THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Fight the Good Fight!"Rev. Carl Haak(e-mail: Rev. Carl
Haak) |
Dear radio friends,
Our message today is taken from the Word of God in
I Timothy 6:11, 12.
There
we read, “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight
the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and
hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.”
These words need very little
introduction other than that each one of us must be ready to hear them as spoken by the
Lord to us. They are, of course, Paul’s
word to his young friend and fellow minister Timothy, words of intense focus, deepest
passion, and warmest love. “Timothy,
fight the good fight of faith.” They are
spoken by a great fighter in the battle of faith, the apostle Paul, who was a great
spiritual warrior. He will say to Timothy in
his second epistle to Timothy (chapter 4), “I have fought a good fight; I have
finished my course; I have kept the faith.” Paul’s
whole life from the road to Damascus was about keeping the faith. And he was able to fight this fight of faith
because he had been made at peace with God.
Now writing to his beloved
Timothy, the experienced warrior Paul says, “Timothy, the Christian life is a battle
of faith. It matters not, Timothy, if in your
life you attain to wealth, influence, power, happiness.
But this matters, Timothy: strive
always to live out of the faith, the faith union to Christ.
And hold tight His truth in your heart.”
Removing ourselves, now, from
the person of Paul and Timothy and from the specific situation in which the holy Scripture was first written in
I Timothy 6,
we believe now that this Scripture is written for us
upon whom the ends of the world are come. For
Paul also wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for us.” Each one of us, now,
and especially to you who are young men and husbands and heads of households, each one of
us is called to fight the good fight of faith. Let
us hear these words from God.
We should look at the first
verse that I read (v. 11) as the necessary preparation for fighting the good fight of
faith. We can fight only if we have first
fled these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and
meekness. Only when those two things are true
of us can we go on to fight the good fight of faith.
The apostle addresses us as “man of God,” and that address underscores
the difference that God’s grace has made and what God has made us by His grace. We are made, by grace, to be men of God, women of
God, children of God.
In the Old Testament the title
“man of God” was used to designate a person who was set apart by God to do
God’s work on earth, as Moses was called “the man of God.” In the New Testament this word “man of
God” is used to describe every believer. Once again, in
II Timothy 3:16,
where we read, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of
God,” then we read in verse 17, “That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly
furnished unto all good works.” The
child of God is referred to as the “man of God,” God’s man, God’s
possession, owned by God, purchased through the transaction of the cross. Now the title or ownership is in the hand of God. The child of God does not say, “I’m my
own.” Or, “I’m owned by
mammon.” Or, “I’m owned by
lust and greed or the world.” But we are
God’s peculiar possession. A man of God. Let that sink in.
Paul looks at Timothy and sees God’s grace.
He sees what God has made him to be, that God’s grace has distinguished him
and brought him so that he is now devoted to God. Is
that true of you? Are you a man of God? Do you fight the good fight of faith?
But, as I was saying, if we are
to fight that good fight of faith, we must first of all flee certain things and follow
after other things. What things are we
supposed to flee? The apostle says, “O
man of God, flee these things.” What
things? You will have to read the chapter
(I Tim. 6)
and go back to verse 3, where we are warned of arrogant, proud disputers of
God’s Word, which would bring in strife of words.
Then the apostle went on in verses 6-8 to speak of covetousness and greed and
materialism. The things, then, that we are to
flee if we are to fight the good fight of faith are especially the prevailing and
overpowering sin of materialism, of living for things, pleasures, and possessions. The apostle says to us, “Flee, run away,
avoid with fright. Don’t back up gently
from these things. Run, because the Bible
sees covetousness, the lust for earthly things, as a strong evil.”
The apostle has warned Timothy
in verse 10. He says, “Some covet after
these earthly things.” Literally, they
reach out for them. Those earthly things, you
know, are always held just about an inch or so from your grasp. They want you to reach out for them. They are just around the corner — your boat
is about to come in. But God says that, when
you begin to covet after and compromise and live for the earthly things, soon you will
wander from the faith, you will err from the faith, you will lose focus, you will lose the
path. God says, “I have set you as My
child on the path.” You are going to be
influenced, tempted by sin, to reach out — just beyond your fingertips there is going
to be money or influence or sports or sex or something.
You think, “I can almost reach it.”
