Romans 12:21 - Homiletics

The way to victory.

Although the world is full of strife, and although the Scriptures constantly represent the good man as engaged in conflict, still we cannot regard warfare, either physical or moral, as the true occupation and the final satisfaction of man. The state of humanity is, however, such that only through the battling of opposed principles can true peace be gained and the ideal condition be reached. We are accordingly accustomed to think of resistance as the necessary incident and of victory as the hard-won end of the moral life. And, for us, the good man is the man who spends his strength, and passes his time, in antagonism to error and to evil.

I. THERE IS A GREAT CONFLICT AND WARFARE UPON EARTH CARRIED ON BETWEEN EVIL AND GOOD . Truth contends with error, reason with superstition, conscience with passion, virtue with vice, law with crime, order with turbulence, religion with infidelity. There are wars and fightings in which it may be said that light contends with darkness. But for the most part the campaign is not so simple, so intelligible; the combatants are not on the one side all good, nor on the other all evil; opposing principles are distributed irregularly through the armies.

II. NONE CAN BE NEUTRAL IN THIS STRUGGLE , Whether or not we consciously and deliberately engage in the moral war, it is ever raging. Not only so; we are constrained to take a side. He who professedly withdraws from the moral conflict does in reality side with the enemy of God. For to deem the war one of no interest, ere which has no moral claim upon us, is to fail to respond to the trumpet-call of duty, and to decline the noblest of all careers—that of the soldier of the cross. "He that is not with me," says our Lord, "is against me."

III. THE FORCES OF EVIL ARE POWERFUL AND OFTEN VICTORIOUS . Christians do ill to despise the power of their spiritual foe; for such an estimate may lead them to over-confidence, and to the neglect of necessary means of defence. They may then be taken unawares, and being surprised may succumb to their foe; or in any case the foe may in all likelihood gain an advantage over them. An example is given by St. Paul in this passage. There is a natural tendency to revenge. A Christian who has been wronged is urged by the surging of resentful passion within to turn upon his injurer, to retaliate, to inflict evil for evil. But, if he do so, in such case he will in fact be overcome by evil. Many are the cases in which the unspiritual principle or impulse gains the mystery in the heart and in the actions of the individual. Who is there who cannot from his own experience bear witness to this? And what state of society, what age of the world, can be pointed out which has been exempt from such spectacles as the temporary defeat of truth, justice, and goodness? Apart from Christianity, it does not seem that things have a natural tendency to improve. He who studies the history of any unchristian community will observe forms of sin continually varying, sometimes more and sometimes less repulsive, but he will not find truth and righteousness progressively powerful and finally triumphant. Now and again the snow-white standard sinks in the tumult of the strife.

IV. CHRIST , AS THE CAPTAIN OF THE RIGHTEOUS HOST , TOOK PART IN THE CONFLICT , AND CONQUERED EVIL WITH GOOD . It is true that the Lord Jesus was the Prince of peace, yet his whole life was one long struggle with sin and error. He knew well that there was but one way to a peace which should be acceptable to God and serviceable to man; and that that way was the way of spiritual conflict. It was in this sense that he came to send, not peace, but a sword, upon earth. Now, the supreme illustration of the method enjoined in the text, where we are bidden to overcome evil with good, is that furnished in the ministry of our Lord and Leader. He has proved himself the Conqueror, and if the world's sin is finally to be vanquished, it will be through Christ. And what were the tactics of the Divine Commander? He did not turn against his foes the weapons with which they attacked him. He did not render injury for injury, slander for slander, hatred for hatred. He relied upon the power of the highest and purest morality. Such strategy, if the word may be used in a good and not an evil sense, was not likely to be immediately successful; but under the government of God it cannot ultimately fail. By the compassion of his heart, by the ungrudging sympathy he ever showed to sufferers, by the patience with which he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, by his forgiving spirit, by his voluntary sacrifice,—by these means Christ procured his victory. Our Saviour's ministry was a conflict with the powers of darkness and of iniquity. In this conflict he was never really worsted. And that he was at last victorious was made manifest when he arose from the dead and ascended to the Father.

V. CHRISTIANS ARE SUMMONED TO FOLLOW THEIR MASTER IN THIS HOLY WAR . Have not their own hearts been the battle-field upon which the Saviour has fought and conquered? Has not their evil been overcome by his good? Such being the case, if they now yield to the adversary and espouse his cause, how inconsistent and indefensible will be such a course! And it must needs be that their own nature and character must be the field upon which the struggle is to be maintained even to the end. Nor is this all. We have as Christians a battle to wage with the ungodly world around. In every condition of life, in every relation, in every calling and service, there occur opportunities for us to withstand the forces of evil. And this we are called upon to do in the Saviour's Name, and by the might of the Saviour's cross. It is by honour and integrity, by purity and truth, by courage and patience, by meekness and love, that this holy war is to be waged. "Fight the good fight of faith."

VI. VICTORY MAY BE DEFERRED , BUT IT IS ASSURED AND CERTAIN TO THE ARMY OF THE LORD . It is not denied that the conflict will certainly be arduous, will probably be long. Why, we cannot tell; yet we can see that the protracted moral strife is a means of testing the faith and zeal of those combatants who have vowed to follow the banner of the Son of God. But the attributes and the promises of God himself, the glorious work of Christ, the precious and faithful declarations of Scripture, all assure us that the issue of the strife is in no way doubtful. Victory is pledged to the followers of the Lamb. We may unfalteringly rely upon the express assurance of the great Captain of our salvation: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with me upon my throne."