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John MacArthur · Citado em PreceptAustin
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MacArthur - TWO RELIGIONS How long will you falter between two opinions? 1 KINGS 18:21 Humanity has always had two systems of religion available. One is from God and is based on His gracious accomplishment. The other is from mankind and is based on the achievements of men and women. One is all of sovereign grace and is embraced by faith. The other is all of human works and is performed in the flesh. One flows out of a sincere heart, the other from outward hypocrisy. Even Moses’ law, though from God, was not a means of salvation. It was a means of showing people their need for salvation. “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). When Jesus came, He taught us that we are incapable in ourselves of keeping that perfect law. He made it clear that we must choose the religion of grace and faith rather than the religion of law and works. (See Truth for Today: A Daily Touch of God's Grace - Page 235) James Smith - DECISION “HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM; BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM” (1 Kings 18:21). It is sometimes needful to “halt between two opinions,” if the proper course of action is not quite clear, but when the right and the wrong stands out in naked reality indecision becomes sin. It is with spiritual things, as with the temporal, the wavering and the lukewarm cannot succeed. The young man who cannot make up his mind as to what business he should follow is in danger of being ruined. In religion, as in politics, no progress can be made, no definite testimony can be given, so long as the mind is not clear, and the will emphatic. In these, and other matters, a halting man is a useless man, worse than useless, for he is a stumbling-block to others. The scene on Mount Carmel is an object lesson on the need of instant decision for God. Elijah’s call is needed now as much as then. I. Where the People Halted. “Between two opinions.” To them this simply meant— 1. BETWEEN TWO RELIGIONS. There were only two. The religion of Baal and that of Jehovah. The one was the product of man’s darkened imagination, the other was a revelation from Heaven. The heart of man and the heart of God are the only two possible sources of religious thought. Here is the halting ground of multitudes—between the thoughts of men and the thoughts of God. To halt here is to halt— 2. BETWEEN TWO MASTERS. Between Baal and Jehovah, between the false and the real, between superstition and revelation, between the tyranny of ignorance and fear, and the freedom of light and truth. The one represents the prince of darkness, the other the Prince of Peace. The design of the one is to destroy, the purpose of the other is to save. His servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves. Let not sin have dominion over you. There is no communion between these two masters: no fellowship between light and darkness, between Christ and Belial. There is no agreement between the temple of God and the house of idols. Ye cannot serve these two masters; your choice lies between them. II. Why the People Halted. Some thing, or things, must surely have been hindering them from confessing the Lord as their God. They may have been deterred as many in our day are— 1. BECAUSE OF THEIR NUMBER. Their name was legion who had entered the broad road of God-rejection. It is comparatively easy to go right, or wrong, while going with the multitude, but a man is his own miserable comforter when he tries to console himself by saying, “If I am not right there are a great many like me.” Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. “Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” It is poor comfort, when on a sinking ship, to know that many are perishing with you. To remain undecided for Christ because many are doing it is a sad betrayal of moral weakness. Although Baal and the groves had 850 prophets, and Jehovah only one, yet to be with Him was to be in the majority and on the side of victory and blessing. 2. BECAUSE OF THEIR FEAR OF MAN. Some halted, doubtless because they feared the wrath of the king. It was very different with the parents of Moses (Heb. 11:23). Ahab was the enemy of God, and the troubler of Israel. He sought to banish the worship of Jehovah out of the land, and because of him many were afraid to acknowledge the Lord. They halted, perhaps because they were convinced that the policy of Ahab and Jezebel was base and revolutionary, but they had no courage to take their stand for Jehovah. The fear of man bringeth a snare. When Luther was told that all the world was against him, he said, “Well, I am against the whole world.” “Why halt ye? If the Lord be God, follow Him.” Better is it to grieve and forsake the enemies of God than remain an enemy to God. III. The Unsatisfactory Nature of such a Position. “How long halt ye?” Every moment one halts between holiness and sin, between Christ and the world, is likely to weaken the will power and reduce the life to a waste heap for God and a coming eternity. To remain undecided for God and righteousness to say the least— 1. IT IS FOOLISH. It is like the donkey in the fable, which died of starvation because it could not decide which of the two bundles of hay to eat first. Moses was wise when he “chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Rebekah was wise when she said, “I will go.” The poor Indian woman knew in whom she had believed when, after having been robbed of all her goods, she said, “I would rather die a poor Christian than a rich heathen.” 