It is a curious fact that there is no subject about which most people feel
such deep interest as fighting. Young men and maidens, old men and
little children, high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned, all
feel a deep interest in wars, battles and fighting.
This is a simple fact, whatever way we may try to explain it. We
should call that Englishman a dull fellow who cared nothing about the
story of Waterloo or Inkermann or Balaclava or Lucknow. We should
think that heart cold and stupid which was not moved and thrilled by
the struggles at Sedan and Strasburg and Metz and Paris, during the war
between France and Germany.
But there is another warfare of far greater importance than any war
that was ever waged by man. It is a warfare which concerns not two or
three nations only, but every Christian man and woman born into the
world. The warfare I speak of is the spiritual warfare. It is the fight
which everyone who would be saved must fight about his soul.
This warfare, I am aware, is a thing of which many know nothing.
Talk to them about it, and they are ready to set you down as a
madman, an enthusiast or a fool. And yet it is as real and true as any
war the world has ever seen. It has its hand-to-hand conflicts and its
wounds. It has its watchings and fatigues. It has its sieges and assaults.
It has its victories and its defeats. Above all, it has consequences which
are awful, tremendous and most peculiar. In earthly warfare the
consequences to nations are often temporary and remediable. In the
spiritual warfare it is very different. Of that warfare, the consequences,
when the fight is over, are unchangeable and eternal.
It is of this warfare that St Paul spoke to Timothy, when he wrote
those burning words, ‘Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal
life.’ It is of this warfare that I propose to speak in this paper. I hold
the subject to be closely connected with that of sanctification and
holiness. He that would understand the nature of true holiness must
know that the Christian is ‘a man of war’. If we would be holy we must
fight.
1. True Christianity is a fight
The first thing I have to say is this: true Christianity is a fight.
True Christianity! Let us mind that word ‘true’. There is a vast
quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, genuine
Christianity. It passes muster, it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is
not good money. It is not the real thing which was called Christianity
eighteen hundred years ago. There are thousands of men and women
who go to churches and chapels every Sunday, and call themselves
Christians. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned
Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage
service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you
never see any ‘fight’ about their religion! Of spiritual strife and exertion
and conflict and self-denial and watching and warring they know
literally nothing at all. Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those
who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable;
but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. It is not the religion
which the Lord Jesus founded, and His apostles preached. It is not the
religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is ‘a fight’.
The true Christian is called to be a soldier, and must behave as such
from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant
to live a life of religious ease, indolence and security. He must never
imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to
heaven, like one travelling in an easy carriage. If he takes his standard of
Christianity from the children of this world, he may be content with
such notions, but he will find no countenance for them in the Word of
God. If the Bible is the rule of his faith and practice, he will find his
course laid down very plainly in this matter. He must ‘fight’.
With whom is the Christian soldier meant to fight? Not with other
Christians. Wretched indeed is that man's idea of religion who fancies
that it consists in perpetual controversy! He who is never satisfied
unless he is engaged in some strife between church and church, chapel
and chapel, sect and sect, faction and faction, party and party, knows
nothing yet as he ought to know. No doubt it may be absolutely
needful sometimes to appeal to law courts, in order to ascertain the
right interpretation of a church's articles and rubrics and formularies.
But, as a general rule, the cause of sin is never so much helped as when
Christians waste their strength in quarrelling with one another and
spend their time in petty squabbles.
No, indeed! The principal fight of the Christian is with the world,
the flesh and the devil. These are his never-dying foes. These are the
three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. Unless he gets the
victory over these three, all other victories are useless and vain. If he
had a nature like an angel, and were not a fallen creature, the warfare
would not be so essential. But with a corrupt heart, a busy devil and an
ensnaring world, he must either ‘fight’ or be lost.
He must fight the flesh. Even after conversion he carries within him
a nature prone to evil, and a heart weak and unstable as water. That
heart will never be free from imperfection in this world, and it is a
miserable delusion to expect it. To keep that heart from going astray,
the Lord Jesus bids us, ‘Watch and pray.’ The spirit may be ready, but
the flesh is weak. There is need of a daily struggle and a daily wrestling
in prayer. ‘I keep under my body,’ cries St Paul, ‘and bring it into
subjection.’ ‘I see another law in my members, warring against the law
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity.’ ‘O wretched man that I
am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ ‘They that are
Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.’ ‘Mortify
. . . your members which are upon the earth’ (Mark 14:38; 1 Cor. 9:27;
Rom. 7:23, 24; Gal. 5:24;Col. 3:5).
