE BY THE
GREAT MOTIVE MENTIONED HERE.
IV. THE REASON FOR CONFERRINGSUCH HONOURS ON THE GOOD
AND VIRTUOUS. "They are worthy."
(J. Main, D. D.)
God's little remnant keeping their garments cleanin an evil day

John Erskine, D. D.I. OFFER A FEW PROPOSITIONS CONCERNING
THIS REMNANT.
1. God's remnant are a holy people. They are a setof men that study to keep
cleangarments.
2. God has a specialeye of favour and kindness on this remnant in a sinful and
declining time.
II. SHOW THAT CHRIST HAS A HIGH VALUE FOR THIS REMNANT.
1. Considerwhat an accountHe makes of them when comparedwith the rest
of the world (Isaiah 43:4; Psalm119:119;Lamentations 4:2).
2. That this little remnant are worthy on Christ's accountwill appear if we
considerthe names and compellations that He gives them (Malachi3:17).
3. Considerthe endearedrelations they stand under unto Him. There is a
legal, a moral, and a mystical union betweenHim and them.
4. That they are worthy in His esteemappears from what He does for them
(Revelation1:5; Hebrews 8:12; Hebrews 4:16).
III. INQUIRE INTO WHAT IS IMPORTED IN THE REMNANT KEEPING
THEIR GARMENTS CLEAN.
1. That even God's remnant are not without danger of defiling themselves
with the sins and defections of their day.
2. That foul garments are very unbecoming and unsuitable unto God's
remnant. A careful study of universal obedience unto all known and
commanded duties. A holy caution and tenderness in guarding againstall sin,
especiallythe prevailing sins of the day.
IV. INQUIRE INTO THE IMPORT OF THE CONSOLATORYPROMISE
MADE UNTO THE REMNANT THAT KEEP THEIR GARMENTS
CLEAN.
1. "Whatis imported in walking with Him?
(1)It necessarilysupposes the soul's subsistence in a separate state, orafter its
separationfrom the body, otherwise it could not be said to walk with Him.
(2)Its activity.
(3)Perfectpeace andagreementbetweenChrist and men.
(4)Intimacy.
(5)Full pleasure, satisfaction, and complacency.
2. What is imported in walking with Him in white?

(1)That then all their black and beggarlygarments shall be laid aside.
(2)That perfectholiness shall then be their adornment.
(3)Victory over all their enemies, whether outward or inward.
(4)High honour.
(5)Priestly service.
(6)A blessedconformity betweenChrist and them.
(7)The beauty of the Lord their God will then be upon them.
V. INQUIRE INTO THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DUTY AND
THE PRIVILEGE, BETWEEN KEEPING THE GARMENTSCLEAN AND
WALKING WITH CHRIST IN WHITE.
1. Negativelythere is no connectionof merit, as if our keeping of clean
garments did deserve that we should walk with Christ in white.
2. Positivelythere is —
(1)A connectionof decree or purpose in this matter.
(2)A connectionof promise.
(3)A connectionof meetness orcongruity.
(4)A connectionof evidence.Application:
1. Holiness is to be studied and pursued, howeverit may be ridiculed and
mockedat by a profane world.
2. They labour under a mistake who think or say that it is a vain or
"unprofitable thing to serve the Lord" and to keepHis way.
3. Gospelpurity and holiness is not such a common thing as the world
apprehends.
4. See hence what it is that sweetensthe pale countenance of the king of
terrors to believers:it is this, they see that upon the back of death they will be
admitted to walk with Christ in white.
(John Erskine, D. D.)
Sardis
W. E. Daly, B. A.In the case ofthe Church at Sardis, we observe —
I. THE SAD SPECTACLE OF SPIRITUALDECLENSION. The Church is
representedas having only a name to live. The world sometimes sees the worst
side, and God the best, but in Sardis it was the opposite. The word "dead,"
however, is not used absolutely, but comparatively, for there were certainrare

plants in this desert of decaying vegetationthat required to be watched and
strengthened. Yet the faith and virtue of these were in danger.
1. There were some things ready to die. What things? Faith, love, zeal, hope.
2. Things requiring to be strengthened. Weak and incipient virtue,
languishing graces, andfaint desires. Things that are decaying need
cherishing. Learn a lessonofthe gardener, and nurse the exotics ofthe soul.
Give thy soulroom and stimulus and appropriate exercise.
3. Things that needed remembrance. Appeal to experience, to the memory of
former days and old associations. We may forget our past history and so live a
sort of fragmentary life.
4. Things that needed to be repented of. Derelictionof duty, loss of faith,
decayof love.
II. THE CHEERING SPECTACLEOF RELIGIOUS FIDELITY. "Thouhast
a few names," etc.
1. Redeeming features in the most sombre landscapes. There is always a green
spot in the desert.
2. The saints in Sardis were in striking contrastto the societyaround them.
They were pure amidst impurity, holy among the vile. They closedtheir eyes
to the brilliant illusions, their ears to the flattering enticements, or corrupt
pagansociety.
III. THE GLORIOUS SPECTACLE OF THE CORONATION AND
TRIUMPH OF FAITH. "They shall," etc. Weighthe reward thus
symbolically described.
1. Heaven's purity for the pure on earth.
2. Enrolment in the registerof heaven for those who have held fastthe faith of
the saints.
3. Recognitionbefore God and the angels for those who, though scornedof
men, are eternally honoured by God.
(W. E. Daly, B. A.)
Purity rewarded
Christina G. Rossetti.True,allour lives long we shall be bound to refrain our
soul and keepit low; but what then? Forthe books we now forbearto read,
we shall one day be endued with wisdom and knowledge.Forthe music we
will not listen to, we shall join in the song of the redeemed. For the Figures
from which we turn, we shall gaze unabashed on the beatific vision. Forthe

companionship we shun, we shall be welcomedinto angelic societyand the
communion of triumphant saints. For the pleasures we miss, we shall abide,
and evermore abide, in the rapture of heaven.
(Christina G. Rossetti.)
Pure amidst defilement
J. R. Miller, D. D.A writer tells of going with a party down into a coalmine.
On the other side of the gangwaygrew a plant which was perfectly white. The
visitors were astonishedthat there, where the coal-dustwas continually flying,
this little plant should be so pure and white. A miner who was with them took
a handful of the black dust and threw it upon the plant; but not a particle
adhered. Every atom of the dust rolled off. The visitors repeatedthe
experiment, but the coal-dustwould not cling. There was a wonderful enamel
on the folds of the white plant to which no finest speckscouldadhere. Living
there amid clouds of black dust, nothing could stain the snowywhiteness.
(J. R. Miller, D. D.)
They shall walk with Me in white
Walking in white
A. Maclaren, D. D.I. THE PROMISE OF CONTINUOUS AND
PROGRESSIVE ACTIVITY. "They shall walk." "There remainetha rest for
the people of energies of a constantactivity for God." "Theyshall walk" in all
the more intense than it was at its highest here, and yet never, by one hair's
breadth, trenching upon the serenity of that perpetual repose. And then there
is the other thought too involved in that pregnant word, of continuous
advancement, growing every moment nearer and nearerto the true centre of
our souls, and up into the loftiness of perfection.
II. THE PROMISE OF COMPANIONSHIP WITH CHRIST. If there be this
promised union, it can only be because of the completeness ofsympathy and
the likeness ofcharacterbetweenChrist and His companions. The unity
betweenChrist and His followers in the heavens is but the carrying into
perfectness ofthe imperfect union that makes all the realblessedness oflife
here upon earth.
III. THE PROMISE OF THE PERFECTIONOF PURITY. Perhaps we are to
think of a glorified body as being the white garment. Perhaps it may be rather
that the image expressessimply the conceptionof entire moral purity, but in
either case it means the loftiest manifestation of the most perfect Christlike
beauty as granted to all His followers.

IV. THE CONDITION OF ALL THESE PROMISES. There is a congruity
and proportion betweenthe earthly life and the future life. Heaven is but the
life of earth prolonged and perfected by the dropping awayof all the evil, the
strengthening and lifting to completeness ofall the good. And the only thing
that fits a man for the white robe of glory is purity of characterdown here on
earth. There is nothing said here directly about the means by which that
purity can be attained or maintained. That is sufficiently taught us in other
places, but what in this saying Christ insists upon is that, howeverit is got, it
must be got, and that there is no life of blessedness, ofholiness and glory,
beyond the grave, except for those for whom there is the life of aspiration
after, and in some real measure possessionof, moral purity and righteousness
and goodnesshere upon earth.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
COMMENTARIES
EXPOSITORY(ENGLISHBIBLE)
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4)The best MSS. commence this
verse with “But,” or “Nevertheless.”The case ofthe Sardian Church was bad,
yet the loving eyes of the faithful witness would not ignore the good. There
were a few who had not defiled their garments. These had not succumbed to
the oppressive moral atmosphere around them. The words cannot, of course,
be understood of absolute purity. Their praise is that, in the deathlike, self-
complacentlethargy around, they had kept earnestin the pursuit of holiness,
and had not forgottenHim who could cleanse andrevive. (Comp. Revelation
7:14.)
They shall walk with me in white.—This “white” is not the white of the
undefiled robe; it is the lustrous white of glory, as in the promise in the
following verse. (Comp. also Revelation2:17.)
MacLaren's ExpositionsRevelation
WALKING IN WHITE

Revelation3:4.
The fond fancy that the primitive Church was a better Church than todays is
utterly blown to pieces by the facts that are obvious in Scripture. Here, in the
Apostolic time, under the very eye of the fervent Apostle of Love, and so
recently after the establishmentof Christianity on the seaboardofAsia, was a
church, a young church, with all the faults of a decrepit old one, and in which
Jesus Christ Himself could find nothing to commend, and about which He
could only say that it had a name to live and was dead. The church at Sardis
suffered no persecution. It was much too like the world to be worth the
trouble of persecuting. It had no heresy; it did not care enough about religion
to breed heresies.It was simply utterly apathetic and dead. And yet there was
a salt in it, or it would have been rotten as well as dead. There wore ‘a few
names, even in Sardis,’ which, in the midst of all the filth, had kept their skirts
white. They had ‘not defiled their garments,’ and so with beautiful congruity
the promise is given to them - ‘they shall walk with Me in white, for they are
worthy.’ The promise, I said. It would have been wiserto have saidthe
promises, for there are a greatmany wrapped up in germ in these quiet,
simple words. Nearlyall that we know, and all that we need to know, about
that mysterious future is contained in them. So my purpose now is, with
perfectly inartificial simplicity, just to take these words and weigh them as a
jewelermight weighin his scales stoneswhichare very small but very
precious.
I. We have here, then, the promise of continuous and progressive activity -
‘they shall walk.’
In Scripture we continually find that metaphor of the ‘walk’ as equivalent to
an outward life of action. To make that idea prominent in our conceptions of
the future is a greatgain, for it teaches us at once how imperfect and one-
sided are the thoughts about it which come with such fascinationto most of us
weariedmen. It is a wonderful, unconscious confessionofthe troubled,
toilsome, restless lives which most of us live, that the sweetestand most
frequently recurring thought about the greatfuture is, ‘There remaineth a
rest for the people of God’; where the weariedmuscles may be relaxed, and
the tortured hearts may be quiet. But whilst we must not say one word to
break or even to diminish the depth and sweetness ofthat aspectof the
Christian hope, neither must we forget that it is only one phase of the
complete whole, and that this promise of the text has to be taken with it. ‘They

shall walk,’in all the energies ofa constant activity, far more intense than it
was at its highest here, and yet never, by one hair’s breadth, trenching upon
the serenity and indisturbance of that perpetual repose. We have to put
togetherthe two ideas, which to all our experience are antagonistic, but which
yet are not really so, but only complementary, as the two halves of a sphere
may be, in order to getthe complete round. We have to say, with this very
book of the Apocalypse, which goes so deepinto the secretsofheaven, ‘His
servants serve Him and see His face’ - uniting togetherin one harmonious
whole the apparent and, as far as earth’s experience goes, the real opposites of
continual contemplation and continual activity of service. It is so hard for us
in this life to find out practically for ourselves how much to give to eachof
these, that it is blessedto know that there comes a time for all of us, if we will,
when that difficulty will solve itself, and Mary and Martha shall be one
person, continually serving and yet continually sitting, no more troubled
about many things, in the quiet of the Master’s presence, ‘Theyshall walk,’
harmonizing work and rest, contemplation and service.
And then there is the other thought, too, involved in that pregnant word, of
continuous advancement, growing every moment, through the dateless cycles,
nearer and nearer to the true centre of our souls, and up into the loftiness of
perfection. We do not know what ministries of love and service may wait for
Christ’s servants yonder, but of this we can be quite sure, that all the faculties
for service which we see crippled and limited by the hindrances of earth will
find in the future a worthier sphere. Do you think it likely that God should so
waste His wealthas to take men and redeemthem and sanctify them, and
prepare them by careful discipline and strengthen their powers by work, and
then, just when they are out of their apprenticeship and ready for larger
service, should condemn them to idleness? Is that like Him? Must it not rather
be that there is a wider field for the faculties that were trained here; and that,
whatsoeverthere may be in eternity, there will be no idleness there?
II. Still further, here is the further promise of companionship with Christ.
‘They shall walk with Me’
‘How can two walk togetherexceptthey be agreed?’If there be this promised
union, it can only be because ofthe completeness ofsympathy and the likeness
of characterbetweenChrist and His companions. The unity betweenChrist
and His followers in the heavens is but the carrying into perfectness ofthe

imperfect union that makes allthe real blessednessoflife here upon earth.
‘With Me.’ Why! that union with Christ is all we know about heaven. All the
rest is imagery, that is reality. All the rest is material symbol, that is what it all
means.
In the sweet, calmwords of Richard Baxter’s simple, but deep song -
‘My knowledge ofthat life is small, The eye of faith is dim; But ‘tis enough
that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him.’
We ask ourselves andone another, and God’s Word, a greatmany questions
about that unseen life; and sometimes it seems to us as if it would have been so
much easierfor us to bear the burdens that are laid upon us if some of these
questions could have been answered. But we do not really need to know more
than that we shall be ‘ever with the Lord.’ Two, who are ever with Him,
cannot be far from one another. So we may thankfully feel that the union of
all is guaranteedby the union of eachwith Him. And for the restwe canwait.
Only remember that to walk with Him implies that those who were but little
children here have grown up to maturity. We try to tread in His footsteps
here, but at the best we follow Him with tottering feetand short steps, as
children trying to keepup with an elder brother. But there we shall keepstep
and walk in His company, side by side. For earth the law is, ‘leaving us an
example that we should follow His steps.’For heaventhe law is ‘they shall
walk with Me’; or, as the other promise of this book has it, ‘they shall follow
the Lamb whithersoeverHe goeth,’No heights are so high to which He rises
but He will make our feetlike hind’s feetto tread upon the high places;no
glories so greatbut we shall share them. Nothing in His divine nature shall
part Him from us, but we shall be ever with Him. Let us comfort one another
with these words.
III. Further, my text speaks a promise of the perfection of purity. ‘They shall
walk with Me in white.’
The white garment, of course, is a plain metaphor for unsullied purity of
moral character. And it is worth notice that the word employed by the
Apocalyptic seerhere for white, as indeed is the case throughout the manifold
references to that heavenly colourwhich abound in this book, implies no dead
ghastly white, but a flashing glistering whiteness, as ofsunshine upon snow,

which, I suppose, is the whitest thing that human eyes canlook upon
undazzled. So of the same radiant tint as the greatWhite Throne on which He
sits shall be the vestures of those that follow Him. The white robe is the
conqueror’s robe, the white robe is the priest’s robe, the white robe is the
copy of His who stoodin that solitary spot on Mount Hermon, just below its
snowysummit, with garments ‘so as no fuller on earth could white them’;
white as the driven and sunlit snow that sparkledabove. Perhaps we are to
think of a glorified body as being the white garment. Perhaps it may be rather
that the image expressessimply the conceptionof entire moral purity, but in
either case it means the loftiest manifestation of the most perfect Christlike
beauty as granted to all His followers.
IV. And so, lastly, note the condition of all these promises.
‘Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their
garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.’ The
only thing that makes it possible for any man to have that future life of active
communion with Jesus Christ, in perfectbeauty of inward characterand of
outward form, is that here he shall by faith keephimself ‘unspotted from the
world.’ There is a congruity and proportion betweenthe earthly life and the
future life. Heaven is but the life of earth prolongedand perfected by the
dropping away of all the evil, the strengthening and lifting to completenessof
all the good. And the only thing that fits a man for the white robe of glory is
purity of characterdownhere on earth.
There is nothing said here directly about the means by which that purity can
be attained or maintained. That is sufficiently taught us in other places, but
what in this saying Christ insists upon is that, howeverit is got, it must be got,
and that there is no life of blessedness, ofholiness and glory, beyond the grave,
exceptfor those for whom there is the life of aspirationafter, and in some real
measure possessionof, moral purity and righteousness and goodnesshere
upon earth.
Do not be surprised at that word - ‘They are worthy.’ It is an evangelical
word. It declares the perfectcongruity betweenthe life on earth and the issue
and reward of the life in heaven. And it holds up to us the greatprinciple that
purity here is crownedwith glory hereafter. If the white garments could be
put upon a black soul they would be like the poisonedshirt on the demigod in
the Greek legend, they would bite into the flesh, and burn and madden. But it
is impossible, and for ever and ever it remains true that only those who have

