Chapter 15
Most of the people prior to Elijah thought that Jehovah was God, and that Baal was god, too. For this reason, the worship of both was quite consistent. The great majority of people did not reject the God of their fathers wholly, nor did they bow before Baal wholly. As polytheists, believing in many gods, they thought both gods could be worshipped, and each could have a share in their hearts.
“No,” said the prophet when he began, “this will not do; these are two different positions. You can never make them one. They are two contradictory things which cannot be combined. Instead of combining the two, which is impossible, you are wavering between the two, which makes a vast difference.”
“I will build in my house,” said one of them, “an altar for Jehovah here, and an altar for Baal there. I am of one position. I believe them both to be God.”
“No, no,” said Elijah, “it cannot be so. They are two, and they must be two. These things are not one, but two distinct positions. You cannot unite them.”
Many say, “I am worldly, but I am religious, too. I can go worship God on Sunday. I can also go to the races any other time. I go, on the one hand, to the place where I can serve my lusts, and I am met with entertainment in every room of every description. At the same time, I say my prayers most devoutly. Is it not possible to be a good Christian and a man of the world, too? Can I not hold with the hounds as well as run with the hare? May I not love God and serve the devil, too, taking pleasure from each of them, while giving my heart to neither?”
We answer, “No. They are two positions. You cannot do it, because they are distinct and separate.”
Mark Antony yoked two lions to his chariot, but there are two lions which no man has ever yoked together: the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the lion of the pit. These can never go together. You can hold two opinions in politics, perhaps, but you will be despised by everybody unless you are of one opinion or the other and act as an independent person. However, you cannot hold two opinions in the matter of your soul and Christianity. If God is God, serve Him and serve Him fully. If this world is god, serve it and do not claim to be a Christian.
If you think the things of the world are the best, serve them; devote yourself to them, grieve your conscience, and run into sin. But remember, if the Lord is your God, you cannot have Baal too. You must have one thing or the other. No one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). If you serve God, He is your master. If you serve the devil, he will be your master, and you cannot serve two masters.
Be wise and do not think that the two can be mingled together. Many a respectable deacon thinks that he can be covetous and greedy in business and try to take advantage of the poor, and still be a saint. He is a liar to God and to man! He is no saint. He is the very chief of sinners.
Many a very excellent woman is received into church fellowship among the people of God and thinks herself one of the elect, but is found full of wrath and bitterness. She is a slave of mischief and sin, a tattler, a slanderer, and a busybody. She enters into other people’s houses and turns everything like comfort out of the minds of those with whom she comes in contact. Still she believes that she is the servant of God and of the devil, too! No, my lady, this will not work. The two can never be served completely. Serve your master, whoever he is. If you do profess to be a Christian, be so completely. If you are not a Christian, do not pretend to be. If you love the world, then love it, but cast off your mask and do not be a hypocrite.
The double-minded person is the most despicable of all people. He is the follower of Janus, who wears two faces. He can look with one eye upon the (so-called) Christian world with great delight, and donate a little money to the Tract Society, the Bible Society, and the Missionary Society, but he has another eye over there, with which he looks at the casino, the pub, and other pleasures, which I do not care to mention, but which some may know more of than I wish to know. Such a person is worse than the most corrupt, in the opinion of anyone who knows how to judge. He might not seem worse in his open character, but he really is worse, because he is not honest enough to go through with what he professes.
Tom Loker, in Uncle Tom, was pretty near the mark when he shut the mouth of Haley, the slaveholder, who professed religion, with the following common-sense remark: “I can stand most any talk of yours, but your pious talk – that kills me right up. After all, what’s the odds between me and you? ’Tain’t that you care one bit more or have a bit more feelin’ – it’s clean, sheer, dog meanness, wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin; don’t I see through it? And your getting religious, as you call it, after all, is a deal too mean for me. Run up a bill with the devil all your life, and then sneak out when pay time comes.”