He must fight the world. The subtle influence of that mighty enemy
must be daily resisted, and without a daily battle can never be
overcome. The love of the world’s good things, the fear of the world’s
laughter or blame, the secret desire to keep in with the world, the secret
wish to do as others in the world do, and not to run into extremes — all
these are spiritual foes which beset the Christian continually on his way
to heaven, and must be conquered. ‘The friendship of the world is
enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God.’ ‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him.’ ‘The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.’
‘Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.’ ‘Be not conformed to this
world’ (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15; Gal. 6:14; 1 John 5:4; Rom. 12:2).
He must fight the devil. That old enemy of mankind is not dead.
Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve he has been ‘going to and fro in the
earth, and walking up and down in it’, and striving to compass one great
end — the ruin of man's soul. Never slumbering and never sleeping, he
is always going about as a lion seeking whom he may devour. An unseen
enemy, he is always near us, about our path and about our bed, and
spying out all our ways. A murderer and a liar from the beginning, he
labours night and day to cast us down to hell. Sometimes by leading
into superstition, sometimes by suggesting infidelity, sometimes by one
kind of tactics and sometimes by another, he is always carrying on a
campaign against our souls. ‘Satan hath desired to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat.’ This mighty adversary must be daily resisted if
we wish to be saved. But ‘this kind goeth not out’ but by watching and
praying and fighting and putting on the whole armour of God. The
strong man armed will never be kept out of our hearts without a daily
battle (Job 1:7; 1 Peter 5:8; John 8:44; Luke 22:31; Eph. 6:11).
Some men may think these statements too strong. You fancy that I
am going too far, and laying on the colours too thickly. You are secretly
saying to yourself, that men and women in England may surely get to
heaven without all this trouble and warfare and fighting. Listen to me
for a few minutes and I will show you that I have something to say on
God’s behalf. Remember the maxim of the wisest general that ever lived
in England: ‘In time of war it is the worst mistake to underrate your
enemy, and try to make a little war.’ This Christian warfare is no light
matter. Give me your attention and consider what I say. What saith the
Scripture? ‘Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.’
‘Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.’ ‘Put on the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all to stand.’ ‘Strive to enter in at the
strait gate.’ ‘Labour . . . for [the] meat that endureth unto everlasting
life.’ ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to
send peace but a sword.’ ‘He that hath no sword, let him sell his
garment and buy one.’ ‘Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like
men, be strong.’ ‘War a good warfare; holding faith, and a good
conscience’ (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:3; Eph. 6:11-13; Luke 13:24;John
6:27; Matt. 10:34; Luke 22:36; 1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Tim. 1:18; 19). Words
such as these appear to me clear, plain and unmistakable. They all
teach one and the same great lesson, if we are willing to receive it. That
lesson is, that true Christianity is a struggle, a fight and a warfare. He
that pretends to condemn ‘fighting’ and teaches that we ought to sit
still and ‘yield ourselves to God’, appears to me to misunderstand his
Bible, and to make a great mistake.
What says the baptismal service of the Church of England? No doubt
that service is uninspired and, like every uninspired composition, it has
its defects, but to the millions of people all over the globe, who profess
and call themselves English churchmen, its voice ought to speak with
some weight. And what does it say? It tells us that over every new
member who is admitted into the Church of England the following
words are used: ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost.’ ‘I sign this child with the sign of the cross, in token
that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ
crucified, and manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world
and the devil, and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto
his life’s end.’ Of course we all know that in myriads of cases baptism is
a mere form, and that parents bring their children to the font without
faith or prayer or thought, and consequently receive no blessing. The
man who supposes that baptism in such cases acts mechanically, like a
medicine, and that godly and ungodly, praying and prayerless parents,
all alike get the same benefit for their children, must be in a strange
state of mind. But one thing, at any rate, is very certain. Every baptized
churchman is by his profession a ‘soldier of Jesus Christ’, and is pledged
‘to fight under His banner against sin, the world and the devil’. He that
doubts it had better take up his Prayer Book and read, mark and learn
its contents. The worst thing about many very zealous churchmen is
their total ignorance of what their own Prayer Book contains.