kept their garments undefiled here shall ‘walk in white.’ It does not need
absolute cleanness from all spot, God be thanked! But it does need, first, that
we shall have ‘washedour robes and made them white’ in the ‘blood of the
Lamb.’ And then that we shall keep them white, by continual recourse to the
blood that cleansesfrom all sin, and by continual effort after purity like His
own and receivedfrom Him. They who come back as prodigals in rags, and
have their filthy tatters exchangedfor the cleangarment of Christ’s
righteousness, withwhich by faith they are invested, and who then take heed
to follow Him, with loins girt and robes kept undefiled, and ever washedanew
in His cleansing blood, shall be of the heavenly companions of the glorified
Christ, joined to Him in all His dominion, and clothed in flashing whiteness
like the body of His glory.
BensonCommentaryHYPERLINK "/revelation/3-4.htm"Revelation3:4. Yet
thou hast a few names — That is, persons;even in Sardis — Corrupt and
indolent as the generalstate of the place is; who have not defiled their
garments — Who, notwithstanding the common corruption, have preserved
their purity, having neither spottedthemselves, nor partaken of the guilt of
other men’s sins. These persons, though few, had not separatedthemselves
from the rest; otherwise the angelof this church would not have had them.
Yet it was no virtue of his that they were unspotted; whereas it was his fault
that they were but few. They shall walk with me in white — In joy, in perfect
holiness, in glory. “It is well known that white robes were worn on occasions
of greatjoy, and sometimes in triumphal processions;to both which there is
probably a reference here. Priests also were clothedin white; and the addition
of that dignity may likewise be implied as certainly coming within the scheme
of Christ with regardto his people: see Revelation1:6. Some think here is an
allusion to the customof the sanhedrim, when they examined the candidates
for the high-priesthood; if they judged the candidate worthy, they gave him a
white garment; if unqualified, he was sentout from among them in
mourning.” — Doddridge. For they are worthy — A few goodamong many
bad are doubly acceptable unto God. O how much happier is this worthiness
than that mentioned Revelation16:6.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary3:1-6. The Lord Jesus is He that hath
the Holy Spirit with all his powers, graces, andoperations. Hypocrisy, and
lamentable decayin religion, are sins chargedupon Sardis, by One who knew
that church well, and all her works. Outwardthings appearedwell to men,
but there was only the form of godliness, not the power;a name to live, not a
principle of life. There was greatdeadness in their souls, and in their services;
numbers were wholly hypocrites, others were in a disordered and lifeless

state. Our Lord calledupon them to be watchful againsttheir enemies, and to
be active and earnestin their duties; and to endeavour, in dependence on the
grace ofthe Holy Spirit, to revive and strengthen the faith and spiritual
affections of those yet alive to God, though in a declining state. Whenever we
are off our watch, we lose ground. Thy works are hollow and empty; prayers
are not filled up with holy desires, alms-deeds notfilled up with true charity,
sabbaths not filled up with suitable devotion of soul to God. There are not
inward affections suitable to outward acts and expressions;when the spirit is
wanting, the form cannot long remain. In seeking a revival in our own souls,
or the souls of others, it is needful to compare what we profess with the
manner in which we go on, that we may be humbled and quickened to hold
fast that which remains. Christ enforces his counselwith a dreadful
threatening if it should be despised. Yet our blessedLord does not leave this
sinful people without some encouragement. He makes honourable mention of
the faithful remnant in Sardis, he makes a gracious promise to them. He that
overcomethshall be clothed in white raiment; the purity of grace shallbe
rewardedwith the perfect purity of glory. Christ has his book of life, a
registerof all who shall inherit eternal life; the book of remembrance of all
who live to God, and keepup the life and powerof godliness in evil times.
Christ will bring forward this book of life, and show the names of the faithful,
before God, and all the angels, atthe greatday.
Barnes'Notes on the BibleThou hast a few names even in Sardis - See the
analysis of the chapter. The word "names" here is equivalent to "persons";
and the idea is, that even in a place so depraved, and where religion had so
much declined, there were a few persons who had kept themselves free from
the generalcontamination. In most cases,whenerror and sin prevail, there
may be found a few who are worthy of the divine commendation; a few who
show that true religion may exist even when the mass are evil. Compare the
notes on Romans 11:4.
Which have not defiled their garments - Compare the notes on Jde 1:23. The
meaning is, that they had not defiled themselves by coming in contactwith the
profane and the polluted; or, in other words, they had kept themselves free
from the prevailing corruption. They were like persons clothedin white
walking in the midst of the defiled, yet keeping their raiment from being
soiled.
And they shall walk with me in white - White is the emblem of innocence, and
is hence appropriately representedas the colorof the raiment of the heavenly
inhabitants. The persons here referred to had kept their garments
uncontaminated on the earth, and as an appropriate reward it is said that

they would appear in white raiment in heaven. Compare Revelation7:9;
Revelation19:8.
For they are worthy - They have shown themselves worthy to be regardedas
followers of the Lamb; or, they have a characterthat is suited for heaven. The
declarationis not that they have any claim to heavenon the ground of their
own merit, or that it will be in virtue of their own works that they will be
receivedthere; but that there is a fitness or propriety that they should thus
appear in heaven. We are all personally unworthy to be admitted to heaven,
but we may evince such a characteras to show that, according to the
arrangements of grace, it is fit and proper that we should be receivedthere.
We have the characterto which God has promised eternal life.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary4. The three oldestmanuscripts
prefix "but," or "nevertheless"(notwithstanding thy spiritual deadness), and
omit "even."
names—persons namedin the book of life (Re 3:5) known by name by the
Lord as His own. These had the reality corresponding to their name; not a
mere name among men as living, while really dead (Re 3:1). The gracious
Lord does not overlook any exceptionalcasesofreal saints in the midst of
unreal professors.
not defiled their garments—namely, the garments of their Christian
profession, of which baptism is the initiatory seal, whence the candidates for
baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in white. Compare also Eph
5:27, as to the spotlessnessofthe Church when she shall be presentedto
Christ; and Re 19:8, as to the "fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of
the saints," in which it shall be granted to her to be arrayed; and "the
wedding garment." Meanwhile she is not to sully her Christian profession
with any defilement of flesh or spirit, but to "keepher garments." Forno
defilement shall enter the heavenly city. Not that any keepthemselves here
wholly free from defilement; but, as comparedwith hollow professors, the
godly keepthemselves unspotted from the world; and when they do contract
it, they washit away, so as to have their "robes white in the blood of the
Lamb" (Re 7:14). The Greek is not "to stain" (Greek, "miainein"), but to
"defile," or besmear(Greek, "molunein"), So 5:3.
they shall walk with me in white—The promised reward accords with the
characterof those to be rewarded: keeping their garments undefiled and
white through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall walk with Him in while
hereafter. On "with me," compare the very same words, Lu 23:43;Joh 17:24.
"Walk" implies spiritual life, for only the living walk; also liberty, for it is

only the free who walk at large. The grace and dignity of flowing long
garments is seento bestadvantage when the person"walks":so the gracesof
the saint's manifested charactershallappear fully when he shall serve the
Lord perfectly hereafter (Re 22:3).
they are worthy—with the worthiness (not their own, but that) which Christ
has put on them (Re 7:14). Eze 16:14, "perfectthrough MY comeliness which
I had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud. "The worthiness here denotes
a congruity betweenthe saint's state of grace onearth, and that of glory,
which the Lord has appointed for them, about to be estimatedby the law itself
of grace" [Vitringa]. ContrastAc 13:46.
Matthew Poole's CommentaryThouhast a few names even in Sardis, a few
persons even in that polluted place,
which have not defiled their garments;who have kept their integrity and
innocency. There is a garment of Christ’s righteousness, which, once put on, is
never lost, nor can be defiled; but there are garments of holiness also:hence
the apostle calls to Christians to be clothedwith humility. As sin is expressed
under the notion of nakedness,so holiness is expressedunder the notion of a
garment, Ezekiel16:10 1 Peter5:5. Those who have not defiled their
garments, are those that have kept a pure conscience.
And they shall walk with me in white: the Romans used to clothe their nobles,
and such as were competitors for honours, in white garments;the priests and
Levites also amongstthe Jews, whenthey ministered, were clothed in white, 2
Chronicles 5:12. God and his holy angels are in Scripture set out to us as
clothed in white, Daniel7:9 Matthew 17:2 28:3. Those that triumphed upon
victories obtained, were clothed in white amongst the Romans. To these
usages, orsome of them, the allusion is, and the meaning is, they shall be to
me as kings, and priests, and nobles, they shall be made partakers of my
glory:
for they are worthy; though they have not merited it, yet I have judged them
worthy; they are worthy, though not with respectto their merit, yet with
respectto my promise.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleThou hast a few names even in Sardis,....
The Alexandrian copy and others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate
Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, "but thou hast a few names", &c. or
"a few men", as the Ethiopic version renders it; who were calledby name,
and were men of renown, excellent men, men famous for holding the truth of

