A Line In The Sand

By March the 5th, 1836, the situation was obvious and it was hopeless. All who remained were going to die, and they knew it. There was at least 2,000, maybe 4,000, soldiers surrounding them. And in the distance, the bold, sullen, blood-red flag of no quarter waved in the Texas breeze. No quit, no surrender, no clemency, no mercy. The choice and the reality was obvious. 183 men were looking their personal death in the face. There was no doubt what their commitment would cost them. No doubt about it. Now, what happened next might be forever debated, and there are those who will debate it, but the few women who were spared the carnage, they would later relate this. How that on Saturday afternoon, after 13 days of daily bombardment without a single Texan being killed, Colonel William Travis assembled everybody near the plaza leading to the chapel. They had to bring Bowie on a cot, carry him on a litter because he had fallen and injured himself.

Facing the men, Colonel Travis, in the sand, took his sword, and with the tip of his sword, he drew a line in the sand. Any who wanted to leave and possibly save their lives could leave.

But for those who wanted to commit and cross over the line, step over the line and stay, death was almost certain. Bowie had him carry his litter across the line, and every other man crossed over the line in the sand and committed except one man. Of the 182 facing Travis, 181 crossed, 181 committed, only one refused to commit, and he shortly left.

At about 3.30 a.m. the next cold morning of Sunday, March 6, Santa Anna's army marched on the Alamo to the bugle sounds of the Deguelo. An ancient Moorish plea were beheading. It meant the beheading. By 7 a.m. that morning, just about 3.5 hours later, the battle was over, and all of the participants were dead.

You know, in America, as history moves along, there are a lot of things of history that are lost, with the younger generations coming along and the old ones dying off. But even to this day, I think two words that will be hanging around as long as any words, even in current affairs, is the Alamo. I mean, you say the Alamo, still a majority of the people recognize those words, and it triggers thoughts and memories. The Alamo. Famous words enshrined in memory and history, because they're symbolic of commitment.

They're symbolic of sacrifice. They're symbolic of the commitment that is willing to sacrifice, of the sacrifice that comes through commitment, because commitment means sacrifice. You will sacrifice when you're committed. And, of course, the Alamo speaks to a commitment that led to the death of all of the active participants. All 182. See, that was the level of commitment that was, quote, in it to the death. They knew when they crossed over that line, drawn in the sand, and committed, that it was to death, do us part, resolve, till the final gun sounds, determination. See, when I hear the words, the Alamo, and I'm very familiar with Texas history, I live 14 years of my life in Texas.

Those are words that conjure up a picture of total, complete, give-it-your-all commitment. Not only one left, Louis or Louis Rose, age 51. He wasn't a coward, per se. He was born in France. He'd come to America. He was entitled to wear the Legion of Honor as a distinguished veteran of Napoleon's campaign in the Kingdom of Naples and Russia. But he said, he said, I came to America to live a new life, not to die needlessly. Only fools and amateurs would try to defend this place, and he refused to commit.

And, of course, in Texas history, he went down in disgrace and infamy. I think about Texas and how the Lone Star State, it's the only state of the Union that was a republic that came in, you know, agreed with the United States to come in. But I think about their existence and coming into existence and independence and freedom and how it came through commitment, and how the Alamo, for instance, he did two things.

Those men at the Alamo, their commitment did two things. It bought time, and it galvanized Texas. Because Sam Houston had a ragtag army, he was trying to stay away from Santa Ana long enough to get at least enough of an army to make a stand. The Alamo slowed down Santa Ana. It caused Santa Ana some pretty heavy losses. It gave Sam Houston time to gather more, and they kept running and running and running and moving and pulling Santa Ana further and further away from his base.

And then they turned on him at San Jacinto Peninsula, and when they totally routed the Mexican army at that time, the men were screaming and yelling, Remember the Alamo. It galvanized them. If the story of the Alamo stands for anything, it stands for commitment, and the sacrifice it comes through, that kind of commitment. I think about the United States, the freedom we have in this nation as a collective people.

