A Line in the Sand

Thank you again, Mr. Tolar. It's funny. Sometimes I have to stop and say, am I saying that right? Because growing up in Columbus, we had the man that was the main song leader. Almost all the years I was there was named Pete Tolar. But as he was African American, you don't look quite the same.

But I think he was one of the happiest song leaders I ever knew. You could tell he enjoyed that, I think, as much as anything in life. And always got an inspiration. I guess in my mind, he's always the song leader.

Anyways, to start off today, I'd like to do, as I enjoy doing, because it's my strength, to draw on a lesson from history.

So I want to take us back quite some time to a certain, a very important date in American history. March 5th, 1836. On this date, Colonel William Travis called his men together for a very serious meeting. He needed to share some vital information with them and give them an opportunity to make a big decision. A life and death decision, as it turned out.

Of the nearly 200 men who were with him, and I say men, it would be an exaggeration to call them soldiers, to be honest. But even of those 232 had only just arrived, and they had fought their way into this surrounded fortress. Now, I should correct myself there, because using the term fortress is also an exaggeration for this rundown former Catholic mission building in south central Texas, known as the Alamo.

Most of these men manning the Alamo had come from various states of the United States to join in the fight for Texas's independence from Mexico. That fight had begun about a year earlier, and fighting had gone back and forth during that time. And so it was early in that year of 1836, the president of Mexico, General Santa Ana, decided to personally lead an army north into Texas. He brought an army of about 2,000 men approaching San Antonio. His goal was to first take control of that city, reduce that so-called fortress where the Americans and Texans were holed up, and this would be part of his plan for reconquering all of Texas. As the Mexican army approached, there had been skirmishes with their advance guard. And during that time, Colonel Travis, along with his co-commander, Sam Bowie, had sent several messages out to leaders in other parts of Texas, pleading for reinforcements. They needed more men. They needed arms. They needed ammunition. But the response they got was quite meager. So on March 5th, Santa Ana was finalizing his plans for launching an all-out assault the next morning.

He'd previously made it very clear that the Mexican government considered the Texans there as traitors. And he considered all the Americans there to be nothing better than pirates or mercenaries. And with that in mind, his intention was to take no prisoners. Legend says that sometime during that day, thus, Colonel Travis gathered all the men and explained the situation.

He said that attack was imminent. And it was obvious the Mexicans had the power to overrun their position. And after making it clear to the men, the legend says—and I say legend because historical documents are kind of scanty— but says that he pulled out the dress sword that he had with his uniform, and he scratched out a long line on the sandy floor. He literally drew a line in the sand, and he asked those men who were willing to fight and to die for the Texas cause to walk across that line to stand with him.

And again, according to legend, except for one man, all of them did. They walked across the line.

And I'm not going to detail the rest of the story, but I think most of us know Colonel Travis was correct about the situation. The next day, the Mexicans did prevail. They managed to breach the walls, and all of those men who crossed the line to make that stand in the Alamo with Colonel Travis died fighting for their cause.

In the process, they became heroes to the people of Texas. And in our country's legend history, they're heroes to most Americans.

And the reason I'm telling this story today is because really all of us, at times, have to stop and consider.

Who am I? What do I believe in? What is it that I'm willing to make a stand for?

You could say that we all have to decide for what cause that we're willing to make a stand even when it might cost our lives.

I'm focusing on this because we're entering the spring of the year. I believe the Equinox is within a week, and with it comes the Passover, the most solemn ceremony of the year when we commemorate the death of Jesus Christ as our Savior.

In commemorating that day, Christians honor the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins, and in doing so, we reaffirm our commitment.

A commitment to Jesus Christ, to His way of life. And it's not a small commitment. It's a matter of life and death.

And so we're encouraged to take stock of ourselves. I want to turn to 1 Corinthians 11 and read the instructions the Apostle Paul gave.

1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 27. It's quite common for us to read this this time of year.

So after the Apostle Paul did some correcting of the congregation and how they were gathering for the Passover, he explained what the ceremony was supposed to be.

In verse 27, he said, The Old King James says, He says, It's important. We don't examine ourselves to say, Well, no, I can't do it. I'm not worthy. We examine ourselves so that we will take it in a worthy manner, so that we will take it.

And there are a lot of things that we can consider by way of examining ourselves.

Today, I want to consider one of the first, and I think the most basic.

When I'm looking at this and examining myself, I need to ask myself, Do I really want what this represents? Is this where I want to be?

