SERMON

Fight the Good Fight

There are times when we have to fight for our faith.   Paul gives us an encouragement: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” 

An army is useless for fighting if the soldiers are overcome with fear.   If we are to overcome the spiritual enemies of our church we need to be strong. 

Notice that the Scripture says that we are to be strong in the Lord.  This is not about our natural or physical strength.   Actually, we are at our strongest in the Lord when we are the weakest in ourselves.

And, we depend on His power and might.  We do the trusting, He does the acting on our behalf when strength is needed.

The Apostle encourages us to be strong in the Lord and move forward in faith and trust.

2Chronicles 32:7: “Be strong and courageous.”

Isaiah 35:4: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong.”

Therefore the principal doctrine is that the Christian, of all people, needs courage and resolution.

A similar Scripture goes like this:

“Be strong and courageous, that you may…”  Do what?  Fight great battles for the Lord?  No.

“observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you.” Joshua 1:7

We need more courage to do the will of God in the face of adversity and criticism, than to lead an actual army. 

We need a princely spirit to be successful in prayer. 

Jacob behaved like a prince, when all he did was to pray.

And not like the eyebrow massaging sessions that many carnal minded Christians engage in.

The type of prayer we are talking about is the type that comes up close to God and wrestles with Him, like Jacob did, until he received a blessing from the Lord. 

The half hearted Christian will throw away his spiritual weapons the moment things go against him, especially when his conscience accuses him of his shortcomings and sins.   He throws down his weapons and runs away from God, along with guilty Adam.

These are the things a godly person must do:

1. Wage war against their bosom sins.

  David said “I have kept myself from my iniquity.”

These are the sins nearest to his heart.   They must be trampled under his feet.  These are the sins that have caused you the most joy and laughter, and the greatest return of pleasure and profit.

These sins won’t lie on the altar quietly as Isaac did when Abraham was about to sacrifice him.  They will roar and shriek not to have the knife of mortification plunged into them.

2. The Christian is to walk with one mind, and not after the ways of the world.

We are not to compromise ourselves by doing things the way the world does them, or having the same attitudes as they have.  The Christian must stand fixed to his principles.

In the same way that Michal flouted David, so the world will ridicule us when we stand out for Christ.

The three men in the fire, and Daniel in the lions den.  They faced those trials of their faith because they refused to go the way of the world around them.

We are in the world, but not of it.   We need to be resolute in prayer and faithfulness to God’s will, otherwise we will be dismounted and made useless for the things of God.

3. The Christian must keep on his or her way to heaven in the midst of all the scandals that are thrown at the things of God by the inappropriate behaviour of false professors of Christianity.

There are those in the church who through errors in judgment and practice have caused weak Christians to be distracted from doing the will of God in their lives.

All we have to do is to read about the scandals that have befallen some American TV evangelists to see how easy it is for us to take flak for the failures of false professors of the faith.

4. The Christian must trust in a God who sometimes withdraws from them.

It requires a holy boldness of faith to continue trusting in God and maintaining your Christian life when you have no sense of assurance of God’s presence or favour with you; even when it seems that God is frowning on you.

Isaiah 50:10; “Let him who walks in darkness, and sees no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.”

We venture into God’s presence like Esther had to do when she needed to see the King.  She said “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16)

Jesus called the poor woman of Canaan a dog, yet she persevered with Him and received what she was asking for.

5.  The believer is to persevere in the Christian life until the end of their days.

The Christian’s work and his life must go off the stage together.  It is not enough to fight a battle or two and then take it easy for the rest of the time.  The war goes on for the whole lifetime.

There are many who take up the faith while it is a novelty, but after it has worn off and they are faced with the grind of taking up their cross day after day, they grow weary and slip back into the world.

Application

a.  This is why there are many who profess Christianity, but comparatively few genuine believers.

b.  This is also why we should work hard to gain and maintain the holy resolution to keep ourselves in the will of God until the end.

How do we obtain courage and resolution?

1.  We need an established judgment of the truth of God.

We need to know what or whom we fight for.  Blind zeal will invariably lead to a shameful retreat.  They who know their God will be strong and do exploits.

2. We need to have sincere purposes to aim at the right end in our profession of faith.

A hypocrite might show some mettle and some courage for a spurt at conquering some difficulties, like Jehu in the Old Testament who showed a lot of initial zeal for the Lord but then slipped away,  but he will show himself false eventually. 

He will reveal his true colours when he is pinched on the toe where his corn is – that is, when he is denied what his false heart is really aiming for.  

But a sincere believer, who has goals which are tied up in Christ and His glory, will be the one who has the courage to persevere through all difficulties and will end up being a faithful servant for the Lord.