Whether we are churchmen or not, one thing is certain — this
Christian warfare is a great reality and a subject of vast importance. It is
not a matter like church government and ceremonial, about which men
may differ, and yet reach heaven at last. Necessity is laid upon us. We
must fight. There are no promises in the Lord Jesus Christ’s epistles to
the seven churches, except to those who ‘overcome’. Where there is
grace there will be conflict. The believer is a soldier. There is no
holiness without a warfare. Saved souls will always be found to have
fought a fight.
It is a fight of absolute necessity. Let us not think that in this war we
can remain neutral and sit still. Such a line of action may be possible in
the strife of nations, but it is utterly impossible in that conflict which
concerns the soul. The boasted policy of non-interference, the ‘masterly
inactivity’ which pleases so many statesmen, the plan of keeping quiet
and letting things alone — all this will never do in the Christian warfare.
Here at any rate no one can escape serving under the plea that he is a
man of peace’. To be at peace with the world, the flesh and the devil, is
to be at enmity with God, and in the broad way that leadeth to
destruction. We have no choice or option. We must either fight or be
lost.
It is a fight of universal necessity. No rank or class or age can plead
exemption, or escape the battle. Ministers and people, preachers and
hearers, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, gentle and simple,
kings and subjects, landlords and tenants, learned and unlearned — all
alike must carry arms and go to war. All have by nature a heart full of
pride, unbelief, sloth, worldliness and sin. All are living in a world beset
with snares, traps and pitfalls for the soul. All have near them a busy,
restless, malicious devil. All, from the queen in her palace down to the
pauper in the workhouse, all must fight, if they would be saved.
It is a fight of perpetual necessity. It admits of no breathing time, no
armistice, no truce. On weekdays as well as on Sundays, in private as
well as in public, at home by the family fireside as well as abroad, in
little things, like management of tongue and temper, as well as in great
ones, like the government of kingdoms, the Christian’s warfare must
unceasingly go on. The foe we have to do with keeps no holidays, never
slumbers and never sleeps. So long as we have breath in our bodies we
must keep on our armour and remember we are on an enemy’s ground.
‘Even on the brink of Jordan,’ said a dying saint, ‘I find Satan nibbling
at my heels.’ We must fight till we die.
Let us consider well these propositions. Let us take care that our
own personal religion is real, genuine and true. The saddest symptom
about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like
conflict and fight in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress,
they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money,
they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or
twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare — its watchings and
strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests - of all
this they appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is
not our own. The worst state of soul is when the strong man armed
keepeth the house, and his goods are at peace, when he leads men and
women captive at his will, and they make no resistance. The worst
chains are those which are neither felt nor seen by the prisoner (Luke
11:21; 2 Tim. 2:26).
We may take comfort about our souls if we know anything of an
inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine
Christian holiness. It is not everything, I am well aware, but it is
something. Do we find in our heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Do we
feel anything of the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh, so that we cannot do the things we would? (Gal. 5:17.) Are
we conscious of two principles within us, contending for the mastery?
Do we feel anything of war in our inward man? Well, let us thank God
for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great
work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers. Anything is better
than apathy, stagnation, deadness and indifference. We are in a better
state than many. The most part of so-called Christians have no feeling
at all. We are evidently no friends of Satan. Like the kings of this world,
he wars not against his own subjects. The very fact that he assaults us
should fill our minds with hope. I say again, let us take comfort. The
child of God has two great marks about him, and of these two we have
one. He may be known by his inward warfare, as well as by his inward
peace.
2. True Christianity is the fight of faith
I pass on to the second thing which I have to say in handling my
subject: true Christianity is the fight of faith.
In this respect the Christian warfare is utterly unlike the conflicts of
this world. It does not depend on the strong arm, the quick eye or the
swift foot. It is not waged with carnal weapons, but with spiritual.
Faith is the hinge on which victory turns. Success depends entirely on
believing.
A general faith in the truth of God’s written Word is the primary
foundation of the Christian soldier’s character. He is what he is, does
what he does, thinks as he thinks, acts as he acts, hopes as he hopes,
behaves as he behaves, for one simple reason — he believes certain
propositions revealed and laid down in Holy Scripture. ‘He that cometh to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him’ (Heb. 11:6).
A religion without doctrine or dogma is a thing which many are fond
of talking of in the present day. It sounds very fine at first. It looks
very pretty at a distance. But the moment we sit down to examine and
consider it, we shall find it a simple impossibility. We might as well talk
of a body without bones and sinews. No man will ever be anything or
do anything in religion, unless he believes something. Even those who
profess to hold the miserable and uncomfortable views of the deists are
obliged to confess that they believe something. With all their bitter
sneers against dogmatic theology and Christian credulity, as they call it,
they themselves have a kind of faith.
As for true Christians, faith is the very backbone of their spiritual
existence. No one ever fights earnestly against the world, the flesh and
the devil, unless he has engraven on his heart certain great principles
which he believes. What they are he may hardly know, and may
certainly not be able to define or write down. But there they are and,
consciously or unconsciously, they form the roots of his religion.
Wherever you see a man, whether rich or poor, learned or unlearned,
wrestling manfully with sin and trying to overcome it, you may be sure
there are certain great principles which that man believes. The poet who
wrote the famous lines:
For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight,
He can't be wrong whose life is in the right,
was a clever man, but a poor divine. There is no such thing as right
living without faith and believing.
A special faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’s person, work and office, is
the life, heart and mainspring of the Christian soldier’s character.
He sees by faith an unseen Saviour, who loved him, gave Himself for
him, paid his debts for him, bore his sins, carried his transgressions, rose
again for him, and appears in heaven for him as his Advocate at the
right hand of God. He sees Jesus and clings to Him. Seeing this Saviour
and trusting in Him, he feels peace and hope and willingly does battle
against the foes of his soul.
He sees his own many sins, his weak heart, a tempting world, a busy
devil, and if he looked only at them he might well despair. But he sees
also a mighty Saviour, an interceding Saviour, a sympathizing Saviour —
His blood, His righteousness, His everlasting priesthood — and he
believes that all this is his own. He sees Jesus and casts his whole weight
on Him. Seeing Him, he cheerfully fights on, with a full confidence that
he will prove more than conqueror through Him that loved him
(Rom. 8:37).
Habitual lively faith in Christ’s presence and readiness to help is the
secret of the Christian soldier fighting successfully.
It must never be forgotten that faith admits of degrees. All men do
not believe alike, and even the same person has his ebbs and flows of
faith, and believes more heartily at one time than another. According
to the degree of his faith, the Christian fights well or ill, wins victories
or suffers occasional repulses, comes off triumphant or loses a battle.
He that has most faith will always be the happiest and most
comfortable soldier. Nothing makes the anxieties of warfare sit so lightly
on a man as the assurance of Christ’s love and continual protection.
Nothing enables him to bear the fatigue of watching, struggling and
wrestling against sin, like the indwelling confidence that Christ is on his
side and success is sure. It is the ‘shield of faith’ which quenches all the
fiery darts of the wicked one. It is the man who can say, ‘I know whom
I have believed,’ who can say in time of suffering, ‘I am not ashamed.’
He who wrote those glowing words: ‘We faint not’; ‘Our light affliction
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory,’ was the man who wrote with the same pen,
‘We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are
not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal.’ It is the man who said, ‘I live by the
faith of the Son of God,’ who said, in the same Epistle, ‘the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’ It is the man who said, ‘To
me to live is Christ,’ who said, in the same Epistle, ‘I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’ ‘I can do all things
through Christ.’ The more faith the more victory! The more faith the
more inward peace! (Eph. 6:16; 2 Tim. 1:12; 2 Cor. 4:16, 17; Gal.
2:20; 6:14; Phil. 1:21; 4:11, 13).
I think it impossible to overrate the value and importance of faith.
Well may the apostle Peter call it ‘precious’ (2 Peter 1:1). Time would
fail me if I tried to recount a hundredth part of the victories which by
faith Christian soldiers have obtained.