If you go back and read anything about the history of the founding of this nation, which God blessed, the founding fathers were considered traitors, rebels by England, and as Benjamin Franklin said, we either hang together or we will hang separately. And he literally met, we'll hang by the neck. Because if they could have been captured and taken, many of them would have been executed as traitors. It was their dedication. It was their willingness to pay the ultimate price if necessary. It was their sacrifice and their commitment that God used instrumentally to establish this nation.

Those of us, especially in particular here today, who are baptized, we live in a spiritual state of freedom.

I stand before you knowing that if time goes on long enough, my mortality will kill me. But I'm resurrectable. God will resurrect me when that seventh trumpet sounds and Christ is sent back. That's the death that would apply to me. But as long as I continue to live in Christ, committed to Christ, and God the Father, the second death doesn't hang over me. At one time it did. That has been removed. I don't have to worry about facing extinction at this point. I live in a spiritual state of freedom because, again, of special dedication, special sacrifice, special commitment. When God calls us, and the only reason I can stand here before you today is that there was a time, and it reaches back into my childhood, when God called me, and he called me during my childhood. And as the years went by, and I grew up physically and matured more and more, I responded to that call. I responded at the level I was at and continued to respond. You did, too. Those of you that have come to that point, and some of you aren't yet baptized, but you're responding to God. You're responding. And whether you're a young person or an older person, you respond, and you set yourself to seek God and to obey Him and to do. And in proper time and due time, you will be baptized into Christ. But God calls us to commitment. Commitment to true Christianity, not what is pictured out and about and around us. And you've got to study your Bible to see what true Christianity is, and commitment to Christ. And I think about how that one of the things that circles around, sometimes even in the Church of God, the greater Church of God, is the issue of, well, is Christ a created being, or does He have eternal pre-existence? And I'm thinking, and you don't have to excuse me sometimes. I may use words that might be offensive to Psalm. I don't mean to offend, but it's idiocy. With plain, simple scriptures that give you the answers in the Bible, all I can conclude in my mind sometimes is that people just don't want to accept the answers that are in the Bible. Because Christ was God. He's always been God. He was with God the Father. He's always existed. Eternally pre-existent. He became flesh and blood for our sakes. And we're called to commit to Him. And somehow, some people think, if you honor Christ, you're not honoring the Father. That's human carnal thinking. Christ said, you honor Me, you're honoring the Father. You honor the Father, you're honoring Me. You cannot honor one without honoring the other. It's automatic that if you honor one, the other one's being honored.

Commitment to Him to take Him on. Notice John 6.

I'll give you a title. The fact of it is we'll give it to you now while you're turning to John 6. A line in the sand. A line in the sand. In John 6 and verse 57, Christ said, As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father. I want you to understand something. He was actually notating that while He was flesh and blood, His life... See, when He was flesh and blood, He wasn't maintaining the life-supporting systems. They were being maintained by the Father, who previously had maintained Him through Christ before He became flesh and blood. And His life, and His spiritual life, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God was flowing from the Father to Christ. The Holy Spirit without measure. We could read that in another scripture. But He makes the point, He says, I live by the Father. So He that eats Me, even He shall live by Me. He that eats Me. Now, obviously at Passover, the unleavened bread broken represents, and we mention this in the prayer over it, as we ask God's blessing of it to represent. We do not believe in the Catholic substantiation that it literally becomes the flesh of Jesus Christ. And the wine literally becomes His blood. We do not believe that. We believe what Christ said. It represents His blood. It represents His flesh. So when we partake of that unleavened bread at Passover, we're partaking of Him by the symbolism of the Spirit, but also during the days of unleavened bread that immediately follow. Eating unleavened bread pictures a commitment to Jesus Christ, the commitment to let Him live His life in us.

