1. It is "a decision upon the most sublime and important theme which can ever come under a man's notice. God and Satan, truth and falsehood, holiness and sin.

2. This decision, so important and weighty, should be made as early as possible. When Agesilaus came to the borders of Macedon he sent the laconic message, "As friends or as enemies?" The answer was, "We must stop awhile, and take advice." His reply was, "While you advise, we march." Wait not. Every hour renders it more likely that you will make a foolish choice.

3. This is a decision of the greatest importance, for it will influence every subsequent decision throughout life. True religion gives a tincture to everything with which the man comes in contact.

4. As to this decision there ought to be no possible difficulty. A man should decide for God, since He is his Creator, Redeemer, Preserver.

5. This decision involves but one alternative. There is no synagogue of the undecided on earth, and no purgatory of middle men in the unseen world.

II. THE AVOWAL. "Let him come unto me." "For God — to me."

1. A coming out from amongst the idolaters. Do not conceal your religion.

2. They were to come to the leader. Follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.

3. Those who were to come to Moses were, of course, to come to one another. Do not birds of a feather flock together? If God has made you birds of paradise, hasten to fly like doves to your windows.

III. CONSECRATION.

1. Obey God's will

2. Serve God actively and energetically.

3. Do this at all hazards and costs.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

2. To be on the Lord's side is publicly to profess Him.

3. To be on the Lord's side you must consecrate your life to Him.

4. Reasons for being on the Lord's side.

(1)It is the happy side.

(2)It is the safe side.

(T. De Witt Talmage.)

I. WE ADDRESS OURSELVES TO THOSE WHO VACILLATE BETWEEN GOD AND THE WORLD, BETWEEN RELIGION AND IRRELIGION. There is a class, and a numerous class of men, especially in our own enlightened country, who may be considered in this condition.

II. TO THOSE WHO ENTERTAIN A SCRIPTURAL HOPE OF SALVATION, BUT HAVE NOT MADE A PUBLIC AVOWAL OF THEIR FAITH. This backwardness to associate with the professing people of God results from various causes. In some it is the effect of mistaken views of what is required in order to the fellowship of the Church. In other men, this backwardness publicly to acknowledge the Saviour is the effect of a very lax and unscriptural view of what religion requires. They suppose that if their hearts are right with God it is not at all necessary that they should make a public profession.

III. THE LANGUAGE OF MOSES IS APPLICABLE TO THOSE WHO HAVE MADE A PROFESSION OF RELIGION. That many Christians are open to a charge of compromising their principles cannot be doubted by any who are conversant with the transactions of daily life.

(S. Summers.)

1. On the side of His truth.

2. On the side of His character.

3. On the side of His gospel.

4. On the side of His law.

5. On the side of His honour.

II. WHY WE OUGHT ALL TO BE ON THE LORD'S SIDE.

1. The first reason which I shall offer why we ought all to be on the Lord's side is, that it is the side of truth and righteousness.

2. As another reason why you ought to be on the Lord's side, let me beseech you to consider seriously on what side you are if you are not on His.

3. Consider, further, why you ought to be on the Lord's side, how much the Lord has done for you.

4. Another reason why we ought to be on the Lord's side is, that it is the side of happiness.

5. Further: let me entreat those who are not yet on the Lord's side to consider that they have not one reasonable plea for being on the side of Satan.

(Preacher's Treasury.)

II. WHAT IS IT TRULY TO BE ON THE LORD'S SIDE ?

1. Let me remark, simply and emphatically, that to be on the Lord's side is to love Him. Love and hate to one and the selfsame being are emotions not only incongruous, but impossible in the human breast. There are no two properties in chemistry more opposite to each other in their nature and in their operations than are these two emotions — love and hate.

2. To be on the Lord's side is to be on the side of His truth. The truth of God, next to His beloved Son, is the most precious thing that He possesses. Declare yourself on the side of the gospel and on the side of God's truth; let there be no compromise; let there be no doubt whatever as to the firmness and sincerity with which you hold it.

