There are two sides - God or Satan, Truth or lie, Righteousness or sin. One has your heart, one commands your service. Whatever your choice shall be, it means Eternity. It means either Heaven with its glories, or Hell with its terrors. It means either the white robe of Everlasting Life, or the blackness of darkness with weeping, wailing, and unending misery. You are either for God, or His enemies. Jesus said, "He that is not with Me is against Me." This decision to take Christ's side should be made as early in life as possible.
You must bring your weightiest thoughts to this business, you must concentrate all your wit and wisdom with deliberation and resolution and determination. It is a dreadful standing halfway between God and the devil, heaven and hell. That midway place is really the region of death and darkness. Don't waste the best part of your life halting between two opinions. Decide for Christ, don't just consider. Give your heart and soul to Christ now, don't hesitate. Draw God's sword, the Bible, against your sins, never make a truce with the enemy within you. This decision should be made at once. Death is nearer to you than you realize, Eternity could begin any day for you. Don't make a foolish choice, delay is dangerous, don't end up a condemned procrastinator.
Decide on the spot. This is decision of greatest importance, it will influence every subsequent decision throughout the rest of your life. Give your love to truth; favor righteousness. True worship and godliness should be found at home, business, amusement, the field, the street, voting booth, and market. Everything we come in contact with should involve the Lord. The Lord's side may be unpopular, but it is Right. This decision will be the pivot on which your whole character will turn. Decide for God - He is your Creator, don't be opposed to the One who made you and can condemn you. He died for you, and shed His own blood to rescue you. He is your daily Preserver, your breath is in His hand, don't live in rebellion towards Him.
We are indebted to God for our being, every favor which we now enjoy comes from Him. Be on your best Friend's side. Your instant decision should be for Christ. Be on the side of truth, the Gospel, the Savior. The way is plain and simple, there's no need for debate. Only the Holy Spirit can influence your mind and deliver you from the slavery of your sinful lusts. Don't be swayed by your own self-centered interests. Many men are influenced by the fear of man and ridicule. Don't indulge in the sin that your conscience and the Bible condemns. The opinion of man matters nothing with God. You must make enemies and lose old friends, or disobey God. Take the Right side. If you are on God's side, you are on the opposite side from the world. Don't team up with the Betweenites - if they could, they would go on both sides, or neither side, they want to let it alone, they wish to keep themselves, and say nothing and do nothing either way.
You are an enemy of God until you are made God's friend. Are you God's friend or enemy? Honest or dishonest? Pure or filthy? Saved or lost? This is a matter about which cannot be neutral. One of these days that slumbering sin of yours will rouse itself, like a viper that is warmed after winter, and then bites all that come near it. As the lion cub which has not tasted blood and is tame as a house cat, but eventually it grows into a furious wild beast of prey. You must choose to serve God and Christ, or you must be the servant of Satan and sin. Holiness and purity must lead you, or sin and self will deceive and snare you.
Heaven must win you, or Hell will damn you. You must not hide your colors. Be not wickedly silent, don't conceal your will. Come forward out in the open. Let Christ be your Lord, come follow in His steps, keeps His words, proclaim His Gospel, defend His kingdom. Come to Christ, follow the Lamb. Avow your allegiance, enlist under His colors, enter into fellowship, make your decision for Christ as speedily as possible. Only God is to be worshipped (First Commandment), and worshipped in His own way (Second Commandment). Don't pay any religious honor to anything which can be seen with the eyes. Truth, righteousness, the words of God, the will of Christ. Be true, be thorough, be upright, be Christ-like through the power of the divine Spirit of God. Fearing God, reverence, trust, love, service, worship to the Lord. Be a believer, a fearer, a truster, a lover, a worshipper of the living God. Don't be a neglecter, rejecter, or hater of Him.
The two sides are this - obedience to the commands of God and pleasing Him, or the desire to please ourselves. Endeavoring to keep the moral law for Jesus' sake, or seeking to be happy by having our own way. Man naturally makes himself into his own god. Man allow his own lusts and passions to be the supreme governing influence over him. Men say, "I will have my own way, I will do as I please, as long as I can make myself happy, I care nothing about the will and words of God." It is either the will of the flesh, or the will of God.
The two sides - Christ and His Righteousness, or your own self-righteousness. Cleansing in God's Blood and covering with Christ's Righteousness; or salvation by your own works, prayers, giving, by anything of your own. Salvation by works is a lie, and an impossibility. Salvation by Christ, or salvation by self.
The two sides - The Gospel of the Grace of God, or the superstitions and falsehood of religious man. Sinners are only saved by believing in Jesus Christ, but superstition says, you can be saved by water baptism or by being sprinkled with water from some priest or minister. Salvation by Christ, or salvation by priests. Salvation by Christ, or salvation by denomination. You must go directly and immediately to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Great High Priest, and trust alone to His merits and atoning sacrifice. Religion teaches you to confess your sins to a man, to pour into his ears your sins, and to defile him even more than he is already. Catholic priests are deluded with the false notion that they can absolve human sins. Who can forgive sins but God only?
The two sides - Holy Scriptures, or human tradition; divine Revelation, or human reasoning. The Old Holy Bible from the Spirit of God, or religious tradition decreed by popes and imams. God's word, or man's word. Christ Jesus, or Charlie Darwin. Thus saith the Lord, or thus guesseth sinful man.
Don't be ashamed to come over on the Lord's side. Lay down life and limb, substance and honor, faculties and talents, give up everything you have for the cause of Christ and truth. Swim against the current of this world, speak unpopular truth, declare what God says plainly. Rally to the Cross, test everything by the word of God, hold forth the word of life most freely and clearly, be willing to be a minority. You must be consistent, don't let falsehood, error, and sin overcome you. Quarrel with error, dispute with falsehood, fight against your sins. Worldly men covet the glance of approving eyes and the smile of sin-loving men.
You must first receive Someone into your heart, even the Lord Jesus Christ. *John 1:12* He is the free gift of JEHOVAH'S grace. Take Jesus on His terms, as your Savior, Captain and King. Change clothes, take off the filthy rags of your self-righteousness, and put on Christ's Righteousness. Trust to Christ's Precious Blood. Confess Christ openly, confess your faith in Him to friends and strangers. Submit yourself to His discipline, follow loyally, then instruct others.
Breathe the Spirit, Believe in Jesus, Battle your Sins. Fight the good fight of faith - the very first war must be a civil war within your own soul, a war to the bitter end against every secret sin, every evil habit, every false word, every impure thought, all iniquity must be driven from your spirit and soul. Carry the war into Satan's territory as well, on all sides, tell your friends and family about Christ. Plead with those you work and live with, witness to companions and enemies, tell them all about the Lamb of God. Be sure of this - enthusiasm for Christ and godly living will bring reproach and persecution.
