Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.

1 Kings 18:21

It is this, that I wish to draw your attention to today. The choice between the way of the world and the way of the Lord. It is clear to see that we find ourselves in a society that is following the ways of Baal. Alas, our nation is one that seeks pleasure and purpose in sin. Pride, envy, strife, vainglory, sexual immorality, and many other sins are celebrated in the nations of the world today. This is nothing new, the Apostle Paul faced a similar battle in the 1st Century. Writing to the believers at Corinth he addressed many of these sins that were rife in the city. The people in Corinth were just as sinful as they are in the 21st Century. The purpose of Paul’s letter to the saints at Corinth was to encourage them to forsake the sinful ways of Baal. An intolerance of personal sin is fundamental to our Christian walk. As John Owen once said we must be sin killers, or our sin will be killing us.

Whether we grow in grace or wallow in sin largely depends on the choices we make. We have two choices, sanctification or sin. It is easy to resign ourselves to the view that we will never achieve sinless perfection on earth, so why bother? However, that is not the view of the Bible. In Scripture, we see many examples of men and women who are zealous for God and desire to please Him. The life of the Apostle Paul is a good example. He was such a man that knew his heart was sinful and sought daily to draw nigh unto God. He encouraged the people of God, “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

In his closing remarks to God’s people at Corinth Paul wrote, “Let all that you do be done in love”, 1 Corinthians 16:14. This is a very important principle for us to consider. Do you love God and love the things He loves? God loves holiness and righteousness. A soul that is sensitive to personal holiness will seek righteousness and encourage others to do so. The soul that seeks after God will rejoice in that joy that is unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8). This joy comes from the Lord and passes all human understanding. This joy is a real and lasting joy, a joy that comes from knowing the forgiveness of sin (Colossians 3:12-14). So, with this set before us, we need to consider the way we are going to walk. Are we going to walk the narrow road of righteousness or the broad way of Baal? Are we going to choose the way of the Lord or the way of the world? 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, “but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”