2. IT IS DANGEROUS. Indecision has been the ruin of many. Remember Lot’s wife. To decide means literally “to cut off” that which is unnecessary. Then “cut off” from that state of sin and doubt, and, like Mary, choose the better part. The undecided are always easily overcome. When Charles I., after having been defeated at the Battle of Naseby, was about to make another charge upon the troops of Cromwell, one of his courtiers caught the bridle of his horse and turned him aside from the path of honour. Charles had not the courage to rebuke him. Who would have dared to have done this with Cromwell? Decisions, Decisions Sometimes the decision to do nothing is wise. But you can't make a career of doing nothing. Freddie Fulcrum weighed everything too carefully. He would say, "On the one hand... but then, on the other," and his arguments weighed out so evenly he never did anything. When Freddie died, they carved a big zero on his tombstone. If you decide to fish—fine. Or, if you decide to cut bait—fine. But if you decide to do nothing, you're not going to have fish for dinner. Harvard Professor Harvey Cox said, "Not to decide, is to decide not to." Vance Havner - I HAVE SET MY FACE" For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed" (Isa. 50:7). So wrote Isaiah concerning God's suffering servant, and when that suffering servant came to earth ". . . he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). Throughout the Word of God, the heroes of faith were men who set their faces like a flint. 1. Caleb…wholly followed the Lord God" (Josh14:14). 2. Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. " 3.Elijah asked, "How long halt ye between two opinions?" (1 Kings 18:21). 4. Daniel "purposed in his heart" (Dan. 1:8) to be true to God. 5. Paul said: this one thing I do" (Phil. 3:13). One of our biggest problems today is that most of our church people have never really made up their minds to follow Jesus Christ. They are like Mr. Looking-both-ways in Pilgrim's Progress, or like Lot's wife looking back toward Sodom. They are like the man in the Civil War who wore a blue coat and gray trousers, and was shot at from both sides. They are like a donkey between two bales of hay-undecided as to which to eat. They are like the son in our Lord's parable who said, I go, Sir" (Matt. 22:30), and went not. They receive the word with joy, but have no root nor depth and soon fall away. They never really make up their minds, and are like the man who was asked, "Do you have trouble making decisions?" He replied, "Yes and no." 1 Kings 18:22 Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. I alone : 1Ki 19:10,14 20:13,32,35,38 22:6-8 Ro 11:3 Baal's prophets: 1Ki 18:19,20 Mt 7:13-15 2Ti 4:3,4 2Pe 2:1-3 Then - Time phrase marking progression in a narrative. Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men - Apparently Elijah did not know that Obadiah was a prophet and had hidden 100 prophets.
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MacArthur: “no . . . no . . . no.” This 3-fold declaration emphasized the complete lack of response on the part of Baal. The fact that there was no response indicated Baal’s impotence and non-existence (Jer 10:5). (See MacArthur Study Bible) NET NOTE - The Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta include the following words here: “When it was time to offer the sacrifice, Elijah the Tishbite spoke to the prophets of the abominations: ‘Stand aside for the time being, and I will offer my burnt offering.’ So they stood aside and departed.” In 2 Kgs 4:31 the words “there was no sound and there was no response” are used to describe a dead boy. Similar words are used here to describe the god Baal as dead and therefore unresponsive. David
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MacArthur: A town located in the tribal allotment of Issachar at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, N of Mt. Gilboa, about 55 mi. N of Jerusalem. Jezreel was Ahab’s winter capital (see 21:1), situated between 15 to 25 mi. E of the Carmel Range. (See MacArthur Study Bible, 2nd Edition: Unleashing God's) Peter Pett: Ahab did what Elijah had said, but it was not soon enough for the heavens grew black with cloud and wind, and there was drenching rain. And once that rain began to fall it would turn the road into a sea of mud, in which Ahab’s chariot would find the going hard, as he made his way towards his chariot city of Jezreel. Dale Ralph Davis: “Then a heavy rain came” (v. 45). Rain meant life, water for soil, people, and livestock, grain for food, grass for animals (cf. 18:5). Yahweh then is the God of dramatic intervention (vv. 31–39) and of daily provision. Israel’s apostasy and divided mind had forfeited these material benefits (Deut. 11:16–17; 28:23–24; Lev. 26:19–20). Now Yahweh graciously restores them. Wallace is right: ‘Israel is to learn again this day that the God who sends fire to convert their hearts will also send rain to refresh and feed their bodies.’ Yahweh is the God of the spectacular and of the routine, who sends both fire and food (see Ps. 65:9–13). Whenever we fail to acknowledge these latter down-to-earth provisions as Yahweh’s gifts, we apostatize to naturalism (a more contemporary, sophisticated form of Baal worship). Whenever we begin to assume that they are ours by some inalienable right, we have become blind to the Father’s hand. We forget that the common is special. (1 Kings: The Wisdom And the Folly ) 1 Kings 18:46 Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel. Then the hand of the LORD 2Ki 3:15 Isa 8:11 Eze 1:3 3:14 he girded: 2Ki 4:29 9:1 Job 38:3 Jer 1:17 Eph 6:14 1Pe 1:13 outran Ahab to Jezreel.: Mt 22:21 1Pe 2:17 ELIJAH'S MIRACULOUS "MARATHON" Then the hand of the LORD was on Elijah - The good hand of the LORD signifies supernaturally empowerment to run fast and with endurance. See discussion of The Hand of the Lord. This was an obviously supernaturally empowered 17 mile cross-country run. William