Fight the Good Fight

Fight the Good Fight

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” –the Apostle Paul

In the Old Testament we read a lot about physical battles, but in the New Testament the Bible teaches that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” and that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” There is still a war going on and many battles to be fought, but it’s a spiritual warfare, not a physical one.

“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.” Ephesians 6:12

Now, a lot of people get it when we say that in the Old Testament they fought all these physical battles, but in the New Testament we don’t. Everybody’s got that down it seems—they realize we aren’t still in a physical fight. But what they fail to understand is that we are still at war. We are in a spiritual warfare against our own flesh, against sin, and against wicked people who teach false doctrine and try to silence us.

"For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Romans 7:22-23

“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” Romans 16:17-18

“They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.” Proverbs 28:4

There’s a Christianity today that has forsaken the law by not doing any fighting at all. They don’t understand that from Old Testament to New Testament we are just going from a physical fight to a spiritual fight. The average church today teaches that we went from a physical fight to NO fight, and that our job is to just get along with everybody. But there are in fact spiritual battles going on today, and that’s why the Old Testament battles are so applicable.

Here is a sermon to go with this article