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To uphold the Protestant Reformed Faith upon which our
National Constitution was established.

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH PART 3

(I Timothy 6:12)

By: J. C. Ryle Extract from ‘A Call to Holiness’, chapter 4 ‘The Fight’
(Part 1 reminded us that true Christianity is ‘a fight’ against the flesh, the world and the Devil. Part 2 explained how Christians are to fight and Part 3 shows that it 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 time.” 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 to 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 fight is good because it is 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 movement, never errs in judgment, 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 a 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 in you 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; Rom. 16:20; Phil. 1:6; Isa. 43:2; John 10:28; John 6:37; Heb. 13:5; Rom. 8:38). 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) This 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, agonising conflicts, wounds, bruises, watchings, fastings and fatigue, but still every believer, without exception, is more than conqueror “through Him that loved us” (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 demoralising tendency. They call forth the worst passions of the human mind. They harden the conscience and sap the foundation 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 service 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 though a land is an awful scourge to the inhabitants. Wherever it does it impoverishes, wastes and invariably 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, honour and titles, but it can give nothing that will last and endure for ever, nothing that can be carried beyond the grave. Places 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 Pet. 5:4). Surely this is good!

Let us settle it in our minds that the Christian fight is a good fight – really good, emphatically good. We see only part of it as 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. Your sowing will lead to 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 awoken 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 seek to join the Lord’s side. Shake off your past carelessness and unbelief. Come out from the ways of a thoughtless, unreasoning world.

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, 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!

Fear not to enlist under Christ’s banner. The great Captain of your salvation rejects none that come to Him. 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 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 maybe 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, who died many 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.” (Gurnall’s Christian Armour)

Let us remember the solemn words of an inspired warrior, who went to his rest 1800 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, Judas, 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 great 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 though 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 the One who never changes. He is “able to save them to the uttermost that 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).

May we never forget that without fighting there can be no holiness while we live and no crown of glory when we die!

Slightly Abbreviated

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Test

But one thing is needful

Luke 10 v 42

Mr Samuel Kingham

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