Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 173, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1916 — Halting Between Two Opinions [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Halting Between Two Opinions

By REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D. D.

Dean of the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago

TEXT—How long halt ya between two opinions?—l Kings 18:21. There tire many people more or less under conviction of sin who are halt-

ing just in this way. They know they ought to renounce sin for righteousness, and they also know that the only way to do that successfully is through faith in Jesus Christ They have been taught that if they will commit themselves to him as their Redeemer and confess him as their Lord and Master, he will not only

deliver them from guilt, but endue them with the power to overcome sin and lead a godly life. And yet for all this they are halting, and trying to decide whether to put their trust in him and openly confess him or not. What are some of the reasons given for this indecision? Or, to put it in another way, what are some of the obstacles which the evil one is setting before them to hinder them in their progress towards salvation through Christ?

Not long ago we were speaking of this subject from another point of view, and dwelt on two or three very common objections such as that there are hypocrites in the church, or the profit and pleasure that must be given up if one becomes a Christian, or the fear of not being able to hold out in Christian life, etc. But there are other objections than these. One is the’remark, “I am not good enough to become a Christian.” This sounds like humility, but In reality is spiritual pride, for it is based on the supposition that one can make himself good enough without Christ. But if so why need a Savior, and why should the Son of God have suffered and died? If we can make ourselves partially holy, we can make ourselves absolutely holy, and therefore the work of atonement was unnecessary and a crime. A convincing answer to this is the testimony of our Lord himself that he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. The great Augustine prayed, "O Lord, I am sp great a sinner, I must flee into thine arms!” That is the place for the sinner to flee just because he is a sinner. (2) “I do not know how to believe,” Is sometimes put forth as a reason. And yet “believe” means simply “to trust,” “to commit one’s self’ to the Saviour in order to be saved. Indeed, the difficulty is not so much in the meaning of the word, "believe,” as in waiting for feeling to accompany the belief. A woman once gave this excuse to a pastor who was urging her to accept Christ And he said to her, “Do you own the house you live in?” To which she answered, “Yes.” And then he added, “How do you know you do?” After reflection she said, “Because my title deed is recorded in the office of the county clerk.”

She was not waiting for feeling to know that she owned her house, and no more should we wait for feeling to know that we are saved. It is recorded in the word of God, that "God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God not life.” And It is written again, "He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son.” The sinner who is waiting for feeling before he believes that faith saves him is not only doing himself the greatest injury, but is dishonoring God.

3. Another common reason for halting Is no reason at all, viz., that the time has not yet come to take the step. It is the excuse of Felix, who trembled when, in his presence, Paul reasoned of "righteousness, temperance and judgment to come,” and who answered, “Go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season I will caU for thee.”

If today this message is coming- to one under conviction of sin and feeling the need of a Savior, God forbid that he should put it off and say, “Go thy way for this time.” Who knows whether the “convenient season” will ever come? “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

There is a law of mental science that impressions frequently repeated and unheeded, lose their power to impress. How often have you heard this Invitation tnd warning, and turned a deaf ear to it? Does it influence you as strongly today as it did the first day you heard it? It may be doubted if it does, and that fact in Itself should sound the alarm causing you to hasten from the impending doom.