The apostle says, “Flee that!” Because
those things of materialism, greed, and lust will intertwine in your heart. It will not happen overnight. But suddenly you are going to wake up and you are
going to ask, “What am I living for? What
is sucking up all my energy?” Flee these
things of materialism, greed, and lust. And
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
The point is: you cannot flee materialism unless you are
following righteousness, godliness, etc. The
Christian life is not just “don’ts.” The
Christian does not simply stand before temptation of lust and greed and materialism and
say, “No, no, no.” But the
Christian, when he says “No,” turns around and begins to follow something else. The word “follow” means “pursue,
track down.” It is a word translated
“persecute.” When Paul persecuted
the church before his conversion, he tracked down Christians to their doorstep. So, the Word of God says, “follow, pursue
righteousness. Don’t just think about
it. Don’t say, ‘Well, it would be
nice to be a godly person — to have more faith, love, patience, and meekness.’ But run those things down! Track them down.
All of those things.”
This is necessary preparation if
we are to fight the good fight of faith. You
cannot fight the good fight of faith without this preparation of first fleeing the
earthly, the temptations, and following after the righteousness and godliness. You cannot fight unless you first do that. First we must have these things in our lives
before we fight the good fight of faith.
But after that necessary
preparation, we are brought into a very intense contest, conflict. Fight the good fight of faith. The word “fight” means “contend,
struggle.” It is a word that Paul used
frequently in the New Testament from the athletic games of his day, with which Paul was
familiar. It refers to an intense struggle,
to strip down, to practice, requiring grit and determination. Always the Bible says the life of the child of God
requires grit, struggle. It is not soft and
easy. Fight the good fight of faith.
What is the good fight of faith? The apostle is simply saying, “Live your
life now out of your union to Jesus Christ.” That
is the good fight of faith. That is the real
issue in this life. Live by faith! Live as one who is of Christ in this world.
This issue is the real issue. Will there be a church dedicated to Jesus Christ
on this earth? Will there be people of God
living in faith in the risen Savior? This is
the battle. And it is a battle not because
the outcome is in doubt. The outcome has been
determined at the foot of the cross. Jesus
says He has the victory. He is risen. There will be faith on the earth. There will be a church. The battle is not in doubt because it is not our
strength that will determine the outcome. We
have the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord fights for us. But, nevertheless, this
is a real fight right now because our faith in Jesus Christ is opposed. Union to Jesus Christ is hated in this present
world. There will be a fight because there
are sworn, merciless enemies — Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh —
which will come up against our faith.
Therefore, the word is
“fight!” Very often this fight of
faith rages within us in secret. Some of the
most severe battles of the Christian man’s life are fought in secret in our own
individual souls. In the secret recesses of
my heart, in the halls of my imagination, in the chambers of my heart, in my mind, the
battle against my sin, my pride, my lust rages on and on, day after day. It is not very hard to fight when you have people
who are applauding you. But when you must
fight in secret and you must fight a relentless foe, you readily become discouraged and
cast down. Fight the good fight of faith.
The question is always this: are you living in submission to the only Lord and
Master Jesus Christ? Are you bowing today
before His Word? You cannot fight without His
Word. You must arm yourself with the Word of
God, with the armor of faith. What is the
basis of your decisions? What do you want out
of life? What do you count most dear? Fight the good fight of faith. Answer those questions with the word
“Christ.” It is by faith that you
see the unseen Savior who has loved you and given Himself for you, has paid the debt of
your sins and covered your sins in His own blood, and has carried away your
transgressions. Now you see Him as the risen
One who is standing at the right hand of God, who empowers you unto a new and holy life. Seeing now your Savior, you will be filled with
peace and hope, and willingly you will battle the foes of your own soul. You will fight your sin. You will fight that magazine. You will fight that pride, that lust, that anger. You will fight anything that comes between you and
your soul and Christ.
Lay hold, says the apostle, of
eternal life, whereunto thou art called and hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses. There is the strength how to
fight. That is how we fight. We fight by laying hold. If you do not lay hold of eternal life to which
you are called, you will not have the strength to fight.
The idea is not that if we fight
then we get eternal life. That is not the
idea. But the idea is that eternal life is
promised to us. We must lay hold of that
promise. We must believe that promise, by the
grace of God, and so be strengthened in our fight. Paul
says to Timothy that he had eternal life. He
had been called to eternal life. There the
Word of God is referring to the powerful call of God whereby God addresses us, the elect
sinner, in our soul. He addresses us by His
own living Word. He calls us unto Himself. He bestows upon us eternal life. God has given to us that life in Christ right now,
which will never die. “He that believeth
in me hath passed from death to life,” said Jesus.
