The Spurgeon Series 1859 & 1860. Charles H. Spurgeon

has made of one flesh all people who live upon the face of the earth.” The cause of Christ is the cause of humanity. We are friends to all, and are enemies to none. We do not speak evil, even of the false prophet himself, as a man; but, as a false prophet, we are his sworn opponents. Now, Christians, you have a difficult battle to fight, because you fight with all evil and hostility between man and man: you are to be peacemakers. Go wherever you may, if you see a quarrel you are to mediate it. You are to pluck firebrands out of the fire, and strive to quench them in the waters of lovingkindness. It is your mission to bring the nations together, and weld them into one. It is yours to make man love man, to make him no more the devourer of his kind. This you can only do by being the friends of purity. Peace with error is war with man: but war with error is peace with man. Strike error, strike sin, and you have done your best to promote happiness and union among mankind. Oh, go, Christian, in the Spirit’s strength, and strike your own anger — put that to the death, strike your own pride — level that, and then strike every other man’s anger. Make peace wherever you can; scatter peace with both your hands. Let this be the very air you breathe; let nothing drop from your lip except words of healing, words of tenderness, words which shall abate the strife and noise of this poor distracted world. And now you have a battle before you, — a battle against sin and against error, and then, also, a battle against strife, — the battle of love.

      14. II. And now FOR THE LORD’S SOLDIERS: who are those who are to fight the Lord’s battle? Not everyone. The Lord has his army, his church: who are they? The Lord’s soldiers are all of his own choosing. He has chosen them out of the world; and they are not of the world, even as Christ is not of the world. But if you want to know the Lord’s soldiers, I will tell you how you may ascertain whether you are one. When the Lord Jesus enlists a soldier in his church, the first thing he does with him is, he tells him that he must first take off every rag of the old garments that he was accustomed to wear. “Now,” Jesus says to him, “your rags must be relinquished; your sins and your self-righteousness must both be forsaken. Here is the regimental, here is the inner garment of my imputed righteousness, and here is the outward garment of divine sanctification. Put on these, and you are mine. But in your own robes, I will have nothing to do with you; you shall still continue an heir of wrath, and I will not enlist you among the heirs of grace.” As soon as a man has his rags taken off, if Christ has enlisted him, the next thing he is required to do is, to wash. He is washed, from head to foot, in a matchless bath of blood; and when washed, he is arrayed, and clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When this is done, he is taken into the midst of the army and introduced to his comrades; and he is led to love the whole army. “Well,” one says, “I love my own rank.” Do you? Then you do not belong to it, if you do not love the other ranks too. He who is a true soldier of Christ, wears his regimentals, and he loves the whole army. He keeps to his own regiment, and he likes its banner — the flag that has so often braved the battle and the storm; still he loves the whole army, however much the colours may differ. He loves all those who serve the Lord Jesus Christ. “By this also you shall know whether you are his disciples, if you love one another, even as Christ has loved you.”

      15. Once brought into the army, there is one mark by which you may know Christ’s soldier, namely, that he is not his own. If you meet him, he will say, “From head to foot I belong to my Captain, every inch of me; and what is more, I have given up goods and chattels, wife and children, time and talents, everything to him. I am not my own, I am bought with a price.” He is a consecrated man. Come, then, ask these questions of yourselves. Have you been washed in the blood of Christ? Do you boast in the imputed righteousness of Christ? And are you clothed with the sanctification of his Spirit? Have you given up everything for his cause, and for the love you bear his name are you willing to live or willing to die, as he shall please, if you may only promote his honour? Well, then, you are his soldier, and therefore I shall not need to draw any further lines of distinction; but go to the third point, which is —

      16. III. THE EXHORTATION — “Fight!” “Fight the Lord’s battles.” If you are the soldier of the heavenly King, “To arms! to arms!” “Fight the Lord’s battles.”

      17. Here I would observe, that there are some people who are very fond of looking on, and not fighting. Perhaps five out of every six of our church do little except look on. You go to see them, and you say, “Well, what is your church doing?” “Well, we bless God, we are doing a great deal; we have a Sunday School, with so many children; our minister preaches so many times, and so many members have been added to the churches. The sick are visited; the poor are relieved.” And you stop them, and say, “Well, friend, I am glad to hear that you are doing so much; but what work do you do? Do you teach in the Sunday School?” “No.” “Do you preach in the street?” “No.” “Do you visit the sick?” “No.” “Do you assist in the discipline of the church?” “No.” “Do you contribute to the poor?” “No.” Yet I thought you said you were doing so much. Stand out, sir, if you please, you are doing nothing at all. Be ashamed! Your master does not say, “Look on at the Lord’s battles”; but “Fight” them. “Ah,” one says, “but then, you know, I contribute towards the support of the minister; he has to do that.” Oh! I see, you have made a mistake; you thought that you belonged to the English government, and not to Christ’s government. You have been paying for a substitute, have you? You are not going to fight in person; you are paying to keep a substitute to fight for you. Ah, you have made a great mistake here. Christ will have all his soldiers fight. Why, I am not kept to do the fighting for you: I will endeavour to encourage you, and nerve you to the battle; but as to doing your duty, no, I thank you. The Romanist may believe that his priest does the work for him; I do not believe any such thing in my case, nor in the case of your ministers. Christ did not serve you by proxy, and you cannot serve him by proxy. No, “he himself bore our sins in his own body,” and you must work for Christ in your own body, your own self, with your own heart and with your own hands. I do hate that religion which another man can do for you. Depend upon it, it is good for nothing. True religion is a personal thing. Oh soldiers of the heavenly King, do not leave your lieutenants and your officers to fight alone. Come on with us; we wave our swords in front. Come comrades, on! we are ready to mount the wall, or lead the forlorn hope. Will you desert us? Come up the ladder with us. Let us show the enemy what Christian blood can do, and at the sword’s point let us drive our foes before us. If you leave us to do all, it will all be undone; we want everyone to do something, everyone to be labouring for Christ. Here, then, is the exhortation to each individual Christian — “Fight the Lord’s battles.”

      18. And now, I will read you the martial code — the rules which Christ, the Captain, would have you obey in fighting his battles.

      19. Regulation I. — NO COMMUNICATION NOR UNION WITH THE ENEMY!

      20. “You are not of the world.” No truce, no league, no treaty, are you to make with the enemies of Christ. “Come out from among them, and be separate, and do not touch the unclean thing.”

      21. Regulation II. — NO QUARTER TO BE GIVEN OR TAKEN!

      22. You are not to say to the world, “There! believe me to be better than I am” — and do not ever believe the world to be better than it is? Do not ask it to excuse you; do not excuse it. No parley with it whatever. If it praises you, do not care for its praise; if it scorns, you laugh in its face. Have nothing to do with its pretended friendship. Ask nothing from its hands; let it be crucified to you, and you to it.

      23. Regulation III. — NO WEAPONS OR AMMUNITION TAKEN FROM THE ENEMY ARE TO BE USED BY EMMANUEL’S SOLDIERS, BUT ARE TO BE UTTERLY BURNED WITH FIRE!

      24. If you beat them, and you find their guns lying on the ground, spike them and melt them; never fire them off: — that is to say, never fight Christ’s battles with the devil’s weapons. If your enemy gets angry do not get angry with him; if he slanders you, do not slander him. One of the devil’s long guns is slander: spike it and melt it; do not attempt to use it against the enemy. All kinds of bitterness — these are firebrands of death which Satan hurls against us: never hurl them back at him. Remember your