I don't have the second death hanging over me. I live in a certain freedom. I'm thankful for that. I stay reminded of that. And I realize that that particular freedom comes from crossing the line, crossing over the line and committing, like the 181 crossed over to Travis and committed, crossing the line and committing. In Matthew 10, 39, Matthew 10, and verse 39, I said our freedom comes by crossing the line and committing, stepping over into commitment, so to speak. He that finds His life shall lose it. Interesting statement. He that is so concerned about having His own life, doing His own way, doing His own thing, doing what pleases Him, like a man that I loved greatly and grew up knowing years ago, many years ago now, sat at my mom and dad's table and said the best thing there is is to do what you want to do, when you want to do it, how you want to do it. And He lived that kind of life. And He will not be in the first resurrection, because He never changed.

He that finds His life shall lose it. He that loses His life, who is willing to sacrifice, commit, surrender, for my sake, Christ says, shall find it. See, Christ does draw a line in the sand. That's something that greater Christianity doesn't really want to fully recognize. He does draw a line in the sand. Notice verse 38. Verse 38, And He that takes not His cross, and any time you see the word cross applied to us, it's basically just talking about sacrifice. He that takes not His cross, or that is, is willing to bear the sacrifice that's required of Him, committed to sacrifice, it's commitment that sacrifices, sacrifice requires commitment, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me.

For years and years, I heard on a regular basis the Scripture of Luke 9, 62, read. Maybe we've not read it as many times in recent years, but it's still totally applicable.

In Luke 9 and verse 62. By the way, have you noticed there's an awful lot of pollen out there? Go out in the morning, I have to... you know, like coming over here this morning, I had to run the windshield wipers to wash all the pollen off the windshield. Here, it's full of it. Luke 9, 62.

Well, I really got going on the right track, got headed towards the kingdom, and I don't know.

What I left back there, is it really as bad as I thought? Is the world really that bad? Maybe I can just go ahead and enjoy the world now and get straightened out again later. And they look back over their shoulder with kind of a yearning. In 1995, January, Atlanta, Georgia. 1995, January, Atlanta, Georgia.

We were having a regional conference. And, of course, back in those years, because of the greater numbers of church members, ministry, and all, it was... I don't remember the exact number, but it's into the hundreds. And it was at a time when everything was coming apart, finishing up the coming apart. Many of you remember what those days were like. They were the times that tried men's souls, as Thomas Paine said.

One of the main ones from Pasadena, among the others, had a lecture. He was the man who baptized me when I was 18. He was the man who baptized Angela. He was one of my professors at college. He was one of the two men that baptized my mother and two of her sisters in 1961 in Northeast Mississippi.

He stood up, he gave his lecture, and he said, and this is a specific quote of his, he said, I don't think Jesus Christ is expecting us to draw a line in the sand. Very significant statement. I don't think Jesus Christ is expecting us to draw a line in the sand. Because he and a number of others were drawing no lines in the sand. They kept moving the line, you know, oh, you don't want to commit to this? Oh, we'll just move the line over. And you know what? He and others drew no line. That's one of the reasons why United had to come into existence as one of the Church of God groups to carry on the truth and do a work. See, Christ does draw a line in the sand. He draws lines in the sand. He expects us to cross over and commit and do. Notice Luke 6.46.

And verse 46, He is my Lord. He is my Master. He is my High Priest. He is my King and my soon-coming King.