Let us take down our Bibles and read with attention the eleventh
chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Let us mark the long list of
worthies whose names are thus recorded, from Abel down to Moses,
even before Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, and brought life and
immortality into full light by the gospel. Let us note well what battles
they won against the world, the flesh and the devil. And then let us
remember that believing did it all. These men looked forward to the
promised Messiah. They saw Him that is invisible. ‘By faith the elders
obtained a good report’ (Heb. 11:2-27).
Let us turn to the pages of early church history. Let us see how the
primitive Christians held fast their religion even unto death and were
not shaken by the fiercest persecutions of heathen emperors. For
centuries there were never wanting men like Polycarp and Ignatius, who
were ready to die rather than deny Christ. Fines and prisons and
torture and fire and sword were unable to crush the spirit of the noble
army of martyrs. The whole power of imperial Rome, the mistress of
the world, proved unable to stamp out the religion which began with a
few fishermen and publicans in Palestine! And then let us remember
that believing in an unseen Jesus was the church’s strength. They won
their victory by faith.
Let us examine the story of the Protestant Reformation. Let us
study the lives of its leading champions, Wycliffe and Huss and Luther
and Ridley and Latimer and Hooper. Let us mark how these gallant
soldiers of Christ stood firm against a host of adversaries and were
ready to die for their principles. What battles they fought! What
controversies they maintained! What contradiction they endured! What
tenacity of purpose they exhibited against a world in arms! And then
let us remember that believing in an unseen Jesus was the secret of their
strength. They overcame by faith.
Let us consider the men who have made the greatest marks in church
history in the last hundred years. Let us observe how men like Wesley
and Whitefield and Venn and Romaine stood alone in their day and
generation, and revived English religion in the face of opposition from
men high in office, and in the face of slander, ridicule and persecution
from nine-tenths of professing Christians in our land. Let us observe
how men like William Wilberforce and Havelock and Hedley Vicars
have witnessed for Christ in the most difficult positions, and displayed
a banner for Christ even at the regimental mess-table, or on the floor of
the House of Commons. Let us mark how these noble witnesses never
flinched to the end, and won the respect even of their worst
adversaries. And then let us remember that believing in an unseen Christ is
the key to all their characters. By faith they lived and walked and
stood and overcame.
Would anyone live the life of a Christian soldier? Let him pray for
faith. It is the gift of God, and a gift which those who ask shall never
ask for in vain. You must believe before you do. If men do nothing in
religion, it is because they do not believe. Faith is the first step towards
heaven.
Would anyone fight the fight of a Christian soldier successfully and
prosperously? Let him pray for a continual increase of faith. Let him
abide in Christ, get closer to Christ, tighten his hold on Christ every day
that he lives. Let his daily prayer be that of the disciples: ‘Lord,
increase my faith’ (Luke 17:5). Watch jealously over your faith, if you
have any. It is the citadel of the Christian character, on which the
safety of the whole fortress depends. It is the point which Satan loves
to assail. All lies at his mercy if faith is overthrown. Here, if we love
life, we must especially stand on our guard.
3. True Christianity is a good fight
The last thing I have to say is this: true Christianity is a good fight.
‘Good’ is a curious word to apply to any warfare. All worldly war is
more or less evil. No doubt it is an absolute necessity in many cases —
to procure the liberty of nations, to prevent the weak from being
trampled down by the strong — but still it is an evil. It entails an awful
amount of bloodshed and suffering. It hurries into eternity myriads
who are completely unprepared for their change. It calls forth the worst
passions of man. It causes enormous waste and destruction of property.
It fills peaceful homes with mourning widows and orphans. It spreads
far and wide poverty, taxation and national distress. It disarranges all
the order of society. It interrupts the work of the gospel and the
growth of Christian missions. In short, war is an immense and
incalculable evil, and every praying man should cry night and day, ‘Give
peace in our times.’ And yet there is one warfare which is emphatically
‘good’, and one fight in which there is no evil. That warfare is the
Christian warfare. That fight is the fight of the soul.
Now what are the reasons why the Christian fight is a ‘good fight’?