doctrine, and for powerful and practicalgodliness;men of greatlight and
grace, and who were knownby name to God and Christ: these are said to be
but "few", notin comparisonof the world, in which sense all the electof God
are but few, though a large number, consideredin themselves;but in
comparisonof formal lifeless professorsofreligion, with which this church
state abounds; and which, if we were not as dead as we are, might easilybe
observed;there may not only be hypocrites in churches, but a majority of
them: yea, these few may be understood in comparisonof the greaternumber
of true believers;for in this period of the church there are but few, even of
them, that are lively, zealous, and careful, and are heartily concernedfor the
purity of doctrine, discipline, worship, and conversation;and a few there are,
blessedbe God, even in this our Sardian church state. God will have a few in
whom he will be glorified in the most declining times; and the Lord knows
and takes notice of these few; and for their sake the church state is kept up,
the Gospeland its ordinances are continued; nor is a church to be judged of
by the number of its members, nor is a multitude to be followedto do evil,
Which have not defiled their garments;the Ethiopic version adds, "with a
woman", the woman Jezebel. They were not guilty either of corporealor
spiritual fornication, which is idolatry; they kept their outward conversation
garments pure, and maintained a professionof Christ and his truths
incorrupt; they did not defile it by an unbecoming walk, or by a denial of
Christ and a departure from him, and by embracing false doctrines; they
were neither erroneous in their principles, nor immoral in their practices;few
there, are indeed of this sort. Defiled garments, in either sense, veryill become
members of the reformed churches. Among the Jews (i), if a priest's garments
were spotted or defiled, he might not minister; if he did, his service was
rejected,
And they shall walk with me in white; there is a walking in Christ by faith;
and a walking before him as in his sight; and a walking worthy of him, in all
well pleasing in his ways and ordinances;and here a walking with him, in a
way of specialand comfortable communion, both here and hereafter: and this
is in white; in white raiment, meaning either in the robe of his own
righteousness, comparedto fine linen and white; or in the shining robes of
immortality and glory; and may be expressive of that spiritual joy which such
shall be partakers of, as well as of their spotless purity and innocence in the
other world. White raiment was usedamong the Romans as a tokenof joy at
festivals, and on birthdays, and at weddings, and such like times,
For they are worthy; not of themselves, or through any works of righteousness
done by them, which are neither meritorious of grace here, nor of glory

hereafter;but through the grace ofGod, and worthiness of Christ. The Jews
have a saying somewhatlike this (k),
"they that walk with God in their lifetime, "are worthy" to walk with him
after their death;
In the Apocrypha we read:
"Take thy number, O Sion, and shut up those of thine that are clothedin
white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord.'' (2 Esdras 2:40).
This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version,
(i) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 35. 1.((k) TzerorHammor, fol. 10. 3.
Geneva Study BibleThou hast a few names even in Sardis {3} which have not
defiled their garments;and they shall walk with me in {4} white: for they are
{d} worthy.
(3) That is, who have with all religionguarded themselves from sin and moral
corruption, even from the very show of evil; Jude 1:23.
(4) Pure from all spot, and shining with glory. So it is to be understood always
hereafter, as in Re 3:5.
(d) They are suitable and proper, that is, because they are justified in Christ,
as they have truly showedit: for he who acts righteously is righteous in the
same way that a tree bears good fruit; Ro 8:18.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/revelation/3-4.htm"Revelation3:4.
The accusation, admonition to repentance, and threat thus far made to the
entire church, are contrasted(ἀλλʼ), by way of limitation, in regardto
individual members, with the commendation that these have kept themselves
free from the generalsinfulness, and a corresponding promise; cf. Revelation
2:4; Revelation2:6.
ἔχεις. Because, as members, they belong to the entire church. Beng.: “These,
even though indeed few, had not separatedthemselves;otherwise the angel of
the church would not have them.”
ὀνόματα. “Mendesignatedby name;”[1363]cf. Revelation11:13;Acts 1:15;
Numbers 1:2; Numbers 1:18; Numbers 1:20. Ewald. An allusion to the
ὌΝΟΜΑἜΧΕΙς[1364]is not to be acknowledged, becausethere the
conceptionis entirely different from here.

Ἅ ΟὐΚ ἘΛΌΛΥΝΑΝ ΤᾺ ἹΜΆΤΙΑ ΑΎΤΩΝ. The figurative expressionis
arbitrarily pressedif the ἹΜΆΤΙΑ be interpreted as something special,
whether as referring to the bodies as the clothing of the soul,[1365]orthe
consciences,[1366]orthe righteousness ofChrist put on by faith.[1367]It is,
further, without all foundation, when Ebrard, in the entire figurative
expression, tries to find “a spiritual self-pollution arising from spiritual self-
concupiscence,”—“spiritualonanism.” Too much also is made of the figure if
the presupposedpurity of the garment be derived from baptism by a mistaken
appeal to Revelation7:14.[1368]N. de Lyra already correctlyabides by the
generalidea whereby the “being defiled” occurs by means of sin,[1369]in
which sense, ofcourse, it may be said that the ἹΜΆΤΙΑ are the life itself, and
actions of works,[1370]orprofessionand life.[1371]We have not to ask
throughout as to what is properly meant by the garment; the entire figure of
the defiling of the clothing is a designationof the impure and unholy life and
conversation.[1372]To the commendatory recognition, corresponds also the
promise of the reward: ΚΑῚ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΉΣΟΥΣΙΝ ΜΕΤʼἘΜΟῦ ἘΝ
ΛΕΥΚΟῖς (viz., ἹΜΑΤΊΟΙς). Incorrectly, Aretius, who identifies the “white
garments “with the undefiled garments:“They will persevere in the pursuit of
goodworks.” The white garments, with their bright “hue of victory,”[1373]
are peculiar to those in heaven.[1374]Theywho, in their earthly lives, have
kept their garments undefiled will walk with Christ[1375]in white garments,
since, thus adorned, they will live in “the state of immortal glory,”[1376]
before the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the full and blessedenjoyment
of his fellowship. [See Note XXXV., p. 183.]But the more definitely the
promise περιπ. μετʼ ἐμ. ἐν λευκοῖς stands with respectto the testimony of
acknowledgmentἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναντ. ἱμ. αὐτ.,—especiallyas markedby the
addition on ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν,—the more remote appears the side reference to the
heavenly priesthood of the blessedwhich is to be indicated by the white
garments, especiallyif, in connectiontherewith, the Jewishcustombe thought
of, that the priests examined before the Sanhedrim were clad in black or white
garments, according as any defectwere or were not found in their
bodies.[1377]
ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν. The foundation is entirely in the sense presentedin Revelation
16:6.[1378]As, there, they who have shed blood must drink blood, so here,
white garments are promised the undefiled because theyare worthy of this.
The idea, however, lying at the basis of the remuneration,[1379]leads also, in
this passage, where the discourse is concerning reward, not to the Roman-
Catholic idea of a merit, because, as Calov. correctlysays, in substance,
“Christ alone, by faith, renders them worthy.” Life itself,[1380]with all its

powers exercisedby those cladin white robes, is a free gift of the grace of the
Lord; a meritum could be spokenof only when man, by his own powers, keeps
himself undefiled. Thus, however, John designates only“a congruency
betweenthe acts and the honor rendered to them, even though the honor
exceedthe act.”[1381]
[1363]Vatabl.
[1364]Hengstenb., Ebrard.
[1365]Areth., Zeger.
[1366]Alcas., Tirin., Grot., Prie.
[1367]Calov.
[1368]Beda, Rib., C. a Lap.; cf. Zeger, Hengstenb.
[1369]Cf. also Ew., De Wette, Bleek, Stern.
[1370]Aretius.
[1371]Vitr.
[1372]Cf. Revelation3:2.
[1373]Beng.
[1374]Revelation3:5; Revelation6:11; Revelation6:9; Revelation19:8.
[1375]μετʼ ἐμοῦ. Cf. Luke 23:43;John 17:24.
[1376]N. de Lyra.
[1377]Schöttgen, in loc. Cf. Vitr., Züll.
[1378]Cf. Revelation14:13;Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10.
[1379]De Wette. Cf. Revelation16:5, the δίκαιος εἶ.