And I read this in conjunction with the other Scriptures I read, and I realize, yes, He does draw lines in the sand. He expects us to step over and commit on all kinds of issues that are important to the Father in Him. And why do you call me Lord, Lord? Why do you acknowledge me by word as your boss, as your Master, but you don't do the things which I say? A van. I had to run out and do something real quick yesterday. I saw a van go by, and I looked at the rear of it, and it said, Jesus is Lord. That's a true statement. Jesus is Lord. But you know, usually what they mean is, Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord of my life. Or some of these little towns you go into sometimes on the mark, you know, the sign out there where you enter, it says, Jesus Christ is Lord of whatever the town is. You don't see that very much, especially anymore, but I have seen that before. And I think, well, yeah, if they sincerely try to serve Him to the degree, they do understand. I won't knock that. But you go into that little town and try to tell them what the Lord expects of them, they'll run you out on a rail. Try it. No, don't try it, because we know what the results would be. No, He does draw a line in the sand, lines in the sand. You know, of all the things we focus on at this season of the year, one of the most important is Christ's complete and total commitment to us. You think about it, His complete and total, His complete and total commitment, Christ's, to us. And obviously, along with that, the Father's. That's illustrated by suffering and death. You know, one of the things that I've kind of shied away from, that I did not used to shy away from, early in my ministry, earlier years ago, I would cover sometimes the suffering and the death in very graphic and specific detail. And it's depressing, because when you understand what He really physically endured for us, I still cover those things, but I generally don't get as graphic and detailed as I once did. When Mel Gibson came out with the Passion years ago, I didn't go see it. It was, from what I understand, it's just a beat-em-up fest. I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't accurate.

Probably cannot portray it on the screen as true to the real reality of it as it was.

But it's like I knew what Christ went through from Scripture, what I read, and just knowing enough about anatomy and physiology.

And I thought, it's hard enough for me to just deal with that knowing I don't want to go sit in front of a screen and sensory watch it, be involved with it. And again, He probably even underplayed the magnitude of the suffering. But that suffering and His death illustrates the commitment that He has to us and the tremendous sacrifice that comes through that. Do you realize that there had to be a time long ago before Adam and Eve were created? There had to be a time where the Father and the Son, they weren't known as the Father and the Son. That pattern was established when Christ came as flesh and blood. But there had to be a time when they discussed starting this plan that involves human beings. There had to be a time when they did all the discussing and the planning.

And there had to be a time where Havart was worded, Havart was said, somewhere in there where the essence was from the Father to the Son. You know, Son or Christ, the Word, will you cross the line drawn if we start this plan? If we start it, there will be a line in the sand. You'll have to commit. You'll have to step across and commit, or the plan won't be able to be completed. So before we start it, are you willing to cross the line and commit so that it can be completed? And he wouldn't force Him because Christ Himself said that He voluntarily was willing to do it. That's in join. And if you do cross that line and commit, if you cross it, if you step across now and commit to that, you do know it will mean you're deaf. Will you? We know the answer. That's why we're here. That's why we exist as human beings. That's why there is an opening, an opportunity into eternal life. That's why you've got Scriptures like...and I'm not going to turn to these, but you've got Scriptures like Revelation 13.8. Revelation 13 and verse 8, where it talks about the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. From Genesis forward, He was as good as dead because of sin. It's why we have Scriptures like 2 Timothy 1.9. 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. Given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It was planned out. But Christ had to be willing to commit. And He committed before Adam was ever created. He committed.

He stepped over the line and committed. And then when it actually became by actual fact of the occurrence of sin that He would have to do it, He just carried it through. And there's a very important Scripture, and it's one for us to always bear in mind. Hebrews 7.25, again, not going to turn there, but Hebrews 7 and verse 25.

How that He can save to the uttermost. Because it's very simple. He can save to the uttermost because He gave the uttermost. And there is the corresponding reciprocal need for our complete commitment to Him.

A sermon like this is not just about commitment and sacrifice. It's also a sermon that can serve to help each of us to personally analyze ourselves and examine ourselves in the light of this past year since last year's Passover. And examine ourselves and analyze what do we need to focus more on personally with ourselves, with God, for the growth and development and overcoming that we need and must be about in this actual, in God's view, New Year that we're into. Because in God's view, the New Year has begun. John 6. Back in John 6. Of course, some of these scriptures we will read at Passover.