To put this into that analogy that I've been making, At some point in our lives, all of us are like the men in the Alamo.

Only instead of Colonel Travis, we could say, Jesus Christ is there, and He draws a line for us.

And He says, Do you want to stand with me? If you do, step across that line.

Now, I submit that stepping across that line is the way to immortal life.

Not exactly something bad, but in some ways, it is sort of like, that's what the men in the Alamo gained. They gained immortal fame.

They live in history forever, so to speak, but they had to first sacrifice their lives.

If we cross the line to make a stand with Jesus Christ, we have to sacrifice the life that we had before.

We have to be willing to give up anything. And perhaps, even suffer a martyr's death, like the men in those Texans did at the hand of Mexican soldiers.

Whether we do or not, though, on the other side is eternal life.

But it's important to ask ourselves, Do I believe that?

And if I do, is that really what I want?

As I said, I want to ask myself that, as we all ask ourselves.

I'm proposing that within this metaphor that I'm using today, part of our examination should be to look down and see, if there's a line in the sand, which side am I on?

And give conscious thought, Am I on the side that I want to be on?

So, my message today is intended to consider this simple theme, and to look at some examples to help us to do so.

I want to bring out, I think, some important lessons, and to encourage us to make sure that we know where the line is.

That we're looking at it clearly, and then thinking about what it is we want.

So, to transition into seeing this from a biblical, let me say that again, a biblical perspective, let's look at an example that does have some resemblance to that of the men in the Alamo.

We can find it in the Book of Judges with the story of Gideon.

If you want to go to Judges chapter 7, actually, it will be where we start.

I understand that I gave a sermon on the life of Joshua not very long ago, and I purposely looked at his calling, not necessarily at his battle tactics or the experience of the men with him.

And we'll remember from that that God did call Gideon in a time of upset, and it was a difficult time, and God helped him to get through some challenges and to build up his faith to the point that he was ready to lead those men to do God's work.

And after that, he blew the trumpet. And it's funny, that's sort of a metaphor in the Old Testament, but I'm sure at that time he literally blew a trumpet, and he sent messengers all around his area calling for men to join in the battle against the Midianite invaders.

And about 32,000 Israelites responded. 32,000 of them.

That sounds like a substantial army, except the Midianites had 120,000.

So the odds against them were four to one.

Although stopping and thinking about it, I said, well, what was the odds for the men in the Alamo? They were facing ten to one odds.

But that's okay, that the four to one would change pretty quickly, because the Israelite volunteer soldiers who first responded were given an opportunity, I would say similar to that of the men in the Alamo.

Do you want to make a stand, or do you want to leave?

That's what we see in Judges 7, in verse 23.

Judges 7 and verse 23.

Oh, Judges 2 and 3. I thought, wait, that's way ahead of where I want to be. In the second verse of Judges 7, The Eternal said to Gideon, The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands. And that's important for us to remember. I'm not focusing on this, but it didn't matter how many soldiers were there, God was going to win the battle anyways, and he knew that. So he said, these are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying my own hand has saved me. Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, whoever is fearful and afraid, turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead. So if you're afraid about this, go ahead and go home. And 22,000 of them did. 22,000 of them left.

Now, we know that later on, and I'm not going to go through all the story, God would say, no, I still want to show, I want you to really know who wins these battles. So God would whittle it down to only 300. But before we get to that, let's give those 10,000 men credit. Like the men in the Alamo, they figuratively had a line in the sand drawn in front of them, and they stepped across, all 10,000 of them. They wanted to make a stand with God and with His servant. Even though it looked like it was against impossible odds, they were willing to risk their lives and go to probable death.

Now, there's much more to the story, and I want to come back to it. But I want to look at a number of examples and bring them each up to this point, and then come back to them later after we establish something. So, I want to turn to a different example in the New Testament, and one that involves a smaller number of men, but I think with greater stakes. We're going to go to John 6, so you can begin turning there.

But I'll mention, we all know that not long after Jesus began His earthly ministry, people flocked to Him. They wanted to hear these parables, these interesting stories. They wanted to be healed, or they wanted to see Him heal someone else. I mean, in the days before, you know, YouTube or cable television or anything, this is high entertainment.