3. To be on the Lord's side is, then, to be on the side of the Lord's people. If you are on the side of the Lord, you will not be ashamed of the Lord's people. You may find many of them in lowly life, you may find many of them battling and struggling with its difficulties, you may find many of them unlearned and ignorant as touching the lore of this world.

4. But to be on the side of holiness it is essential to be on the side of the Lord. The Lord's side is holiness in conflict with sin, righteousness in antagonism with unholiness.

III. "WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE?" There are many considerations with which one might enforce the challenge, and press it upon your personal and solemn consideration. Let these suffice —

1. It is the only right side.

2. I remark, in addition to this, that it is the only winning side.

(C. Winslow.)

II. THE TEXT ADVOCATES A DUTY. It is the duty of being on the Lord's side.

1. To be on the Lord's side is to acknowledge Him as the only Lord.

2. To be on the Lord's side is to render from the heart actually to Him emotions of reverence, of admiration, and of gratitude, which are permanent and supreme.

3. To be on the Lord's side is to abandon and repudiate all refuges which are false, in connection with the great principle of acceptance before Him, and to rest entirely and implicitly upon the one method which He has been pleased to propound, and which is found in the expiation and in the imputed righteousness of His Son.

4. To be on the Lord's side is to become practically conformed to His commandments.

5. To be on the Lord's side is to be diligent in the advancement of His glory. Again: you are to observe what are the inducements to be on the Lord's side.

1. You should be on the Lord's side because He possesses an unimpeachable and absolute right to you.(1) He has the right of a Creator.(2) The right of a benefactor.(3) In order to save you from that wrath, He has rendered His most precious and incomparable gift: He gave His own Son.(4) Because you will be made partakers of vast and incomparable blessings.(5) Because by not being so you are exposed to overwhelming punishment and sorrow.

III. THE TEXT DEMANDS A DECLARATION. "Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me." God will not have His servants to live in secret and in retirement; they are to proclaim and publish the fact that they are for Him.

1. This declaration should be made by verbal announcement in the intercourse of social life: "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

2. This declaration is also to be made by union with the people of God in the Church of His Son.

3. This declaration also is to be made by active and devoted diligence in promoting the cause of God among the apostate and the rebellious of your race.

(J. Parsons.)

1. A decided renunciation of the cause of sin.

2. Believingly to choose God as our portion.

3. Cheerful obedience to His commands.

4. An undaunted profession of His religion.

5. A consecration of all we possess to His honour and glory.

II. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM BEING ON THE LORD'S SIDE.

1. It is the most honourable side.

2. It is the most happy side.

3. It is the most useful side.

4. It is the most safe side.Application:

1. Congratulate those on the Lord's side. Exhort them to steadfastness and perseverance.

2. Invite poor ruined sinners to throw down their weapons and sue for mercy.

3. Plead with the miserable backslider, that he may return to the Shepherd and Bishop of his soul. "I will heal his backslidings," etc., "saith the Lord."

(J. Burns, D. D.)

II. SOME ARE UNDECIDED ABOUT SERVING GOD. They wish to become Christians, and yet will not give up their beloved sins. They have too much knowledge to enjoy the world, and too great a love of the world to enjoy religion; and thus they halt between two opinions.

III. ALL OUGHT TO DECIDE FOR GOD.

IV. THE SIN AND DANGER OF REMAINING UNDECIDED. It is base ingratitude and the most presumptuous rebellion.

V. WE PRESS IMMEDIATE DECISION. It is your duty to God, to yourself, and to the Church of Christ; it is your privilege, and will be both to your honour and advantage.

VI. THE WAY TO SHOW YOUR DECISION.

(Evangelical Preacher.)

1. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you have been baptized and confirmed. You may have broken the covenant and trampled upon its mercies.

2. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you attend the Holy Communion. It cannot make a saint of a hypocrite.

3. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you take pleasure in religious services. Herod heard John gladly, but would not abandon his vicious course of life.

4. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you are conscious of no hostility to Him. Few men, however depraved and guilty, really believe themselves the enemies of Christ. Nothing special has occurred to call forth their opposition.

5. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you meditate with delight upon His character. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that it cannot help admiring a high degree of virtue. No doubt the conscience of hell itself is with God.

6. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you faultlessly perform all your social duties. The young ruler.

7. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you sometimes experience slight compunctions for sin. Felix, Agrippa.

8. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you cherish in your heart an ardent desire of salvation. Who has not had such desires? Who would not die the death of the righteous?

9. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you show a commendable zeal in the propagation of your religious opinions. The Jesuit is more zealous than you. So are the Hindoo, Mussulman, Mormon.

10. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because you are successful in your efforts to promote Christianity around you. Have you ever equalled the success of the Arabian impostor or of the profligate saints of Utah?

11. Think not that you are on the Lord's side because your fair exterior makes others regard you as a true servant of God.

II. What is it, then, to be on the Lord's side, and HOW ARE YOU TO ASCERTAIN YOUR TRUE POSITION? What is implied in loyalty to God and an alliance with Jesus Christ? It implies baptism, for this is the entrance into the Christian covenant. It implies confirmation, for this is the public recognition and ratification of that sacred compact with the Lord. It implies Holy Communion, for this is the formal and frequent repetition of the believer's oath of allegiance to his King, the Captain of his salvation. But it implies much more, which is involved in all these, and without which all these can make no man a thorough Christian. If you are on the Lord's side, you are for His Church, against all schism; for His truth, against all heresy; for the faith of His saints, against all human theories and speculations.

(J. Cross, D.D.)

II. There is another standard which looks far beyond all outward professions in a determination of this question. THERE IS A CHARACTER WHICH THE POWER OF MAN CANNOT FEIGN, AND WHICH ACCURATELY MARKS THOSE WHO HAVE ENLISTED THEMSELVES UNDER THE BANNER OF THE KING OF SAINTS. These evidences are to be presented, not as the marks by which we may form an opinion of others, but as the testimony by which we may examine ourselves.

1. They who are on the Lord's side have been converted by the power of the Holy Ghost from their natural state of blindness and enmity to God.

2. They who are on the Lord's side in this division of the world make it their object to live by faith in His promises and power, and as pilgrims on the earth, to become prepared for a better country — that is, an heavenly.

3. They who are on the Lord's side experience a daily conflict with the principles of sin. While men are unconverted, this contest is unknown.

4. They who are on the Lord's side are going on from grace to grace. The mind of Christ is forming within them.

(S. H. Tyng, D.D.)

1. That there are two great interests in the world — a good one and a bad one — God, the great eternal, on the one side, and Satan, the prince of darkness, on the other. I should not say too much, I presume, if I venture to affirm all belong to God by right. But Satan has usurped a dominion. All are on one side or the other.

2. Some are undecided about serving God. Not from the want of conviction; their consciences speak for God, but their wills rebel.

II. THAT IT IS OR THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE FOR US TO ASCERTAIN TO WHICH CLASS WE BELONG. What is implied in being on the Lord's side?

1. Enlightenment of mind. It is necessary for us to see both the error and danger there is in being on the side of Satan and sin, and to discover the excellency and superiority of Christ's cause and gospel.

2. It is believingly to choose Christ for our portion.

3. It includes obedience to His truth. If we are on the Lord's side, we shall delight in His law.

4. It includes a determination of mind to sacrifice everything for Him.

III. Point out some of THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING ON THE LORD'S SIDE.

1. It is the most honourable side. It is not the side of the despot or tyrant, but it is the cause and service of the God of love. It is not the service of sin, but of purity.

2. It is the strongest side. And it is astonishing to see how fond some persons are of being on the strongest side.

3. It is the most happy side. This cannot be confuted. For while there is no peace for the wicked, the Christian hath peace with God — an inward tranquillity, to which the world are strangers; the retrospect, and their present experience as well as their future prospects, are fraught with happiness and joy.

4. It is the most useful side. Sin injures others as well as ourselves.

5. It is the most safe side. In fact, no other state is safe.Learn —

1. The important question,"Who is on the Lord's side?" We congratulate those who are, and would say to them, "Be steadfast, unmovable" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

2. The sin and danger of remaining undecided. It deprives you of present happiness, and, if grace prevent not, it will shut you out of heaven at last.