John 6 again. And verse 53. Verse 53. Again, the corresponding need for our complete commitment to Him. Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Who so eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up to the last day. Now, obviously, there's a cannibalistic terms to the uneducated, simply carnally-minded human nature-thinking humans that are hearing. That's how some of them perceived it. I mean, the terminology. But obviously, His close disciples knew He didn't mean we'd literally eat Him or drink His blood. And, of course, at the Passover, it all came together, what He was saying. For my flesh is meat indeed, verse 55, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me, and I in Him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father, so He that eats me, even He shall live by me. Verse 58, This is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats of this bread shall live forever. It has to do with eternal life. But you think about it, what He says here, it's like fully absorb me. Think about Galatians 4.19. Galatians 4.19, Paul said to the Galatians, he said, I labor like a woman in childbirth. I labor until... until what? Until Christ be formed in you. Till Christ be formed in you. Well, it's like Christ is saying here in this section of John, fully absorb me. Fully absorb me. Paul says, till Christ be formed in you. You know, full absorption. That's a tall order. We keep moving in that direction, in that direction, in that direction with that goal in mind. Which means also by me recognizing that direction to move in and that goal in mind, I never come to a point in this life where I can say, okay, enough's enough, that's it. I have to keep rolling forward. More fully taking on Christ and everything He stands for with every passing day.

My wife is an extremely patient person. I am not an extremely patient person. Never have been. And I have patience and I can exercise patience, but the situation that I live with now and part of the configuration that will remain, even when she heals fully, part of the configuration that will remain will require more patience out of me than I've ever exercised. It's good for my growth. Notice verse 66. Now, again, some of those, it was cannibalistic terms, and they didn't wait around to see, well, He doesn't really mean eat His flesh and drink His blood. He's making some point. Let's hang around and find out. Let's stick with Him. Now, it says in verse 66, from that time, many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him. They refused to cross the line. They went over the wall. They skedaddled.

And so He says in verse 67, then said, Jesus to the twelve, will you also go away? Logical question. And we know the answer, of course, but will you also go away? He also could have said, how committed to me are you? How committed? Oh, I know you're committed. These disciples that are leaving, they were, quote, committed, but their commitment didn't go deep enough. They didn't even hang around to find out what the answer is. They're gone.

How committed to me are you? And let's just expound upon that because it has meaning for you and me. Will you follow me, no matter where it may lead? Will you, will I follow? Will we continue to honor God and Jesus Christ? Will we continue to do what we know is their will? Will we continue to follow what they have pointed out about their nature, their righteousness, their laws, their ways?

Will we continue to follow out, follow them through whatever thick and thin comes? Is Christ in our lead up front? Do we keep Him, you know, by keeping ourselves positioned to where we are following Him up front, no matter where we may have to go to follow? Let me put it another way. You know, we ask ourselves these things. I don't have to ask you. You ask yourself, what have you given up for Christ? As you scan back over your life, even this past year, maybe, what have you given up for Jesus Christ?

Is there anything that you've given up for Him? Now, obviously, if something is a sin, it's not optional. You've got to give it up, period. But then again, sometimes people don't give up the sins they have. They've got certain sins that are pet sins, and they want them, they like them, and they hang on to them. But then there's also things that are not sin, but might not be the best way to serve God, or the best way to serve others, or the best way to stay in spiritual shape.

And I guess they can get into becoming sin, yes, but what have we given up for Christ? Let me put it another way. What has following God, the Father and Jesus Christ, cost you? Is there any cost to it? What has it cost you? Some of us could sit down, and if we really gave ourselves some meditative time to really think about it, we could do a pretty good list over our life time up to where it is right now, and we could notate any number of things that we gave up.

We gave up that good job, in order to be obedient to God with the Sabbath. We gave up that promotion because you wouldn't come in on the Sabbath, or gave up that promotion because you wouldn't lie for the one who could give you that promotion. For instance, we gave up that relationship with that family member whom you still dearly love, but who told you if you didn't come out of that cult that they didn't want anything to do with you.

I mean, what has following Him cost you? Honey, you either leave that church or I'm leaving you. What has it cost you to follow Him? Again, this is a time for self-examination, and certainly a very fitting subject in that regard. See, the disciples left Him at Gethsemane. They fled. We know the account. When He was taken, they all fled. He brought up the issue again, and He left it, and He made it plain.

He drove it very deep in John 21. And we're very familiar with John 21, so I'll just skim a couple of verses here. You know, you imagine after His resurrection, and He's been appearing to them, and one morning on the seashore there, He's on the seashore, fixing breakfast, and they realize that it's the Lord, and they're out in the boat, and they've been fishing all night, etc.

You know the account. So after they finished and they row in, of course, Peter dives in, swims in, but they sit around, they have breakfast, and then with the meal finished in verse 15, so when they had dined, just imagine a beautiful spring morning. The flowers are blooming, everything's turning green, the hillsides are turning green, the water is sparkling blue under a brilliant blue sky, the air is crisp, it's a beautiful setting, the smell of fish, cooking fish, and wood smoke in the nostrils, beautiful setting.

So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, Son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? And He said, Lord, you know that I love you. And He said to Him, feed my lambs. Whew! Got by that. See, Peter's the one that had told Him back there in Matthew 26.33. Again, not turning back there, but Matthew 26.33. Peter's the one that told Him, though everybody forsake you.

I won't! I'm committed! I mean, I'm with you! But He didn't stick. When the chips were down, He was gone. So Peter's having a flashback in his memory. He knows why this is being addressed. And in one sense, Christ is saying to Him, Peter, are you committed to me? Are you committed? Verse 16, He said to Him again the second time, Simon! Oh, boy! This is coming up again. Son of Jonah, do you love me? Yes, Lord! You know that I love you! And He said to Him, feed my sheep.

Whew! I know God does things twice for emphasis, so I'm glad to get past that. I'm really sorry I did that and all. But God has got to know. Christ has got to know. So just about the time I think Peter is beginning to breathe a little easier. Verse 17, He said to Him the third time, Simon! Son of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved because He said to Him, the third time, do you love me? And He said to Him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said to Him, feed my sheep. Peter and then God, on the corollary to that, how committed are you to me?

Okay, you're committed, but how committed? Verses 18 and 19. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and you walked where you would. But when you shall be old, Peter, when you shall be old, you're going to stretch forth your hands, you're going to hold out your hands, and another is going to gird you. They're going to bind you. And they're going to carry you where you would rather not go. This He spoke signifying by what death He should glorify God. You won't die a natural death lying in your bed.

You're going to be martyred. When you're old, which told Him, you'll have a pretty long life overall, pretty much a full life, but you'll cap it off with a martyrdom death on my behalf. Peter understood what he was saying, and when he had spoken this, he said to him, Follow me, because if he's going to give him pretty much chronologically wise a full life, and he's going to end with martyrdom, he's going to have to stay faithful to God.

He's going to have to be committed. He's going to have to, so to speak, cross over that line into commitment over and over and stay with it. Follow me. In these examples, you see human nature coming out. Keep in mind, Peter's not converted yet. He doesn't have God's spirit. It's with him, but it's not him. He's not converted yet. He's still more currently minded than anything.

You tell, you've got three kids, or you've got two kids, and you tell one, You get to have, or you get, this has got to happen to you, or you've got to do this. You've got to go do this chore. Go do this chore. And what does the kid usually do? But what about Henry here? That's what Peter did. Notice. Then Peter, turning about, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following as John, which also leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, would you see that he betrays you?

Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Now, you think about the human nature play. He's just been told, and it's like, okay, but what about John? What's going to happen to John? And, of course, Jesus said to him, if I will. He didn't say, you know, this is the way it will be.

He said, if I will. If it should be that he tarry, that I will that he tarry, or be alive, or wait till I come. Peter, Peter, what is that to you? You follow me. See, he made it very specific individual. It doesn't matter what happens to John, or what I allow John, or put upon John. You have your orders, Peter. You've got to tend to you and your responsibilities. What happens to John has nothing to do with your commitment.

Christ drew a line in the sand. Of course, Peter crossed. Peter committed. And Christ and God have committed to us and proven that commitment. And we just simply ask ourselves, in part of the self-examination process, have we done the same in return? And if we haven't, then we ask ourselves, why not? What's the holdup? You know, I look back, and of course, I get into this time.

