Good Soldiers

The Good Soldier

II Corinthians 10:3, II Timothy 2:1-26

Pastor Rex Deckard

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

(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 10:3

I. Introduction

We are in a spiritual conflict. It is not a new conflict, but for some of us, it is new. The bad news is that this conflict will continue to intensify until the time of Great Tribulation- it will get worse and worse.

II Timothy 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

The good news is that Jesus Christ is coming and when He arrives, He will make everything right!

In Zechariah 14: 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives

In this day Satan is using many tactics.

· He is using apathy-

· He uses a false sense of security.

· He is using pleasure- the idea that somehow we deserve more free time for personal indulgence.

· He is using the tactic of terrorism- that is, bringing fear, intimidation and an exaggerated terror that the enemy is bigger and greater than what he really is.

· He is using the tactic of guerilla warfare…snipers pick out the weak and the feeble- those that are wounded and struggling.

II. We must be good soldiers

A. What is a good soldier like?

Paul wrote to his son in the Gospel near the end of Paul’s life, and gave him instructions on what it would take for him to survive as a soldier of the Gospel.

2 Timothy 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

A soldier has to maintain their strength. The can’t afford to get soft, because they never know when the next battle will start or the next call will come.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

B. Along with strength, the next critical element of a soldier is duty, commitment and dependability- what the Bible refers to as faithfulness.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good

soldier of Jesus Christ.

C. A soldier knows that his dress uniform is only for parades and photographs. The real battle is dirty anddifficult. Anyone can march when the bands are playing, but it is out on the front lines with no audience and no one looking over his shoulder where the real battles are won.

It is there that the real men are separated from the boys.

D. A soldier also knows that there are times they must hold their ground!

· The good soldier knows that there is a time to just hold on.

I Samuel 17:1 The Army of Saul was holding their ground while every day Goliath came and taunted them.

II Chronicles 32:1 Hezekiah was surrounded by the Assyrian army, but they held their ground and waited on God.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

E. A good soldier can’t get caught up with selfish things that only please himself. He can’t afford to compromise himself and his comrades by losing his focus. He is not on a sightseeing tour. He is not out collecting sea shells. He is fighting a war! And the one he must please is the one that has chosen him for his rank and his mission.

5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.

F. A good soldier knows that there are no short cuts. We have to strive for mastery, and we have to do it the right way.

6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.

Paul is telling Timothy two principles here. First, (the laborour) can’t put in others what he doesn’t have in himself.

Second, that our first obligation is to God, and then to everything else. He gets our first and our best.