Look, this guy can give sight to the blind and cast out demons. And it turns out, at least on one occasion, a lot of people came because there was free food. And who doesn't want to come out for free food? And Jesus called them out on that here in John 6 and verse 26. He makes it very clear. Some of them weren't there for the entertainment. He says, Jesus answered them and said, Most assuredly I say to you, you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. And I didn't read the account earlier, but there were thousands of them there, and he said, How are we going to feed these people?

We don't have enough money to feed these people. There's a lad here with five barley loaves and a couple of fish. Jesus knew that was enough. He worked a miracle and fed them, and they gathered twelve baskets left over. If twelve baskets were left over, that implies that everybody was there, had all they wanted to eat. They ate their full. And so, you know, he said, Hey, they're following, they're going looking for them. There's more free food. But with that in mind, all these people showed up. Just like 32,000 showed up when Gideon blew the trumpet.

But then, Jesus didn't draw a real line on the ground, but figuratively, spiritually, he drew a line in the sand. I want to go to verse 51. And he said, Do you want to be with me? Here's the cost. He says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he'll live forever. And the bread that I'll give is my flesh, which I'll give for the life of the world. And the Jews quarreled amongst themselves. How could this man give us his flesh to eat? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. Jesus heard them. He said, Most assuredly I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I'll raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed. My blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. And as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. Now, this isn't a military situation, so I'm jumping in an entirely different situation.

And these people weren't facing physical death. But Jesus was talking about spiritual life and death. As I said, he didn't draw any line on the sand, but he made a pretty strong challenge. Jesus, when we understand the symbolism and what he was getting at, rather than, as I would say, I don't think most of them really understood.

They thought he was talking about literally ripping him to pieces and eating him. He was talking about people relying on him exclusively for life. And of course, that symbolism applies to the Passover symbols. But, as with Gideon, a large majority of those who had initially showed up, when the challenge was drawn, they turned away. A vast majority of them did not step across that line, as we see in verse 66. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

You know, the entertainment, the free food is not enough for this. I'm not stepping across that line. But we would say within this metaphor that the twelve apostles did cross that line. They were willing to put their lives on the line for a cause that they believed to be more important than anything else in this life. So we see continuing on in verse 67, Jesus said to the twelve, Do you want to also go away?

Simon Peter answered and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we've come to believe and to know you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, again, there's a lot more that could be said. I want to come back to the story. But let's leave them for now, because we've gone from, you know, thousands who stepped across a line, now to just a dozen. I want to briefly consider the case of just one man, a man who was willing to cross a line.

And we can find that in Genesis 12. Genesis 12, of course, is the story of Abram's calling, the one who became known as Abraham. And some of you, if I just read it, you'll know it so well you don't need to turn there. But Genesis 12 in verse 1, Now the Lord said to Abram, Get you out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land that I'll show you.

And I'll make of you a great nation and bless you. I'll make your name great and you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Now, there's a very important prophecy, but I want to focus just on what God physically told Abram he had to do.

As I said, it might be a stretch to compare to this, to using a sword to draw a line in the sand, but geographically, God drew a line for Abram. He said, here's the line. You get over there, you know, and go away from everything you knew. Leave behind your family, your way of life. And what did Abram do? In verse 4 it says, So Abram departed, just as the Lord had spoken to him. The line was made clear. Abram stepped across the line. He went, sacrificed all that he had known. He devoted himself to a higher cause, following his leader.

Now, again, I'm going to leave this example for now. I want to consider one last example, not of historical characters from the Bible. The last example is us.

All of us. We all have had a calling. We all were in a large group of people who first heard the Gospel message. And we're not special because of that. Matter of fact, I want to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1 to remind us of that. We do consider our calling to God's way of life as a special calling.

And a lot of people do hear it, and a lot of people initially stop to listen. I would liken them to the many Israelites who heard Gideon's summons, and they came out. They heard the many people who heard of Jesus' miracles, and heard that he was providing food, and a lot of people came out. We're among a lot of people. And to show, as I said, just the fact that we first heard that message doesn't make us special. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, Paul says, For you see your calling, brethren? Not many wise men according to the flesh. Not many mighty. Not many noble are called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world, to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak of the world, to put to shame the things which are mighty. So we responded at some point to this calling, you know, we were out there following God. And then he made us aware, though, at some point that we would consciously have to choose if we were willing to step across a line that he would draw. Again, I'm still speaking in metaphor, but if you'll turn with me to Luke chapter 14, we'll see that that does happen. And here, I want to start in verse 25. Luke 14 and verse 25. The picture where we start. Luke 14 and verse 25 says, Now great multitudes went with him, that is, with Jesus Christ. We've all been part of a multitude that at least had some initial understanding and appreciation of the truth. And we came to Jesus, you know, through his church. We approached the body of Christ. But when you seek baptism, at some point, either it has happened or it will happen, a minister in the church has read to us what Jesus said next. Picking up in verse 26. Jesus turned to them and said, Now, we want to understand, of course, the Greek could be and should be interpreted, loves less by comparison. But if anyone doesn't put me before his father and mother, not me, of course, but Jesus Christ said this, before your wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life also can't be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me can't be my disciple.