3. That the way to show your decision is to come out from the world and be separate.

(W. Rose.)

(G. Rogers.)

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

     5489   rank
     6622   choice
     8410   decision-making, examples
     8702   agnosticism

Exodus 32:21-35

     4269   Sinai, Mount

Exodus 32:25-28

     5838   disrespect

Exodus 32:25-29

     7266   tribes of Israel
     8705   apostasy, in OT

Exodus 32:26-27

     5244   camp

The Swift Decay of Love
'And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 18. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6

Threefold Repentance
'And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 3. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall he overthrown. 5. So the people of Ninoveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Covenant of an Everlasting Priesthood
"That My covenant might be with Levi. My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared Me, and was afraid before My name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with Me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity."--MAL. ii. 4-6. ISRAEL was meant by God to be a nation of priests. In the first making of the Covenant this was distinctly stipulated. "If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

How those who Use Food Intemperately and those who Use it Sparingly are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 20.) Differently to be admonished are the gluttonous and the abstinent. For superfluity of speech, levity of conduct, and lechery accompany the former; but the latter often the sin of impatience, and often that of pride. For were it not the case that immoderate loquacity carries away the gluttonous, that rich man who is said to have fared sumptuously every day would not burn more sorely than elsewhere in his tongue, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Seasons of Covenanting.
The duty is never unsuitable. Men have frequently, improperly esteemed the exercise as one that should be had recourse to, only on some great emergency. But as it is sinful to defer religious exercises till affliction, presenting the prospect of death, constrain to attempt them, so it is wrong to imagine, that the pressure of calamity principally should constrain to make solemn vows. The exercise of personal Covenanting should be practised habitually. The patriot is a patriot still; and the covenanter …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Letter xxii (Circa A. D. 1129) to Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas
To Simon, Abbot of S. Nicholas Bernard consoles him under the persecution of which he is the object. The most pious endeavours do not always have the desired success. What line of conduct ought to be followed towards his inferiors by a prelate who is desirous of stricter discipline. 1. I have learned with much pain by your letter the persecution that you are enduring for the sake of righteousness, and although the consolation given you by Christ in the promise of His kingdom may suffice amply for …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Ninth Sunday after Trinity Carnal Security and Its vices.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10, 6-13. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Instruction for the Ignorant:
BEING A SALVE TO CURE THAT GREAT WANT OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SO MUCH REIGNS BOTH IN YOUNG AND OLD. PREPARED AND PRESENTED TO THEM IN A PLAIN AND EASY DIALOGUE, FITTED TO THE CAPACITY OF THE WEAKEST. 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'--Hosea 4:6 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This little catechism is upon a plan perfectly new and unique. It was first published as a pocket volume in 1675, and has been republished in every collection of the author's works; and recently in a separate tract. …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Purity and Peace in the Present Lord
PHILIPPIANS iv. 1-9 Euodia and Syntyche--Conditions to unanimity--Great uses of small occasions--Connexion to the paragraphs--The fortress and the sentinel--A golden chain of truths--Joy in the Lord--Yieldingness--Prayer in everything--Activities of a heart at rest Ver. 1. +So, my brethren beloved and longed for+, missed indeed, at this long distance from you, +my joy and crown+ of victory (stephanos), +thus+, as having such certainties and such aims, with such a Saviour, and looking for such …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 23.) Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. v. 22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Moses the Type of Christ.
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken."--Deut. xviii. 15. The history of Moses is valuable to Christians, not only as giving us a pattern of fidelity towards God, of great firmness, and great meekness, but also as affording us a type or figure of our Saviour Christ. No prophet arose in Israel like Moses, till Christ came, when the promise in the text was fulfilled--"The Lord thy God," says Moses, "shall …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

Solomon's Temple Spiritualized
or, Gospel Light Fetched out of the Temple at Jerusalem, to Let us More Easily into the Glory of New Testament Truths. 'Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Isreal;--shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out hereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof.'--Ezekiel 43:10, 11 London: Printed for, and sold by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopgate, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament