Revelation 2:8-11 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things said the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;… I. THE LAW OF FIDELITY. 1. Fidelity is a virtue of universally acknowledged importance and worth. 2. Fidelity is a social virtue based upon the universal law of love. 3. Fidelity is a duty man, as man, owes to his Creator. 4. The degree of love is the measure of fidelity. 5. Fidelity to Christ involves fidelity to the great truths of the Cross. 6. Fidelity to the Gross involves fealty to every true friend of the Cross. 7. Faithfulness to Christ involves continued and life-long fidelity. II. THE DIVINE REWARD OF THIS LIFELONG FIDELITY. Those who are faithful unto death will be crowned with life — that is to say, life in its sublime and subliming form. Our life here is more death than life. Here we have the minimum of bliss, there the maximum of happiness; here the minimum of power, there the maximum of might. (William McKay.) Parallel Verses KJV: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; |
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