Which of you, intending to build a tower, doesn't sit down first and count the cost whether it has enough to finish? As I said, this is a part of every baptismal counseling. Did you count the cost? Count the cost to make sure that you can finish? He says, you know, which of you, intending to build a tower, doesn't count the cost to make sure, lest after he laid the foundation and isn't able to finish, all who see it begin to mock? Say, this man began to build, but he couldn't finish. Or what king going to war against another king doesn't sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him and comes against him with twenty thousand. Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you that does not forsake all that he has can't be my disciple.

Jesus was laying it on the line there to the people. You want all you people following me? This is what it takes. Now, as I said, metaphorically, you could say, he stopped and drew a line in the sand and said, this is what it's going to take. Do you want to step across that line? And as I said, he was speaking to actual people two thousand years ago, but I'm talking to all of us.

This word was recorded so that we could read it, and we would come face to face with that decision. As I said, there's not a literal line for us to step over, but the way that we make the decision and that commitment is in baptism. Most of us here have already passed that point, and others are approaching it. But like those volunteer soldiers defending the Alamo, we saw the line, and we had to understand what it meant, and we stepped over.

So I could stop there and say, okay, good to know. We can stop there, right? But then again, as I wrote in my notes, there's a fair bit of time left, so you might guess I've got something to add to this.

We already read one scripture where Paul said a man should examine himself. He said a similar thing in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5. This is brief, so I can just read it to you. It says, examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith. Now, he might have said, examine yourselves as to whether you're still in the faith. Test yourselves. Don't you know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless you're disqualified?

With that in mind, I'll diverge a little bit from my comparison with the Battle of the Alamo, because those men only had that one choice during a brief time. Because after that, they were outnumbered 4 to 1 and surrounded. The Mexican army gave them no choice about stepping back over the line.

But that's not the case in the other examples I've looked at. In each one of those, we can go back and see that there was opportunity to go back, to step away from the commitment. Let's look at the story of Gideon again. Back in Judges, I want to pick up in chapter 6. Judges 6 and verse 35. Just to note, who first answered the call?

Judges 6 and verse 35.

Remember again, this is after God had called Gideon, trained him, led him. And then, the Midianites invaded, and Gideon summons an army. So in verse 35, he sent messengers throughout all of Manasseh, and all who also gathered behind him also, he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali. So I want to note, these men came from all of these places, 32,000 of them.

Now, we already read. I'm not going to go back and read the Scripture again, but at one point, Gideon told all of them, okay, the Midianites are out there, there's 120,000 of them. Anyone who's afraid can go home. If you want to stand and fight with me, step across the line. Okay, 22,000 of them refused. They changed their mind. They came and answered the call, and then said, we're out of here.

And of course, then, moreover, in Judges 7, verse 7, so I said, the Lord said to Gideon, well, by 300 men who lapped, I'll save you. God told me, you've got too many people here. I want to make sure you know that I'm the one that delivered. So take all the men down to drink, and the ones who lap like a dog, rather than sticking their face down in the water. And scholars debate about this, but we sort of think it means those who cupped the water and brought it up, so maybe they could keep their eyes open rather than just duck their head down. 300 of them did it that way, and God said, okay, I'll use those. The 9,700 other men were sent away. That's interesting. Now, those men didn't make the decision for themselves. They had stepped across the line, but in this case, God shoved them back to the other side. And they said, I don't want to put them down for that. But they were put back on the other side. But for them, the story wasn't finished at that point.