He has eternal life. Not will
have it perfectly in glory. But we have
it right now, right now. Not something that
we earned, but something that Christ has freely given to us. Now, lay hold on that. That is how you fight. Hold on to that treasure in Christ. Get a grip on it.
Hold on to it. Know the truth. Do not be apathetic, indifferent. But lay hold onto eternal life. In this way you fight.
Let me use an illustration. Young men, when you are playing football, and you
are the running back, you hold on to the ball. Why? The coach says, “Tuck the ball away, protect
the ball, hold on to it.” Why? Because the opponents are going to try to get it
away. They are going to try to strip you of
the ball. They are going to try to jar the
ball so that you cough it up.
But this is no game. Your enemies want to strip the ball so that you
let go. Your enemies do not want you to live
with the hope of eternal life in your heart. They
are going to try to knock it loose. They are
going to threaten you. They are going to hit
you hard. They are going to say, “Where
is your God? What good does it do for you to
serve Him? You don’t need to worry about
eternal life.” Or, if they cannot knock
it out of your hands, they will try to seduce you. They
will say to you, “Oh, you don’t need to grip it so hard. Just relax. Sit
down. Enjoy yourself. It’s Friday night. A few beers, a little music, some
party….”
God says, “Lay hold on
eternal life.” Lay hold on it firmly by
faith, so that you may fight. Out of that
hope of eternal life, out of that promise of God, we fight the good fight of faith. Sometimes I fear, when I see how weakly and feebly
we hold on to eternal life. Rather
indifferently and loosely we say, “I’m a Christian, but let’s not be too
much a Christian.” Of these influences
that our parents, the former generation, warned us about, which creep in more and more
into our life and into the church, more and more the generation today seems to say,
“Oh, they’re not going to hurt us. Oh,
yes, we need the Word. Church is a good
thing. Sunday is a wonderful day. But it’s a nice day too, and we’ve had a
busy week, so why can’t we take Sunday a little bit more loosely?”
Beloved, what will happen when
the jars come? And they will come. When the sicknesses and the trials and the loss
come into our life? Are you holding on to
eternal life? Are you fighting the good fight
of faith? When those trials come, do they
drive you to despair? Do you begin to
murmur? Do you say, “What’s the
use?” Or do you lay hold on eternal life
and by that grace fight the good fight of faith?
What happens when you as a young
person are confronted with all the pleasures and all the treasures of the world, and the
world says to you, “We can put them in your hand!” Young man, the world is saying this to you,
“We can put right into your hand everything — money, pleasures, sex,
possessions, good times. We can put it right
into your hand. There is only one thing
you’ve got to do. Will you please loosen
your grip on eternal life? Will you quit
holding on to it so much? Just put it down on
the table here. We’ll watch it for you
and we’ll fill your hands with all of these things.”
Child of God, lay hold of
eternal life. The great issue of your day is
faith in Jesus Christ. The great issue is the
battle that has raged over the earth and that is being heated for its final climax. Your enemy is sworn to destroy you, to destroy
your faith, that there be no faith left on the earth.
How are you going to fight? You can
fight only when you lay hold on eternal life, when you live out of the hope of your Lord.
Then you may be confident. For we shall not be defeated. The victory is of the Lord. We are more than conquerors through Him that hath
loved us. It is not of our strength. “Did we in our own strength confide,”
said Martin Luther, “our striving would be losing.
Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing....” Oh, yes. The
victory is in Jesus Christ. That is our
confidence.
But that confidence does not
make us indifferent. It must make us cautious
and courageous. It makes us cautious. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourself close to His people. It makes you very cautious, so that you do not
unnecessarily expose yourself to spiritual temptation.
But it also makes you courageous. Then
I know I can endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I know that whatever comes to me in this battle of
faith, He will give me the strength that I might fight on.
Fight the good fight. It is a good fight.
It is worth it! All of the other
fights, wars, efforts of men in which they seek to build their nations and secure their
safety — all of these other wars are not good fights.
They are not good wars. And ultimately
the world, apart from Jesus Christ, is going to crash down in flames of judgment. But this is a good fight. It is a good fight because the promises are sure. The fight is a good fight because we fight in
Christ. He is by our side. And it is a good fight because it ends in perfect
victory.
Remember, the time is short. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. Now is the time to fight under His banner, with
His eye upon you. God make you a faithful
soldier of Jesus Christ. God give you to be
strong in faith. Lay hold on eternal life and
fight the good fight of faith.
Father in heaven, we thank Thee
for Thy precious Word. Apply it to our hearts
by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.