1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal… Generally speaking, a strict consistency is maintained betwixt the character of a man and the object of his pursuit. His actions bear a conclusive testimony as to the nature of his individual purpose. There is a oneness of his whole being with the matter at issue. As his companion, you are left to no uncertain guess-work in determining the uppermost thing which engrosses his thoughts, concentrates his affections, quickens his desires, or invigorates his endeavours. The worldling is ever true to the worldling's creed; his god will not allow of any dereliction of duty, of any niggardness of service, of any neglects or deficiencies in the homage required. Let thus ambition be the ruling idol — and the devotedness of his powers proves the sincerity of his affiance. Let wealth be the ruling idol — and his "rising up early, and sitting up late, and eating the bread of carefulness," show how perfect is the agreement betwixt him and the influence which presides. I. FIRST, INDECISION IN ITS NATURE AND PREVALENCE. 1. In its nature. The mass of society does not consist of only two descriptions of persons — those who are eminently pious and those who are flagrantly wicked — but there is also an intermediate class, the victims of indecision; bespeaking that state of the mind and the heart which, instead of cleaving wholly to God, or yielding altogether to the world, alternates with both; an indecision which, as if passive to the influence of opposite claims, bends now to the one and now to the other, as accident or circumstances shall determine — now governed by the human, now by the Divine claims; an indecision that in seeking to couple the allegiance of two masters is a traitor to both — admitting, more or less, the force of Gospel statements, the powerful appeals of "the truth as it is in Jesus," while the occasion lasts, so that there is a sort of turning to Him, and being again open to the seductions of sensual objects, so that there is a turning to them; an equi-ponderant weight, having no settled place, but shifting to this side or that, as the case may be — the opponents pitching and pulling the man now hither and now thither, as if in contention for his whole captivity — the voice of the one saying "You are mine," and that of the other saying "You are mine," and the man is neither's. 2. The prevalence of indecision. By far the larger mass of all our congregations is composed of the undecided. Thousands say their prayers, who do not pray; thousands verbally assent to the truths of Christ, where there is nothing but the dead letter, where there is no spirit, no demonstration, no power. II. INDECISION IN ITS CAUSES. And these are multiform. 1. One is pride. This is ever lingering within us, checking the fulness of our reliance upon God. 2. Indecision, again, arises from ignorance — ignorance of the relative value and comparative importance of things. 3. Indecision springs-from our sloth. It is the reverse of the effort to maintain "a good confession." Decision in being "on the Lord's side," involves the necessity of great and painful self-denial. 4. Indecision proceeds from the love of the world. Whilst the heart is buried there, how can it be given to another? The affections cannot be placed upon two objects diametrically opposed to each other. 5. Indecision sometimes arises from the fear of man. It partakes of that moral cowardice which shrinks from the names that the malicious may invent to stigmatise, or the oppressions which the powerful may bear down upon an honest profession; though perhaps the fear of ridicule may tend morE to prevent religious decision than the edicts of the sternest persecution. 6. Indecision has another cause in presumption. 7. Indecision has a cause in the neglect of prayer — of prayer for the assistance of that Holy Spirit, who being the "Guide into all truth," enables us to apprehend all the mysteries of godliness. III. INDECISION IN ITS CONSEQUENCES. And these are full of evil. 1. Indecision, in the first place, is an insult to the authority and the character of God. 2. Indecision works evil upon others. Every man, whether he thinks it or not, is surrounded by witnesses; and the world is sharp sighted in observing those flaws of inconsistency which bring so many professions of religion into contempt; where such as attend its ordinances, only leave them to exhibit the selfishness, the covetousness, and the earthly-mindedness of the natural man. 3. The undecided am the self-deceived. A hope is begotten which will never be realised; their daydream of good, as a dream, cheats them with its images and all passes away in air. 4. The undecided, again, are criminal. "Whatsoever," it is said, "is not of faith is sin." 5. The undecided man is the unrecompensed man; self excluded from the privileges to be enjoyed within the Christian pale. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways; let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord." 6. The undecided man is the unsafe man. Hanging doubtfully, as betwixt two worlds, he has two worlds around him; he neither belongs to this world, nor to that kingdom which Christ said "is not of this world." 7. The undecided man is a condemned man. He being "neither hot nor cold," presents a state of Divine rejection. To die is to die under the ban of utter retribution. It is said that "the fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." (T. J. Judkin, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. |
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