If we go down to verse 22 of chapter 7, and as we know, after God whittled it down to these seven, He said, okay, basically, He's steeled Gideon's courage, and He gave each of those 300 a trumpet and a pitcher with a torch, and sent them out in the middle of the night and said, when I give the sound, break the pitcher open so the torch flares up below the trumpets. And in verse 22, when the 300 blew the trumpets, the Lord said, every man soared against his companion. What He means is all the Midianite soldiers, they woke up in a panic and started killing each other. And throughout the whole army, they fled to Beth-Ikesha towards zero, which is as far as the border of Abel and Mahola. So there's this panic, they're killing each other, and they flee. But what happens next? In verse 23, the men of Israel gathered together. Not just those 300, but the men of Israel from Naftali and Asher and Manasseh. I think that was probably that 9,700 men who had been put on the other side of the line, they had a chance to get back in the fight. And perhaps maybe even 22,000 who had refused to cross the line in the first place. Now, they had to be ready and willing, and they couldn't have just said, ah, too late, now I'm busy watching a football game now, I don't want to come out. But when the opportunity came, they could, and they did step back across the line.

It seems that when they had a chance to see what was what, they wanted to be with Gideon. They wanted to make that stand. And I think it's worth giving them credit for that.

Let's go back to our next example, that of Jesus' disciples. I want to pick up the story early on in Matthew. Matthew 4. We'll see one account of Jesus. As Mr. Call mentioned, Christ spent that 40 days in the wilderness, was tempted by Satan and overcame him, then was ready to begin his public ministry and call a group of men to train to build his church. And we see in verse 17, Matthew 4.17, it says, From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brothers. Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. And he said to them, Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And immediately they left their nets and followed him. They made that initial choice. Hey, this guy's the Messiah, let's go follow him. And they were soon joined by many others.

Now, their calling was special. They weren't like the ones who just said, Hey, somebody's giving out free bread and fish. Or, hey, there's some guy doing miracles. But they were in that big crowd at some point when what we read in John 6 happened.

At some point, Christ said, Okay, you want to be with me? You have to eat my flesh. Here is the line. You're willing to do that? Step across. And the vast majority turned around and said, No way. But the 12 apostles, the ones who would become the 12 apostles, or at least, well, 11 of them that we know were there. I'm not sure if Thaddeus was there yet, but I think he was. They did step across the line. Peter spoke for himself and the others when they said they wanted to stand with Jesus.

Even when he said some very difficult things to understand, and it offended a lot of people. I'd say they were stepping across the line at that point, much more so than when Jesus first said, Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. But of course, we know the story's not finished then. Let's go to chapter 26 of Matthew.

I'm glad Mr. Call focused on Paul. I thought he might overlap quite a bit of what I wanted to talk about here today. I want to focus on Peter's experience here. In verse 47, of course, this is after Christ instituted the New Testament Passover and then led the disciples out to the Garden of Gethsemane while Judas went to betray him. Now, in verse 47, while he, that is Jesus, was still speaking, Behold Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude, with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

They came well-armed, intending to seize Jesus. Now, most of the disciples were stunned. Peter at least did take some action. He pulled out a sword and tried to fight, managed to cut off somebody's ear, but Christ stopped him there, and that's when things went south, so to speak. If we drop to verse 56, Jesus explains, All this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled, and then all the disciples forsook him and fled, including Peter.

These are the ones that stepped across the line before. Now, when people are out with clubs and knives and who knows what all, the rest of the Messiah, they fled. And we'll see that it wasn't just a moment of weakness, it was a little bit longer period of weakness. In verse 69, Peter follows the crowd and gets there while Jesus is being questioned by the high priest. It says, Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard, a servant girl came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied it, before them all, saying, I don't know what you're saying.

What are you talking about? And when he'd gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said, To those who were there, well, this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth, but again he denied with an oath, I don't know the man. A little later, those who stood by came up and said to Peter, Surely you're one of them, your speech betrays you, you've got a Galilean accent. Well, then he used that Galilean accent to say some words that you don't say in polite companies, as he began to curse and swear, I do not know the man.

And immediately the rooster crowed. And as one of the other accounts said, he and Christ looked at each other. And it says, he went out and wept bitterly.

We could say in one sense that hearing that rooster crow and seeing Jesus turn to a made-Peter figuratively look down at the lion in the sand, and he realized he was on the other side now. He'd stepped across. He had chosen not to make a stand with Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to understand, at this point, I'm not being overly critical of Peter. Jesus knew this was going to happen. He prophesied it. He knew that without the power of God's Holy Spirit, no other outcome was possible. But later, with the power of God's Holy Spirit, after it was poured out on that first Pentecost, we'll see things change considerably. Let's go to Acts 4. We know the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost, and the disciples started teaching powerfully. So much so that they came to the attention of the high priests and the officers, and they arrested them. We read in Acts 4, verse 18, So they called them, this included Peter and John in particular, and commanded them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. This is the Peter who denied and cursed, saying he didn't know who Jesus was now. Peter and John answered them and said, Well, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than God, you judge. We cannot but speak the things which we've seen and heard. What a turnaround that was for Peter. Made possible, of course, by the power of God's Spirit. But Peter and the other apostles had a chance to renew their determination that they could stand with Jesus, even though they'd run off and fled earlier. You know, if Peter had once wept because he looked down and saw that he was no longer on the side of the line with Jesus, he did something about it. At that point, Peter knew which side he wanted to be on. He wanted to be with God. And from what we read in Scripture, he never crossed that line again. And tradition tells us that all the apostles, with the possible exception of John, died a martyr's death. Like the soldiers of the Alamo, they gave their lives for a higher cause. Only this was a much higher cause than Texas independence.

They not only gained immortal fame, but they'll be raised to immortal life at Christ's coming.

Now, here's where we get to one of the reasons I wanted to include Abraham's example in this, because it starts sounding like everybody, whoever makes a commitment to God, is eventually going to falter and cross back away. Not everyone does that.

We looked only briefly at Abraham's example when he was first told, Go, get across this line, go to a country that I'm going to show you, and he got up and went. I'm not going to go back to Genesis. Let's go to Hebrews 11 to remind us of what Abraham did. Hebrews 11, we'll start in verse 8.

And this will remind us of what we read there in Genesis 12. Genesis 11, 8 says, But let's drop down to verse 13.

It says, And here's the part I wanted to focus on. Truly, if they'd called to mind that country from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. They would have had opportunity to return, but it says, Now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore, God's not ashamed to be called their God. He's prepared that city for them. This tells us clearly, though, Abraham stepped across the line when it was drawn for him, and he was so secure in staying there that we had to be reminded, yet he could have gone back. He could have had opportunity. He never wanted to. And that's really saying something. Even when God told him, Okay, you've gone this far, next thing I want you to do is go sacrifice your only son. Abraham still stayed on that side of the line, and that's pretty amazing. As I said, he was so steady that they had to put it in Scripture to tell us that he could have gone back.

Now, just like the apostles could, and they did waver, they did go back temporarily. And all of us can and sometimes do go back. So I want to turn again and put ourselves in this metaphor. As I said, we've read the Scriptures by the Apostle Paul that tell us to examine ourselves. Examine yourselves and take the Passover in a worthy manner. There are perhaps a lot of things that we could consider as part of the self-examination.

How am I doing living God's way of life? Am I obeying the commandments? Do I spend time praying, studying my Bible? Do I see the fruits of the Spirit developing in my life? And in the weeks ahead, we might look at all of those things. But today I want to focus on one of the most basic things to think about. Where do you want to be? What is it you really want in the long run? I need to ask myself, when it comes to my place in the universe and with God, do I want to be on His side of that line in the sand?

And after that, after I think about that, I should look down, and as I said, I'm still speaking in metaphor and say, well, which side am I on? Where am I? Now, I hope this doesn't sound silly. But one of the things that occurred to me is sometimes people seem to really struggle with living God's way of life. And sometimes when they're honest with themselves, they see a lot of it comes down to it, they just don't want to very much.

They're doing it for other reasons, not because they really want to. Or sometimes people have lost sight of the fundamental choice that God is presenting. With that in mind, let's turn to Deuteronomy 30 to remind ourselves of that fundamental choice. Deuteronomy 30, and we'll start in verse 15.

This is also a pretty often quoted section of Scripture. Deuteronomy 30, in verse 15. Now, here God is speaking through Moses to the children of Israel. He says, See, I've set before you today life and good, death and evil. And then I command you today to love the Lord your God, walk in His ways to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply. And the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, you're drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you'll surely perish, and you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over Jordan to go into possess.

So I call heaven and earth as witnesses today. I've set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Well, choose life therefore that you and your descendants may live, that you may love the Lord your God and that you may obey His voice and cling to Him. For He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the Lord your God swore to your fathers to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them.

Now, He was speaking to a physical people about physical blessings, but in many senses this is the choice we have today. Only we're making a choice for eternity. And we could say, theoretically, there's a line in the sand, and on one side is life and blessings, and the other side, death and cursing. But those goals are off in the distance, on the far horizon, and on the side that has life and blessing way off in the distance, might also include a lot of suffering, a lot of persecution, a lot of discomfort and pain before you get to the life and blessings.