What are the points in which his warfare is superior to the warfare of
this world? Let me examine this matter and open it out in order. I dare
not pass the subject, and leave it unnoticed. I want no one to begin the
life of a Christian soldier without counting the cost. I would not keep
back from anyone that if he would be holy and see the Lord he must
fight, and that the Christian fight, though spiritual, is real and severe. It
needs courage, boldness and perseverance. But I want my readers to
know that there is abundant encouragement, if they will only begin
the battle. The Scripture does not call the Christian fight ‘a good fight’
without reason and cause. Let me try to show what I mean.
a. The Christian’s fight is good because fought under the best of
generals. The Leader and Commander of all believers is our divine
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ — a Saviour of perfect wisdom, infinite
love and almighty power. The Captain of our salvation never fails to lead
His soldiers to victory. He never makes any useless movements, never
errs in judgement, never commits any mistake. His eye is on all His
followers, from the greatest of them even to the least. The humblest
servant in His army is not forgotten. The weakest and most sickly is
cared for, remembered and kept unto salvation. The souls whom He has
purchased and redeemed with His own blood are far too precious to be
wasted and thrown away. Surely this is good!
b. The Christian’s fight is good, because fought with the best of
helps. Weak as each believer is in himself, the Holy Spirit dwells in him,
and his body is a temple of the Holy Ghost. Chosen by God the Father,
washed in the blood of the Son, renewed by the Spirit, he does not go
to warfare at his own charges, and is never alone. God the Holy Ghost
daily teaches, leads, guides and directs him. God the Father guards him
by His almighty power. God the Son intercedes for him every moment,
like Moses on the mount, while he is fighting in the valley below. A
threefold cord like this can never be broken! His daily provisions and
supplies never fail. His commissariat is never defective. His bread and
his water are sure. Weak as he seems in himself, like a worm, he is
strong in the Lord to do great exploits. Surely this is good!
c. The Christian fight is a good fight, because fought with the best
of promises. To every believer belong exceeding great and precious
promises, all ‘yea’ and ‘amen’ in Christ, promises sure to be fulfilled,
because made by One who cannot lie, and has power as well as will to
keep His word. ‘Sin shall not have dominion over you.’ ‘The God of
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.’ ‘He which hath begun
a good work . . . will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.’ ‘When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee.’ ‘My sheep . . . shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.’ ‘Him that cometh
to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ ‘I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee.’ ‘I am persuaded that neither death, nor life . . . nor things
present, nor things to come . . . shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 6:14; 16:20; Phil. 1:6; Isa.
43:2; John 10:28; 6:37; Heb. 13:5; Rom. 8:38, 39). Words like these
are worth their weight in gold! Who does not know that promises of
coming aid have cheered the defenders of besieged cities, like Lucknow,
and raised them above their natural strength? Have we never heard that
the promise of ‘help before night’ had much to say to the mighty
victory of Waterloo? Yet all such promises are as nothing compared to the
rich treasure of believers, the eternal promises of God. Surely this is
good!
d. The Christian’s fight is a good fight, because fought with the best
of issues and results. No doubt it is a war in which there are tremendous
struggles, agonizing conflicts, wounds, bruises, watchings, fastings and
fatigue. But still every believer, without exception, is ‘more than
conqueror through Him that loved [him]’ (Rom. 8:37). No soldiers of
Christ are ever lost, missing or left dead on the battlefield. No mourning
will ever need to be put on, and no tears to be shed, for either private
or officer in the army of Christ. The muster roll, when the last evening
comes, will be found precisely the same that it was in the morning. The
English Guards marched out of London to the Crimean campaign a
magnificent body of men, but many of the gallant fellows laid their
bones in a foreign grave and never saw London again. Far different shall
be the arrival of the Christian army in the ‘city which hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God’ (Heb. 11:10). Not one shall be found
lacking. The words of our great Captain shall be found true: ‘Of them
which Thou gavest Me have I lost none’ (John 18:9). Surely this is good!
e. The Christian’s fight is good, because. it does good to the soul of
him that fights it. All other wars have a bad, lowering and demoralizing
tendency. They call forth the worst passions of the human mind. They
harden the conscience and sap the foundations of religion and morality.
The Christian warfare alone tends to call forth the best things that are
left in man. It promotes humility and charity, it lessens selfishness and
worldliness, it induces men to set their affections on things above. The
old, the sick, the dying, are never known to repent of fighting Christ's
battles against sin, the world and the devil. Their only regret is that
they did not begin to serve Christ long before. The experience of that
eminent saint, Philip Henry, does not stand alone. In his last days he
said to his family, ‘I take you all to record that a life spent in the
service of Christ is the happiest life that a man can spend upon earth.’