How many do the same every day in London, in England, and everywhere else! They try to serve both masters, but it cannot be. The two things cannot be reconciled. God and greedy gain, Christ and Belial – these never can meet. There can never be an agreement between them, and they can never be brought into unity. Why would you even want to do so? Two opinions, said the prophet. He would not allow any of his hearers to profess to worship both. And Elijah came near unto all the people and said, How long shall ye halt between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word (1 Kings 18:21).
It was a day to be remembered when the multitudes of Israel were assembled at the foot of Carmel, and the solitary prophet of the Lord came forward to defy the four hundred and fifty priests of the false god. We could look upon that scene with the eye of historical curiosity, and we would find it rich with interest. Instead of doing that, however, we will look at it with the eye of attentive consideration and see if we cannot improve our lives by its teachings.
There are three kinds of people upon that hill of Carmel and along the plain. First, we have the devoted servant of Jehovah, a solitary prophet. On the other hand, we have the decided servants of the evil one – the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. However, the great majority of people that day belonged to a third group. They were those who had not fully determined whether to worship Jehovah – the God of their fathers, or Baal – the god of Jezebel.
On the one hand, their ancient traditions led them to fear Jehovah, and on the other hand, their interest in pleasing their leaders and keeping their positions led them to bow before Baal. Therefore, many of them were secret and half-hearted followers of Jehovah, but public worshippers of Baal. All of them at this time were wavering, or halting, between two opinions.
Elijah does not address his sermon to the priests of Baal. He will have something to say to them later, as he will preach them dreadful sermons in deeds of blood. Nor does Elijah have anything to say to those who are dedicated servants of Jehovah, for they are not there. His discourse is directed specifically to those who are wavering between two positions.
“Now,” says the prophet, “if the Lord is God, follow Him. Let your conduct be consistent with what you claim to believe. If you believe the Lord to be God, live it out in your daily life. Be holy, be prayerful, trust in Christ, be faithful, be upright, be loving. Give your whole heart to God and follow Him. If Baal is god, then follow him, but do not pretend to follow the God of Israel.”
Let your conduct back up your opinion. If you really think that the foolishness of this world is best, and if you believe that a fashionable life, a life of frivolity and fun, flying from flower to flower while getting honey from none, is the most desirable, then live it out. If you think the life of the pleasure seeker is so very desirable, if you think his end is to be desired, if you think his pleasures are right, then follow them. Go all the way with them. If you believe that to cheat in business is right, put a sign up over your door: I sell dishonest goods here.
Do not deceive the public. If you intend to be a real Christian, follow your conviction completely; but if you intend to be worldly, go all the way with the world. Let your conduct follow your opinions, and make your life conform with what you say. Live out your beliefs, whatever they are. But you don’t dare to do so, because you are too cowardly to sin honestly and openly before God, as others do. Your conscience will not let you.
How long will you halt between two opinions? You middle-aged men, you said when you were youths, “When we begin our careers, we will follow Jesus. Let us sow our wild oats while we are young, and then we will begin to be diligent servants of the Lord.” Now you have come to middle age and are waiting until your new home is built and you will retire; then you think you will serve God. Sirs, you said the same when you began your careers and when your business began to increase. Therefore, I demand of you, “How long will you halt between two opinions?” How much time do you want?
Young man, you said in your early childhood, when your mother’s prayer followed you, “I will seek God when I become a man.” You have passed that day. You are a man, and more than that, and you are still wavering. How long shall ye halt between two opinions?
Many of you have attended church for years. You have been under the conviction of the Spirit of God many times, but you have wiped the tears from your eyes and said, “I will seek God and turn to Him with full purpose of heart.” Now, you are just where you were then. How many more sermons do you need? How many more Sundays must be wasted? How many warnings, how many sicknesses, how many times must the bell toll to warn you that you must die? How many graves must be dug for your family before an impression will be made upon you? How many plagues and pestilences must ravage this city before you will turn to God in truth? How long shall ye halt between two opinions? I pray that you would answer this question and not allow the sands of life to drop, drop, drop from the glass saying, “When the next one goes I will repent,” yet that next one finds you unrepentant still.
