CHAPTER 04 – The Fight 
       “Fight the good fight of faith.”—1 Timothy 6. 12.

Following from last weeeks reading.

I think it impossible to overrate the value and importance of faith. Well may the Apostle Peter call it
“precious.” (2 Pet. 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 6:2-27.) 

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 Whitfield, 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 toward 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. 

III. 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 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, 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 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 that has begun a good work
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”—“When thou passeth through the waters I will be with thee, and
through the floods, they shall not overflow thee.”—“My sheep shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck
them out of my hand.”—“Him that cometh unto Me! 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. 14; Rom 16: 20; Philip.1: 6; Isa 42: 2; John 5:28; John 6: 37; Heb.13: 5; Rom.7: 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 Luck now, 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.7: 37.) No soldier 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 hast given Me I have lost none.” (John 17: 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 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 Pet 5: 4.) Surely this is good