Surely this is good!
f. The Christian’s fight is a good fight, because it does good to the
world. All other wars have a devastating, ravaging and injurious effect.
The march of an army through a land is an awful scourge to the
inhabitants. Wherever it goes it impoverishes, wastes and does harm.
Injury to persons, property, feelings and morals invariably accompanies
it. Far different are the effects produced by Christian soldiers. Wherever
they live, they are a blessing, They raise the standard of religion and
morality. They invariably check the progress of drunkenness,
sabbath-breaking, profligacy and dishonesty. Even their enemies are obliged to
respect them. Go where you please, you will rarely find that barracks
and garrisons do good to the neighbourhood. But go where you please,
you will find that the presence of a few true Christians is a blessing.
Surely this is good!
g. Finally, the Christian’s fight is good, because it ends in a glorious
reward for all who fight it. Who can tell the wages that Christ will pay
to all His faithful people? Who can estimate the good things that our
divine Captain has laid up for those who confess Him before men? A
grateful country can give to her successful warriors medals, Victoria
crosses, pensions, peerages, honours and titles. But it can give nothing
that will last and endure for ever, nothing that can be carried beyond
the grave. Palaces like Blenheim and Strathfieldsay can only be enjoyed
for a few years. The bravest generals and soldiers must go down one day
before the king of terrors. Better, far better, is the position of him who
fights under Christ’s banner, against sin, the world and the devil. He
may get little praise of man while he lives, and go down to the grave
with little honour, but he shall have that which is far better, because far
more enduring. He shall have ‘a crown of glory that fadeth not away’
(1 Peter 5:4). Surely this is good!
Let us settle it in our minds that the Christian fight is a good fight —
really good, truly good, emphatically good. We see only part of it yet.
We see the struggle, but not the end; we see the campaign, but not the
reward; we see the cross, but not the crown. We see a few humble,
broken-spirited, penitent, praying people, enduring hardships and
despised by the world; but we see not the hand of God over them, the
face of God smiling on them, the kingdom of glory prepared for them.
These things are yet to be revealed. Let us not judge by appearances.
There are more good things about the Christian warfare than we see.
And now let me conclude my whole subject with a few words of
practical application. Our lot is cast in times when the world seems
thinking of little else but battles and fighting. The iron is entering into
the soul of more than one nation, and the mirth of many a fair district
is clean gone. Surely in times like these a minister may fairly call on
men to remember their spiritual warfare. Let me say a few parting
words about the great fight of the soul.
1. It may be you are struggling hard for the rewards of this world.
Perhaps you are straining every nerve to obtain money or place or
power or pleasure. If that be your case, take care. You are sowing a
crop of bitter disappointment. Unless you mind what you are about,
your latter end will be to lie down in sorrow.
Thousands have trodden the path you are pursuing, and have awoke
too late to find it end in misery and eternal ruin. They have fought hard
for wealth and honour and office and promotion, and turned their
backs on God and Christ and heaven and the world to come. And what
has their end been? Often, far too often, they have found out that their
whole life has been a grand mistake. They have tasted by bitter
experience the feelings of the dying statesman who cried aloud in his
last hours, ‘The battle is fought; the battle is fought; but the victory is
not won.’
For your own happiness’ sake resolve this day to join the Lord’s
side. Shake off your past carelessness and unbelief. Come out from the
ways of a thoughtless, unreasoning world. Take up the cross and
become a good soldier of Christ. ‘Fight the good fight of faith’, that
you may be happy as well as safe.
Think what the children of this world will often do for liberty,
without any religious principle. Remember how Greeks and Romans
and Swiss and Tyrolese have endured the loss of all things, and even
life itself, rather than bend their necks to a foreign yoke. Let their
example provoke you to emulation. If men can do so much for a
corruptible crown, how much more should you do for one which is
incorruptible! Awake to a sense of the misery of being a slave. For life
and happiness and liberty, arise and fight.