[1380]Cf. Revelation3:1.
[1381]Grot. Cf. Vitr. (Cf. Luke 20:35.)
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XXXV. Revelation3:4. περιπατήσουσινμετʼ ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς
Trench: “The promise of life, for only the living walk, the dead are still; of
liberty, for the free walk, and not the fast-bound.” Gerhard (Loc. Th., xx. 328)
finds, in the white garments, “the symbol of victory, innocency, glory, and joy,
yea, even royal dignity.” Gebhardt: “The bright or white garments symbolize
positive purity, holiness, or righteousness (cf. Revelation19:8).”
Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK"/revelation/3-4.htm"Revelation
3:4. ὀλ. ὀν. “quasi paucos nominatos, i.e., bonos qui nominatione digni sunt”
(cf. the use of πρίσωπα = persons or individuals, in Clem. Rom. and Ignat.).
ἐμόλ. (cf. Fragment of UncanonicalGospel, Oxyrhyn. 2 cent. A.D., line 16
μεμολυμμένος ἐπάτησας, κ.τ.λ.)the sullied garment an emblem of moral
stains, including but not identical with that of πορνεύειν (Revelation14:4, cf.
Sir 22:1-2). The language reflects that of the votive inscriptions in Asia Minor,
where soiled clothes disqualified the worshipper and dishonoured the god.
Moralpurity qualifies for spiritual communion (note the dramatic contrastof
this ἄξιοι [cf. on Revelation2:16]with that of Revelation16:6); the
apocalyptic beatitude is: blessedare the pure in life, for they shall join God
(see on Revelation14:14, Revelation19:8). Note here only in the seven
messages aneschatologicalpromise unintroduced by the phrase ὁ νικῶν,
although Revelation3:5 really repeats the same idea, οὕτως = “as being
victor” (i.e., accordingly). The idea of heavenly raiment is distinctively Persian
(Brandt, 575, 580;Lüken, 122), but permeates Jewisheschatologyfrom Enoch
(lxii. 15, 16, the electclothed after the resurrection in eternal“garments of
glory”) down to Slav. En. xxii. 8; 4 Ezra 2:39, 45 (cf. Herm. Sim. viii. 2) and
Asc. Isa. iv. 16 (garments = spiritual bodies in which the saints are vested at
the lastday, storedup in seventh heaven; cf. 8:26, 9:24 f., uidi stolas multas et
thronos et coronas jacentes). περιβαλεῖται κ.τ.λ.,like Joshua (Zechariah3:3
f.); or (as others suggest)like priests acquitted before the Sanhedrin, who
were robed in white. In the Apoc., as in En. lxxxv.–xc., white is the colourof
righteousness, associatedwith innocence (and joy? Ecclesiastes 9:8), just as
black with evil. In Apoc. Pet. 5, the dwellers in Paradise are clothedin ἔνδυμα
ἀγγέλων φωτινῶν, whilst the angels who (Revelation3:6) chastise the wicked

are robed in black. All such metaphors reflect the primitive notion that
clothing somehow could form almosta part of a man’s personality,
corresponding to his identity and character(E. Bi. 1140, 1141), ratherthan
the Romancustom of assuming a white toga uirilis to mark entrance upon
manhood’s privileges (“uitae liberioris iter,” Ovid).—τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς,
this favourite symbol of the Apocalypse which goes back evento pre-exilic
Judaism (Isaiah 4:3, cf. Exodus 32:32 f., etc.; for the Babylonian background,
cf. Jeremias, 69 f.), had through the influence of Dan. (Revelation12:1) a
greatvogue in apocalyptic dreams as an apt image no longerof a share in the
temporal felicity of God’s reign but of personalsalvation. Fora name to be
erasedfrom the book of life (one’s deeds not corresponding, upon scrutiny, to
one’s position; cf. Revelation20:12, Jub. xxxvi. 10) meant condemnation, or
exclusionfrom the heavenly kingdom. To have one’s name retained (“and
never will I blot out,” etc.) on the list of heavenly citizens was by this time a
current metaphor for eternalfellowship with God and his people, and (by a
natural inference drawn in Revelation13:8) for predestination, the belief in
which formed then as always a vivid inspiration in distress and conflict. For
the erasure of names from the civic register, consequentupon their owner’s
condemnation, cf. Dio Chrys. xxxi. 336 c, ὅτανδημοσίᾳ τινὰ δέῃ τῶν πολιτῶν
ἀποθανεῖνἐπʼ ἀδικήματι,πρότεροντὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐξαλείφεται;Xen. Hell. ii.
3, 51, and Arist. Pac. 1180. Also Dittenberger’s Sylloge inscript. Graec.2 43920
(iv. B.C.)ὃς δʼ ἂν δόξηι μὴ ὢν φράτηρἐσαχθῆναι, ἐξαλειψάτο τὸ ὄνομα αὐτο͂ ὁ
ἱερεύς, and Orientis Græci Inscr. Sel. 218129(iii. B.C.)ἐξαλείψαντας τὸ ὄνομα
τὸ ἐκείνου. The specialcomfort of this verse is intelligible when one reads the
prayer offeredin contemporaryJewishworship (cf. Shmone-Esrehxii. Palest,
recension):“for apostatesletthere be no hope, may the kingdom of the
haughty quickly collapse in our days, and may the Nazarenes andthe Minim
suddenly perish, may they be blotted out of the book of Life and not enrolled
along with the righteous”.
The messageto Sardis, the most vehement of the seven, has some interesting
resemblances to that addrtssedto Ephesus; cf. Revelation2:1 = Revelation
3:1, Revelation2:5 (μνημ.)= Revelation3:3, Revelation2:5 (visitation) =
Revelation3:5, Revelation2:6= Revelation3:4. The hope describedin
Revelation3:5 is burlesqued by Lucian (Peregr. xl.) who describes his pseudo-
Christian hero as seenafter death περιπατοῦντα ἐν λευκῇ ἐσθῆτι, φαιδρόν
κοτίνῳ τε ἐστεμμένον. The metaphorical referencesto raiment gain point in
view of the localtrade in woollengoods and dyed stuffs.

Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges4. Thouhast] Read, But thou hast,
and omit even.
a few names]Some understand, from the similar use of the word “names” in
Acts 1:15, that at this time it was usual for every Church to keepa registerof
all its members. 1 Timothy 5:9 seems certainly to imply such a registerof
office-bearers atleast. It is possible indeed that the “names” are spokenofas
entered in the heavenly Book ofLife (cf. the next verse):but the use of that
image would be far more forcible, if the readers of the Revelationwere
familiar with an approximate counterpart to that Book onearth.
have not defiled their garments] Which were cleansed(Revelation7:14) by the
Bloodof Christ, but may be defiled again by deadly sin. See St John’s I
Ephesians 1:6-7; where we are told both of the absolute sufficiency, and of the
conditional efficacyof that Bloodfor cleansing. It seems to be fanciful to
inquire minutely what the “garments” are, whethertheir bodies or their
baptismal robes:there may be an allusion to Zechariah 3:3 sqq.
in white] Song of Solomon6:11; Song of Solomon7:9. It is idle to ask whether
these are the same garments which they kept undefiled during their
probation: but no doubt it is meant that their keeping these undefiled proves
them “worthy” of those.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - But thou hast a few names in Sardis. The "but"
(RevisedVersion) must be added, and the "even" (Authorized Version)
omitted, on conclusive evidence. "Names"is here used in the sense ofpersons
(Acts 1:15 and Revelation11:13, where the RevisedVersion has "persons");
there is no reference to the totally different use of "to have a name" in ver. 1.
Bode remarks, "He knowethhis own sheep by name, as he knew Moses by
name, and writeth the names of his own in heaven." These few are like the few
righteous in Sodom. Though they consentto abide in the Church, they do not
leavenit, nor does their presence save it: "They shall deliver but their own
souls by their righteousness" (Ezekiel14:14, 16, 18, 20). The word for "defile"
(μολύνειν) occurs only here, Revelation14:4, and 1 Corinthians 8:7. Its
radical meaning is "to besmear," andso "to befoul." That of μιαίνειν (John
18:28;Titus 1:15; Hebrews 12:15;Jude 1:8) is rather "to stain," which is not
necessarily"to befoul." That of κοινοῦν(Matthew 15:11-20;Mark 7:15-23;
Acts 10:15;Acts 11:9; Acts 21:28; Hebrews 9:13) is "to make common or
profane." In most cases allthese three are rendered "defile" in our version.
These few in Sardis have kept themselves "unspottedfrom the world" in