You say, “When the glass reaches a certain point, I will turn to God.” No. It is pointless to talk this way, because you may find your glass empty before you thought it had begun to run low. You may find yourself in eternity when you thought you would get around to repenting and turning to God.
The prophet cries, If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him (1 Kings 18:21). In so doing, he states the basis of his practical claim. Let your conduct be consistent with your beliefs.
Another objection is raised by the crowd. “Prophet,” someone says, “you come to demand practical proof of our affection. You say, ‘Follow God.’ Now, if I believe God to be God, and that is my opinion, I still do not see what right He has to lay claim to my beliefs.”
Now, pay attention to how the prophet puts it. He says, If the LORD is God, follow him. The reason I claim that you should put action behind your opinion concerning God is that God is God! God has a claim upon you, as creatures, for your devoted obedience.
Someone replies, “What profit would I have if I served God completely? Would I be happier? Would I do better in this world? Would I have more peace of mind?”
No. Those are secondary considerations. The only thing for you to consider is, If the LORD is God, follow him. Not if it is more advantageous to you, but If the LORD is God, follow him. A worldly religious person might plead for Christianity on the grounds that Christianity might be the best for this world and best for the world to come. Not so with the prophet. He says, “I do not base it on that reasoning. Instead, I insist that it is your bound duty that if you believe in God you must serve Him and obey Him simply because He is God. I do not tell you it is for your advantage; it may be, and I believe it is, but I put that aside from the question. I demand of you that you follow God if you believe Him to be God. If you do not think He is God, if you really think that the devil is god, then follow him. His pretended godhead will be your plea, and you will be consistent; but if God is God, if He made you, I demand that you serve Him. If it is He who puts breath into your nostrils, I demand that you obey Him. If God is really worthy of worship, and you really think so, I demand that you either follow Him, or else deny that He is God at all.”
How long shall ye halt between two opinions? I will tell them. You will halt between two opinions, all of you who are undecided, until God answers by fire. Fire was not what these poor people who were assembled there wanted. Elijah proclaimed that the God that answers by fire is God (1 Kings 18:24).
I imagine that I hear some of them saying, “No, the God who answers by water, let Him be God. We need rain badly enough.”
“No,” said Elijah, “if rain would come, you would say that it was the common course of nature, and that would not lead you to decide.” I tell you, nothing that comes from God and nothing that God sends into your life will cause you who are undecided to decide. God may surround you with His care, influences, and intervention. He may surround you with frequent warnings from the deathbed of your fellow men, but these things will never cause you to make a decision.
It is not the God of rain, but the God of fire who will do it. There are two ways in which you who are undecided will be decided in the future. You who have decided to follow God will need no decision. You who have decided to follow Satan will need no decision; you are on Satan’s side and must dwell forever in eternal burning.
However, you who are undecided need something to help you decide. You will have one of two things: you will either have the fire of God’s Spirit to lead you to decide, or your decision will be made by the fire of eternal judgment.
Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God and that thou shalt convert their heart back again to thee. (1 Kings 18:37)
Charles H. Spurgeon – A Brief Biography
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born on June 19, 1834, in Kelvedon, Essex, England. He was one of seventeen children in his family (nine of whom died in infancy). His father and grandfather were Nonconformist ministers in England. Due to economic difficulties, eighteen-month-old Charles was sent to live with his grandfather, who helped teach Charles the ways of God. Later in life, Charles remembered looking at the pictures in Pilgrim’s Progress and in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs as a young boy.
Charles did not have much of a formal education and never went to college. He read much throughout his life though, especially books by Puritan authors.