Fear not to begin and enlist under Christ’s banner. The great Captain
of your salvation rejects none that come to Him. Like David in the cave
of Adullam, He is ready to receive all who apply to Him, however
unworthy they may feel themselves. None who repent and believe are
too bad to be enrolled in the ranks of Christ’s army. All who come to
Him by faith are admitted, clothed, armed, trained and finally led on to
complete victory. Fear not to begin this very day. There is yet room for
you.
Fear not to go on fighting, if you once enlist. The more thorough
and whole-hearted you are as a soldier, the more comfortable will you
find your warfare. No doubt you will often meet with trouble, fatigue
and hard fighting, before your warfare is accomplished. But let none of
these things move you. Greater is He that is for you than all they that
be against you. Everlasting liberty or everlasting captivity are the
alternatives before you. Choose liberty, and fight to the last.
2. It may be you know something of the Christian warfare, and are
a tried and proved soldier already. If that be your case, accept a parting
word of advice and encouragement from a fellow soldier. Let me speak
to myself as well as to you. Let us stir up our minds by way of
remembrance. There are some things which we cannot remember too well.
Let us remember that if we would fight successfully we must put on
the whole armour of God, and never lay it aside till we die. Not a single
piece of the armour can be dispensed with. The girdle of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit,
the helmet of hope — each and all are needful. Not a single day can we
dispense with any part of this armour. Well says an old veteran in
Christ's army, who died two hundred years ago, ‘In heaven we shall
appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here our arms are to
be worn night and day. We must walk, work, sleep in them, or else we
are not true soldiers of Christ.1
Let us remember the solemn words of an inspired warrior, who went
to his rest eighteen hundred years ago: ‘No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath
chosen him to be a soldier’ (2 Tim. 2:4). May we never forget that
saying!
Let us remember that some have seemed good soldiers for a little
season, and talked loudly of what they would do, and yet turned back
disgracefully in the day of battle.
Let us never forget Balaam and Judas and Demas and Lot’s wife.
Whatever we are, and however weak, let us be real, genuine, true and
sincere.
Let us remember that the eye of our loving Saviour is upon us
morning, noon and night. He will never suffer us to be tempted above
that we are able to bear. He can be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, for He suffered Himself being tempted. He knows what
battles and conflicts are, for He Himself was assaulted by the prince of
this world. Having such a High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold
fast our profession (Heb. 4:14).
Let us remember that thousands of soldiers before us have fought
the same battle that we are fighting, and come off more than
conquerors through Him that loved them. They overcame by the blood of
the Lamb, and so also may we. Christ’s arm is quite as strong as ever,
and Christ’s heart is just as loving as ever. He that saved men and
women before us is One who never changes. He is ‘able to save to the
uttermost’ all who ‘come unto God by Him‘. Then let us cast doubts
and fears away. Let us follow ‘them who through faith and patience
inherit the promises’, and are waiting for us to join them
(Heb. 7:25; 6:12).
Finally, let us remember that the time is short, and the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh. A few more battles and the last trumpet shall
sound, and the Prince of Peace shall come to reign on a renewed earth.
A few more struggles and conflicts, and then we shall bid an eternal
goodbye to warfare and to sin, to sorrow and to death. Then let us fight
on to the last and never surrender. Thus saith the Captain of our
salvation: ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his
God, and he shall be My son’ (Rev. 21:7).
Let me conclude all with the words of John Bunyan, in one of the
most beautiful parts of Pilgrim’s Progress. He is describing the end of
one of his best and holiest pilgrims: ‘After this it was noised abroad
that Mr. Valiant-for-Truth was sent for by a summons, by the same
party as the others. And he had this word for a token that the summons
was true: “The pitcher was broken at the fountain” (Eccles. 12:6). When
he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then
said he, “I am going to my Father’s house; and though with great
difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the
troubles I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him
that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him
that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for
me that I have fought His battles, who will now be my Rewarder.”
When the day that he must go home was come, many accompanied him
to the riverside, into which, as he went down, he said, “O death, where
is thy sting?” And as he went down deeper, he cried, “O grave, where is
thy victory?” So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him
on the other side.’
May our end be like this! May we never forget that without fighting
there can be no holiness while we live, and no crown of glory when
we die!
1‘ William Gurnall: The Christian in Complete Armour. Banner of Truth Trust,
1979.