which they live. Neitherthe corruption of heathendom nor the torpor of a
moribund Church has infected them. Their contactwith a dead body has
imparted no life to the body and no defilement to them. There is no need to
press the metaphor and give a specialmeaning to "garments" - whether their
souls, or their bodies, or their consciences, ortheir baptismal robes. The
metaphor is implied in "putting on the new man" (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians
3:10), "putting on Christ" (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27), where the word
for "put on" is ἐνδύεσθαι, "to be clothedwith." They shall walk with me. In
accordancewith Christ's high-priestly prayer (John 17:24; comp. Roy. 21:24).
In white. This elliptical expression(ἐν λευκοῖς)for "in white robes" occurs in
the New Testamentonly here and John 20:12, and is another small link
betweenthe two books. The word "white" (λευκός), excepting in Matthew
5:36 and John 4:35, is in the New Testamentalways used of heavenly purity
and brightness. Thus also Plato, Ξρώματα δὲ λευκὰ πρέποντ ἄν θεοῖς εἴν
('Laws,'956); and Virgil of the souls in the other world, "Omnibus his hives
cinguntur tempora vitta" ('AEneid,' 6:665). (See notes on Revelation1:14.)As
we might expect, the word is speciallyfrequent in Revelation. Of course, the
white garments referred to here, vers. 5, 18, and Revelation4:4, are quite
different from the undefiled garments just mentioned. The one is the
imperfect purity of struggling saints on earth, the other the perfectpurity of
glorified saints in heaven. The promise, therefore, is threefold.
(1) They shall walk, i.e. they shall have life and liberty.
(2) They shall have Christ as their constant Companion.
(3) They shall be in unsullied glory.
And why? Becausethey are worthy. The merit is not theirs, but Christ's, in
whose blood they have washedtheir robes (Revelation7:14; 1 John 2:2), and
by whose grace they are preservedin holiness (1 John 1:7). It is because they
have by God's help fulfilled the conditions which he has proraised to accept,
that they are worthy. The nearestapproachto this declarationof worthiness
on the part of God's saints seems to be Luke 20:35 (not 21:36)and 2
Thessalonians 1:5, 11. But in all these passagesthey are "accountedworthy"
(καταξιωθέντες)rather than "worthy" (ἄξιοι). In Revelation16:6 we have the
opposite worthiness of those who have earned the "wagesofsin" instead of
the "gift of God" (Romans 6:23). Such persons are literally worthy, and not
merely accountedworthy.

Vincent's Word StudiesThouhast a few names
The best texts insert ἀλλὰ but betweenthese words and the close of the
preceding verse. So Rev. But, notwithstanding the generalapathy of the
Church, thou hasta few, etc. Compare Revelation3:1, thou hast a name, and
see on Revelation11:13. Names is equivalent to persons, a few who may be
rightly named as exceptions to the generalconception.
Even in Sardis
Omit καὶ even.
Defiled (ἐμόλυναν)
See on 1 Peter1:4.
Garments
See the same figure, Jde 1:23. The meaning is, have not sullied the purity of
their Christian life.
In white (ἐν λευκοῖς)
With ἱματίοις garments understood. See on Revelation2:17, and compare
Zechariah 3:3, Zechariah3:5. "White colors are suitable to the gods" (Plato,
"Laws," xii., 956). So Virgil, of the tenants of Elysium:
"Lo, priests of holy life and chaste while they in life had part;
Lo, god-loved poets, men who spake things worthy Phoebus'heart:
And they who bettered life on earth by new-found mastery;
And they whose gooddeeds left a tale for men to name them by:
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a few even in Sardis
God never lumps the faithful in with the errant in his assessment. Evenin the
midst of a wickedculture, there are those who trust in Him which He will
never forsake (Gen. Gen. 6:9; Gen. 18:25;Gen. 19:22;Jos. Jos. 6:17).
not defiled their garments
Before coming to faith, these few were wearing “filthy rags” in comparisonto
the righteousnessrequired by God (Isa. Isa. 64:6). Having trusted in Christ,
His righteousness has beenimputed to them and they are positionally holy.
Even then, in their walk, they could become defiled by fleshly activities of the
world (Jas. Jas. 1:27;Jude Jude 1:23). By confessing theirsins, these few had
steadfastlyremained in close fellowshipwith God (1Jn. 1Jn. 1:9).
shall walk with me
The picture of walkingis two-fold: (1) the faithful are presently guided by the
Spirit to walk in His ways (Gen. Gen. 5:22; 1S. 1S. 2:9; Job Job23:14; Ps. Ps.
37:5, Ps. 37:23;Ps. 40:2; Ps. 66:9; Ps. 119:133;Pr. Pr. 3:6; Pr. 16:9; Pr. 19:21;
Pr. 20:24;Isa. Isa. 2:3; Isa. 30:21;Isa. 48:17;Jer. Jer. 6:16; Jer. 10:23;Rom.
Rom. 8:1, Rom. 8:4-6; Gal. Gal. 5:16); (2) in the future, the redeemed will
have full fellowshipwith God as did Adam in the Garden of Eden (Gen. Gen.
3:8; Rev. Rev. 21:3HYPERLINK "/commentaries/revelation/revelation-
21/revelation-21-3.html#3.21.3"+;Rev. 22:3-4HYPERLINK
"/commentaries/revelation/revelation-22/revelation-22-3.html#3.22.3"+).
in white
They will wearwhitegarments in contrastto the “filthy garments” they wore
prior to coming to faith:
Now Joshua was clothedwith filthy garments, and was standing before the
Angel. Then He answeredand spoke to those who stood before Him, saying,
“Take awaythe filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, Ihave
removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I
said, “Letthem put a cleanturban on his head.” So they put a cleanturban on
his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.
(Zec. Zec. 3:3-5)

These are those whose sin has been atonedby the blood of Jesus, who “wash
their garments in the blood of the Lamb.” Those atSardis in John’s day are to
be followedby a constantstream of faithful throughout history culminating in
those who stand firm to obtain the crownof life during the GreatTribulation
(Rev. Rev. 7:9-17HYPERLINK "/commentaries/revelation/revelation-
7/revelation-7-9.html#3.7.9"+). Those slainfor the word of God and for the
testimony they held are given white robes to wear(Rev. Rev. 6:9-
11HYPERLINK"/commentaries/revelation/revelation-6/revelation-6-
9.html#3.6.9"+). The whitecolorspeaks of the righteousness ofChrist, but
also of the marriage garments worn by His bride and those who attend the
wedding feastwho are found to be “spotlessand without blemish” and “white
and clean”:
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not
have on a wedding garment. (Mtt. Mat. 22:11)
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb
has come, and His wife has made herselfready.” And to her it was granted to
be arrayed in fine linen, cleanand bright, for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints. . . . And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white
and clean, followedHim on white horses. (Rev. Rev. 19:7-14HYPERLINK
"/commentaries/revelation/revelation-19/revelation-19-7.html#3.19.7"+)
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse herwith the washing of
waterby the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and
without blemish. (Eph Eph. 5:25-27)
they are worthy
Their worthiness is found in the worthiness of Him on Whom they have
believed. Those who were at one time invited to the wedding, but rejectedthe
Bridegroomwere not worthy to attend. “Thenhe said to his servants, ’The
wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy” (Mtt. Mat.
22:8). Those with faith in Christ are adopted into God’s family and are found
worthy to attain the resurrectionof life (Luke Luke 20:34-36, the first
resurrection, see commentary at Revelation 2:11).
God’s Word does not refuse to ascribe a worthinessto men (Mtt. Mat. 10:10-
11; Mat. 22:8; Luke Luke 20:35;Luke 21:36; 2Th. 2Th. 1:5, 2Th. 1:11);
although this worthiness must ever be contemplated as relativeand not

absolute;as resting on God’s free acceptanceofan obedience which would
fain be perfect, even while it actually is most imperfect, and on this his
acceptanceand allowanceofit alone.1
Notes
1
Richard Chenevix Trench, Commentaryon the Epistlesto the Seven Churches
in Asia (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1861), 164.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/revelation-
3/revelation-3-4.html
A Solemn Warning For All Churches
BY SPURGEON
“You have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their
garments. And they shall walk with Me in white. Forthey are worthy.”
Revelation3:4
MY learned and eminently pious predecessor, Dr. Gill, is of opinion that the
different Churches spokenof in the Book of Revelationare types of different
states through which the Church of God shall pass until it comes into the
Philadelphian state, the state of love, in which Jesus Christ shall reign in its
midst. And afterwards, as he thinks, the Church shall pass into the state of
Laodicea, in which condition it shall be when suddenly the Sonof Man shall
come to judge the world in righteousness andthe people in equity. I do not go
along with him in all his suppositions with regard to these seven Churches as
following eachother in sevenperiods of time.
But I do think he was correctwhenhe declaredthat the Church in Sardis was
a most fitting emblem of the Church in his days, as also in these. The good old
doctor says, “Whenshall we find any period in which the Church was more
like the state of Sardis as described here, than it is now?” And he points out
the different particulars in which the Church of his day (and I am sure it is
yet more true of the Church at the present day) was exactlylike the Church in
Sardis. I shall use the Church in Sardis as a figure of what I conceive to be the
sad condition of Christendom at the presentmoment.

My first point will be generaldefilement–there were but “a few names” in
Sardis who had not “defiled their garments.” Secondly, specialpreservation–
there were a few who had not defiled their garments and thirdly, a peculiar
reward–“And they shall walk with Me in white. For they are worthy.”
1. GENERALDEFILEMENT.The holy Apostle, John, said of the Church
in Sardis. “These things says He that has the SevenSpirits of God and
the sevenstars. I know your works, that you have a name that you live
and are dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that
are ready to die. For I have not found your works perfectbefore God.
Remember, therefore, how you have receivedand heard and hold fast
and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a
thief and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you. You have
a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments.”
The first charge ofgeneraldefilement He brings againstthe Church in Sardis
was that they had a vast deal of open professionbut little of sincere religion.
“I know your works, that you have a name that you live and are dead.” That
is the crying sin of the present age. I am not inclined to be morbid in my
temperament, or to take a melancholy view of the Church of God. I would
wish at all times to exhibit a liberality of spirit and to speak as well as I can of
the Church at large. But God forbid that any minister should shrink from
declaring what he believes to be the truth.
In going up and down this land, I am obliged to come to this conclusion–that
throughout the Churches there are multitudes who have “a name to live and
are dead.” Religionhas become fashionable. The shopkeepercouldscarcely
succeedin a respectable business if he were not united with a Church. It is
reckonedto be reputable and honorable to attend a place of worship and
hence men are made religious in shoals. And especiallynow that Parliament
itself does in some measure sanction religion, we may expect that hypocrisy
will abound yet more and more and formality everywhere take the place of
true religion.
You can scarcelymeet with a man who does not call himself a Christian and
yet it is equally hard to meet with one who is in the very marrow of his bones
thoroughly sanctifiedto the goodwork of the kingdom of Heaven. We meet
with professors by hundreds. But we must expect still to meet with possessors
by units. The whole nation appears to have been Christianized in an hour. But
is this real? Is this sincere? Ah, we fearnot. How is it that professors canlive
like other men? How is it that there is so little distinction betweenthe Church
and the world? Or, that if there is any difference, you are frequently saferin
dealing with an ungodly man than with one who is professedlyrighteous?

How is it that men who make high professions canlive in worldly conformity,
indulge in the same pleasures, live in the same style, act from the same
motives, dealin the same manner as other people do? Are not these days when
the sons of God have made affinity with the sons of men? And may we not
fear that something terrible may yet occurunless God shall send a voice which
shall say, “Come out of them, My people, lest you be partakers of their
plagues”? TakeourChurches at large–there is no lack of names, but there is a
lack of life. Else, how is it that our Prayer Meetings are so badly attended?
Where is the zeal or the energy shownby the Apostles?
Where is the Spirit of the living God? Is He not departed? Might not
“Ichabod” be written on the walls of many a sanctuary? They have a name to
live, but are dead. They have their societies, theirorganisms but where is the
life of godliness? Where is inward piety? Where is sincere religion? Where is
practicalgodliness? Where is firm, decisive, Puritanical piety? Thank God
there are a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments,
but charity itself will not allow us to saythat the Church generally possesses
the Spirit of God.
Then the next charge was that there was a want of zeal throughout the
Church of Sardis. He says, “Be watchful.” He lookedon the Church and saw
the bishops slumbering, the elders slumbering and the people slumbering.
They were not, as once they were, watchfulfor the faith, striving togetherand
earnestlycontending for it, not wrestling againstthe enemy of souls, not
laboring to spread their Master’s kingdom. The Apostle saw sleepiness,
coldness, lethargy–thereforehe said, “Be watchful.” Oh, John, if from your
grave you could start up and see the Church as you did at Sardis, having your
eye anointed by the Spirit, you would say it is even so now. Ah, we have
abundance of cold, calculating Christians, multitudes of professors but where
are the zealous ones?
Where are the leaders of the children of God? Where are your heroes who
stand in the day of battle? Where are your men who “countnot their lives
dear unto them,” that they might win Christ and be found in Him? Where are
those who have an impassioned love for souls? How many of our pulpits are
filled by earnest, enthusiastic preachers?Alas, look, atthe Church. She has
built herself fine palaces, imitating popery. She has girded herself with
vestments. She has gone astrayfrom her simplicity. She has lost the fire and
the life which she once had. We go into our chapels now and we see everything
in goodtaste–we hearthe organplay.
The psalmody is in keeping with the most correctear, the gownand the noble
vestments are there and everything is grand and goodly and we think that

God is honored. Oh for the days when Whitfields would preachon tubs once
more, when their pulpits should be on Kennington Common and their roofs
the ceiling of God’s sky. Oh for the time when we might preachin barns
again, or in catacombs even, if we might but have the life of God that once
they had in such places. Whatis the use of garnishing the shell when you have
lost the kernel? Go and whitewashthe outside of your father’s tomb but know
it is a tomb of whitewash, for the life is gone.
Garnish the outside of your cups and platters. But you have lost the pure
Word of God. You have it not now preachedto you in simple, earnest,
pleading tones. But men enter the ministry for a piece of bread. They flinch to
speak the whole Truth, or if they seemto speak it, it is with cold meaningless
passionlesswords, as if it were nothing whether souls were damned or saved,
whether Heaven were filled or Heaven depopulated, or whether Christ should
see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Do I speak fierce things? I can
say as Irving once did, I might deserve to be broken on the wheelif I did not
believe what I sayto be the truth.
For the utterance of such things I might deserve the stake. But Godis my
witness, I have endeavoredto judge and to speak impartially. With all that
universal cant of charity now so prevalent I am at arm’s length, I care not for
it. Let us speak ofthings as we find them. We do believe that the Church has
lost her zeal and her energy. But what do men say of us? “Oh, you are too
excited.” GoodGod! Excited? When men are being damned? Excited? When
we have the mission of Heaven to preach to dying souls? Excited? Preaching
too much when souls are lost? Why should it come to pass that one man
should be perpetually laboring all the week, while others are lolling upon their
couches and preachonly upon the Sabbath-Day?
Can I bear to see the laziness, the slothfulness, the indifference of ministers
and of Churches without speaking? No!There must be a protest entered and
we enter it now. Oh, Church of God, you have a name to live and are dead!
You are not watchful. Awake!Awake!Arise from the dead and Christ shall
give you light.
The third charge which John brought againstSardis was that they did not
“look to things that remained and were ready to die.” I take it that this may
relate to the poor feeble saints, the true children of God, who were sorrowing,
mourning and groaning in their midst. They were so oppressedwith sorrow
on accountof the state of Sardis that they were “readyto die.” And what does
the Church do now? Do the shepherds go after those that are wounded and
sick and those that are weary? Do they carry the lambs in their bosomand