And on the side that has death and cursing in the long run, might have a lot of pleasures and comforts in the short term. So we need to see clearly what is on each side, and then ask ourselves, what do we really want? Also, at times, we might need to rub our eyes and say, am I seeing this clearly? Am I looking at it with a proper focus? Do I need to get out my glasses? And the things that I think of as far as making sure you have that proper focus, do you doubt that there really is an Almighty God?

Because if that's the case, none of this matters. I'm just reading a bunch of folk tales. Or I could say, are you sure, are you really sure that this is the Word of God? Because if you don't really believe this is God's Word, then you have no reason to believe anything I'm saying. And that's why, whenever, as part of counseling for baptism, we routinely tell people, those are things you have to go over in your own mind. As it says in Hebrews 11, verse 6, He who comes to God must first believe that He is.

That's the first thing. You have to believe in this Creator God with all power. And then second, that this tells you His Word. And before you can make a commitment. Now, for all of us who have been baptized, and we're looking ahead to another Passover, it's good to reaffirm those beliefs. Because, as I said, they provide the clear vision of the line in the sand I've been talking about. Let's be sure that we have faith in God. Be sure that we have His Word, the Bible.

And in saying that, that doesn't have to be something that's a long involved process. I'm spending a lot of time on it, but some of us might say, do I really believe this? Yeah, I do. If you know it, and you know that you know it, often that's enough. You don't have to beat yourself up and try to convince yourself that you don't, and then come back and prove that you do.

But just stop and make sure that you really do believe it. That's good, you know, to make sure. And then when we're certain of our faith, so we're seeing clearly, look, look down at the line in the sand, look and ask myself, am I on the side that I want to be on? Am I following through on the earlier choice that I made, or have I somehow wandered back to the side where I started?

The wonderful thing is that just like Gideon's men, just like the apostles, if we find that we've gotten on the side of the line that we don't want to be on, if we see that we're no longer standing with Jesus Christ, we can step across to the side that we do want to be on. Let's look earlier in Deuteronomy 30 at the first verse. The first few verses we'll read. Now it'll come to pass when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse. This is presuming that they're going to make a choice and then go back on it, which I've set before you, and you call them to mind among the nations where the Lord your God drives you.

You've made the wrong choice and been punished, and this comes back to mind. Verse 2, And you return to the Lord your God, and obey his voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children with all your heart and all your soul, the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.

This is speaking of physically bringing back the children of Israel, and I think we can apply it metaphorically to God bringing us back, bringing us back to his side of the line if we see that we've gotten across. I'm not going to turn there, but John said almost the same exact thing in much simpler terms. 1 John 1, verse 9, says, If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That should be one of the most reassuring and encouraging parts of the whole self-examination process that we do before Passover. As I said, if I focus first on the side of the line I want to be on, and if I see that I've wandered, if I've gotten confused, if I've been deceived, if I've made a bad decision, I can get back to where I want to be, because God can bring me back.

Often the hardest part, as I said, is just getting a clear vision, clearing our eyes. Once we do that, the rest might be as easy as stepping over a line. Now, I hope and present, you know, I've been trying to present this in very simple terms, so I don't want to imply that everything in Christianity is all that simple and easy. As I said, for those men in the Alamo, stepping across a line in the sand was pretty easy.

Dealing with what happened after was a bit more difficult when the Mexican soldiers came in with murder in their eyes. When Christ told Peter and Andrew, come with me and I'll make you fishers of men, probably dropping the nets and walking away was one of the easiest things they would do. Then they had to spend a lifetime of developing godly character, of preaching the Gospel and being persecuted for it. That wasn't simple and easy, and it wasn't done in a moment or a day.

And so it is for us. Being baptized is pretty easy. You just lay back in a tank of water for a second. But being transformed by God's Spirit, growing in the fullness and stature of Christ, that's a lifelong process. It's full of challenges and difficulties. But still, in all these cases, continuing the long and difficult job sometimes involves just a fairly simple task of stopping to think, where do I want to be? Where do I want to end up? And of course, looking to see, well, where am I in relation to that?

And if you see that you're not where you want to be, make the move. Not necessarily under your own power, as we read in Deuteronomy. God says, I'll bring you back. We can ask God to help us see clearly and then help us move where we want to be. And that's something I want to encourage us all. Let's ask God to help us, and let's step over that line.