Even with godly parents and grandparents, young Charles resisted giving in to God. It was not until he was fifteen years old that he was born again. He was on his way to his usual church, but when a heavy snowstorm prevented him from getting there, he turned in at a little Primitive Methodist chapel. Though there were only about fifteen people in attendance, the preacher spoke from Isaiah 45:22: Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Charles Spurgeon’s eyes were opened and the Lord converted his soul.
He began attending a Baptist church and teaching Sunday school. He soon preached his first sermon, and then when he was sixteen years old, he became the pastor of a small Baptist church in Cambridge. The church soon grew to over four hundred people, and Charles Spurgeon, at the age of nineteen, moved on to become the pastor of the New Park Street Church in London. The church grew from a few hundred attenders to a few thousand. They built an addition to the church, but still needed more room to accommodate the congregation. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was built in London in 1861, seating more than 5,000 people. Pastor Spurgeon preached the simple message of the cross, and thereby attracted many people who wanted to hear God’s Word preached in the power of the Holy Spirit.
On January 9, 1856, Charles married Susannah Thompson. They had twin boys, Charles and Thomas. Charles and Susannah loved each other deeply, even amidst the difficulties and troubles that they faced in life, including health problems. They helped each other spiritually, and often together read the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Richard Baxter, and other Puritan writers.
Charles Spurgeon was a friend of all Christians, but he stood firmly on the Scriptures, and it didn’t please all who heard him. Spurgeon believed in and preached on the sovereignty of God, heaven and hell, repentance, revival, holiness, salvation through Jesus Christ alone, and the infallibility and necessity of the Word of God. He spoke against worldliness and hypocrisy among Christians, and against Roman Catholicism, ritualism, and modernism.
One of the biggest controversies in his life was known as the “Down-Grade Controversy.” Charles Spurgeon believed that some pastors of his time were “down-grading” the faith by compromising with the world or the new ideas of the age. He said that some pastors were denying the inspiration of the Bible, salvation by faith alone, and the truth of the Bible in other areas, such as creation. Many pastors who believed what Spurgeon condemned were not happy about this, and Spurgeon eventually resigned from the Baptist Union.
Despite some difficulties, Spurgeon became known as the “Prince of Preachers.” He opposed slavery, started a pastors’ college, opened an orphanage, led in helping feed and clothe the poor, had a book fund for pastors who could not afford books, and more.
Charles Spurgeon remains one of the most published preachers in history. His sermons were printed each week (even in the newspapers), and then the sermons for the year were re-issued as a book at the end of the year. The first six volumes, from 1855-1860, are known as The Park Street Pulpit, while the next fifty-seven volumes, from 1861-1917 (his sermons continued to be published long after his death), are known as The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. He also oversaw a monthly magazine-type publication called The Sword and the Trowel, and Spurgeon wrote many books, including Lectures to My Students, All of Grace, Around the Wicket Gate, Advice for Seekers, John Ploughman’s Talks, The Soul Winner, Words of Counsel for Christian Workers, Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, Morning and Evening, his autobiography, and more, including some commentaries, such as his twenty-year study on the Psalms – The Treasury of David.
Charles Spurgeon often preached ten times a week, preaching to an estimated ten million people during his lifetime. He usually preached from only one page of notes, and often from just an outline. He read about six books each week. During his lifetime, he had read The Pilgrim’s Progress through more than one hundred times. When he died, his personal library consisted of more than 12,000 books. However, the Bible always remained the most important book to him.
Spurgeon was able to do what he did in the power of God’s Holy Spirit because he followed his own advice – he met with God every morning before meeting with others, and he continued in communion with God throughout the day.
Charles Spurgeon suffered from gout, rheumatism, and some depression, among other health problems. He often went to Menton, France, to recuperate and rest. He preached his final sermon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle on June 7, 1891, and died in France on January 31, 1892, at the age of fifty-seven. He was buried in Norwood Cemetery in London.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon lived a life devoted to God. His sermons and writings continue to influence Christians all over the world.