gently lead those that are with young? Do they see to poor distressed
consciencesand speak to those who feel their deadness in trespassesand sins?
Yes, but how do they speak? Theytell them to do things they cannotdo–to
perform impossible duties–insteadof “strengthening the things that remain
and are ready to die.” In how much contempt are the truly newborn children
of God held in these times! They are calledpeculiar men, taunted as
Antinomians, hissed at as being oddities, high doctrine men who have
departed from the usual mode of pulling down God’s Word to men’s fancies.
They are calledbigots, narrow-minded souls and their creed is setdown as
dry, hard, rough, severe Calvinism.
God’s Gospelcalledhard, rough and severe? The things for which our fathers
died are now called infamous things! Mark whether, if you stand out
prominently in the Truth, you will not be abhorred and taunted. If you go into
a village and hear of poor people who are saidto be doing a deal of mischief,
are they not the people who understand most of the Gospel? Go and ask the
minister who are the persons that he most dislikes and he will say, “We have a
nasty lot of Antinomians here.” What does he mean by that? Men who love
the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth–and will have it–and
are therefore calleda nasty set of Antinomians.
Ah, we have lostwhat once we had. We do not now “strengthenthe things that
remain and are ready to die.” They are not lookedafter as they ought to be.
They are not beloved, not fostered. The salt of the earth are now the
offscouring of all things. Men whom God has loved and who have attained a
high standing in godliness–theseare the men who will not bow the knee to
Baaland who, therefore, are castinto “the fiery furnace of persecutionand
slander.” O Sardis! Sardis! I see you now. You have defiled your garments.
Thank God there are a few who have not followed the multitude to do evil and
who shall “walk in white for they are worthy.”
Another charge which God has brought againstthe Church is that they were
carelessaboutthe things that they heard. He says, “Remember, therefore,
how you have receivedand heard and hold fast. And repent.” If I am wrong
upon other points, I am positive that the sin of this age is impurity of doctrine
and laxity of faith. Now you know you are told every Sunday that it does not
matter what you believe–that all sects and denominations will be saved–that
doctrines are unimportant things. You are told that as to the doctrines of
God’s grace, they are rather dangerous than otherwise and the less you
inquire about them the better. They are very good things for the priests but
you common people cannot understand them.

Thus they keepback a portion of the Gospelwith cautious reserve. But having
studied in the devil’s new Jesuiticalcollegethey understand how to call
themselves ParticularBaptists and then preach generaldoctrines, to call
themselves Calvinists. And they preachArminianism telling the people that it
does not matter whether they preach damnable heresies ofthe Truth of God.
And what do the congregations say? “Well, he is a wise man and ought to
know.” So you are going back into as bad a priestcraft as ever. Presbyterhas
become PRIEST written large and minister has become PRIEST in many a
place because persons do not searchfor themselves and endeavorto get hold
of the Truth of God.
It is everywhere proclaimed that we are all right. That though one says God
loved His people from before the foundation of the world and the other that
He did not–though one says that Godis changeable andturns away from His
people and the other that He will hold them fast to the end–though the one
says that the blood of Christ avails for all for whom it was shedand the other
that it is inefficacious for a large number of those for whom He died. Though
one says that the works of the Law are in some measure necessary, or at any
rate that we must endeavor to improve what we have and then we shall get
more–and the other says, that “by grace we are savedthrough faith and that
not of ourselves, it is the gift of God”–yetboth are right.
A new age this, when falsehoodand truth cankiss eachother! New times these
when fire and watercan become friendly! Glorious times these when there is
an alliance betweenHell and Heaven! Falsehoodanderror are linked hand in
hand–“we are all Brethren,” is the cry now, though God knows, we are of
vastly different families. Ah, now who cares for truth excepta few narrow-
minded bigots as they are called. Election–horrible!Predestination–awful!
Final perseverance–desperate!Yet, turn to the pages ofthe Puritans and you
will see that these truths were preachedevery day. Turn to the Fathers. Read
Augustine and you will see that these were the Truths for which he would
have bled and died.
Readthe Scriptures and if every page is not full of them I have not read them
aright, or any child of God either. Yes, laxity of doctrine is the greatfault
now. We solemnly protest againstit. You may fancy that I am raising an
outcry about nothing at all. Ah, no! My anxious spirit sees the next
generation–whatwillthat be? This generation–Arminianism. What next?
Palagianism? And what next? Popery? And what next? I leave you to guess.
The path of error is always downward. We have takenone step in the wrong
direction. Only God knows where we shall stop. If there had not been sturdy
men in ages gone by, the Lord would not have left to us a remnant even now.

All grace wouldhave died and we had become like unto Gomorrahand unto
Sodom.
Oh, Church of the living God, awake!Awake!Once more write Truth upon
your Banner. Stamp Truth upon your sword. And for God and for His Word,
charge home. You knights of Truth, charge home! Spare not, but slay. Let
error die before you, until Truth and Truth alone shall sit king over the whole
world!
But now I have lifted up the whip, I must have anotherlash. Look on any
sectionof the Church you like to mention, not excepting that to which I
belong. And let me ask you whether they have not defiled their garments.
Look at the Church of England. Her articles are pure and right in most
respects. Yetsee how her garments are defiled. She has made the Queenher
Head instead of God. She bows before the State and worships the golden calf
that is setup before her. Look at her abominations, her pluralities, her easy-
living bishops doing nothing. Look at her ungodly clergymen in the country,
living in sin. The Churchman who does not know that his Church has defiled
her garments is partial to his mother, as indeed he ought to be, but he is too
partial to speak the Truth.
But goodChurchmen themselves weepbecause whatI sayis true. Then look
at John Wesley’s body. Have not they defiled their garments? See how they
have lately been contending with a despotism as accursedas any that ever
brooded over the slaves in America. See how they have been rent in sunder
and how imperfect in doctrine they are, too, after all, professedlyat least, not
holding the Truth of God. Look into what denomination you please,
Independent, or Baptist, or any other–have they not all defiled their garments
in some way or other?
Look at the Churches around and see how they have defiled their garments by
giving Baptism to those for whom it was never intended and degrading a holy
Church ordinance to become a mere sopwith which they feedtheir babes.
And see how they have taken awayChrist’s honor, how they have takenthe
bread that was meant for the children and castit to ungodly persons. Look at
our own denomination–see how it has desertedthe leading Truths of the
Gospel. Fora proof hereof, I refer you to hundreds of our pulpits. Oh Church
of God! I am but a voice crying in the wilderness but I must cry still, “How
are you fallen from Heaven, you son of the morning! How are you fallen!”
“Rememberhow you have receivedand heard and hold fastand repent.” If
you do not watch, your Masterwill come upon you as a thief and you shall not
know in what hour He will come unto you.

II. But now we come to far easierwork. Notbecause we would shun what we
conceive to be our duty, even at the expense of offending many now present,
but because we always delightto speak wellif we can. “You have a few names
even in Sardis that have not defiled their garments.”
Here we have SPECIALPRESERVATION.Mark–“Youhave a few names.”
Only a few. Not so few as some think, but not as many as others imagine! A
few comparedwith the mass of professors. Afew compared even with the true
children of God, for many of them have defiled their garments. They were but
a few and those few were even in Sardis. There is not a Church on earth that
is so corrupt but has “a few.” You who are always fighting so much for your
denomination, you think other denominations are Sardis–but there are a few
even in Sardis.
Even if the denomination is the worstof all Protestantsections, there are a few
in Sardis. And perhaps that is as much as we cansay of our denomination–so
we will treat them all alike. There are a few in Sardis–mark that. Not in what
you conceive to be Philadelphia, your own blessedChurch, but in Sardis–
there are a few there. Where there is heresy and false doctrine, where there
are many mistakes aboutrites and ceremonies, there are a few there. And
even where they cringe before the State, there are a few there–yes and a
goodly few too, a few whom we love, with whom we can hold communion.
This makes us severe againstthe whole body, but it makes us very loving
towards all the dear people of God everywhere. There are a few even in
Sardis. Well, when I meet a Brother who lives in Sardis, I will hope he is one
of the few. And when you meet such, do you say, “Ah, well, I know my brother
comes out of a bad Church but there are a few in Sardis and very likely he is
one of them”? That is the kind of charity God loves. Not the universal charity
which says Sardis is all right–but that which says some in her are sincere. We
stand this morning like old Elijah, when he stoodbefore God and said, “I,
only I, am left and they seek my life.”
But God whispers, “I have yet reservedunto Myself seventy thousand that
have not bowedthe knee to Baal.” Takeheart, Christian, there are a few in
Sardis–do not forget that–who have not defiled their garments. Take heart. It
is not all rotten yet. There is soundness in the eye after all. There is “a
remnant according to the electionof grace.”There is “a salt” and for the sake
of that salt, many who have defiled their garments in a measure will be saved.
They will enter into Heaven even as these few will. And unto the few there will
be specialhonor and specialblessing. Take heart, then.

Jesus was sure, some will walk with him in white

Jesus was sure, some will walk with him in white

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