I do a lot of thinking and meditating, whether on the highway, the front porch, at my desk, or wherever, or waking up in the wee hours of the morning and lying there for 30 minutes before I go back to sleep, or whatever. But especially at this time of the year, I ask God to help me to see myself, to see where I have grown for encouragement, but also to see where I yet need to grow so that I cannot just have a false sense of accomplishment where there isn't.

But I think we look back over the year. Is our life more fully patterned after Christ at this point than it was one year ago? And only each of us can answer that for ourselves. God truly knows the state. He truly knows the degrees, the measures, and all of that. One of the things I'm not going to be involved in trying to assess where you stand in that issue. That is for you to assess. But is our life more fully patterned after Christ than what we do, in how we do it, in why we do it, the motivation?

Again, we have a new calendar year. A new calendar year. I'm not talking about the Gregorian or Roman calendar that we go by that starts January 1st. I mean, we use that for it to do things decently in an order. There's nothing wrong with doing that. But we do recognize that the new year truly in God's sight and the way to be set up in the millennium starts in the springtime. And of course, we've got another cycle of holy days to go through, laying out the beautiful and wonderful encouraging plan of God, the plan of salvation.

But what additional positive results do you want? You know, people of the world and greater Christianity use January 1st for New Year's resolutions. And that's just so they got something to break on January 2nd, so many times. But this is the time of the year when we need to deepen our resolve, when we need to look at our resolutions. And we can't make the mistake and need better not make the mistake that, well, I'll get everything the best I can right with God and going to Passover.

And then after that, whoosh, got by for another year and now I can kind of track along like I want. Before Passover next year, I'll do the same thing. There's something a bit Protestant about that, and it's not spiritual. No, it's a year-long thing, but there are certain high points in the year, and this is one of them, where we have to come as much as possible to full attention with ourself in the light of God's ways.

You know something that I think about? There are certain things that beset us and get to us more than others. I think about how our mortality doesn't fall away until we're resurrected. Our human nature doesn't die and cease to be a part of us until we're resurrected. Our carnality doesn't just disappear into the night and is gone while we're human. It's easy to get pricked. It's easy to get offended. It's easy to get hurt. It's easy to drift from God through pride, error that takes us away. Those are things that we have to guard. I could ask myself, am I as easily pricked as I used to be? Can I absorb a whole lot more? Am I as easily offended?

Or does it take more to rile me? Does it take more to agitate me? Does it take more to frustrate me? There are a number of ways with God's guidance and light and help that you can analyze yourself.

Is there a time of the year where Philippians 1.6 has more meaning than at this time of the year? I don't think so. I will use this Scripture over the years until it's not possible not to know where it is and what it says. And many of you already have it memorized and you know and all of that. Being confident of this very thing that He which has begun a good work in you, which could only be done in you through Christ, through the calling, through the responding, through the cleansing in Christ's blood through baptism based on valid repentance, and as a clean vessel in God's sight through the laying on of hands, God the Father giving, the begettle of the Spirit and starting a new creation in you, a good work in you. We'll finish it, we'll perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. That's commitment. That's commitment. You know, again, walking through the valley of the shadow of death that I've done three times with Angela over the years, 06, 09, and this year. Yeah, when things are really going wonderful, you know God's with you. You see the beauty, you see the brightness of things, you know, the love, the joy, the peace, and all of that. And it's when you're in the pit that you can have those darts of doubt thrown at you. Is God really in this with you? Yeah, He's really in it with you. He is there. That's when you need Him the most. He is in the pit and the pit's with you. I never wake up in the middle of the night, the wee hours, and think, God, You've left us. I don't think that because if human nature wanted to kind of slip that in on me, my educated mind, enlightened by God's Spirit, knows, no, He hasn't left. He's with you. He doesn't spare you everything. He doesn't spare you everything, but He's with you in whatever you're allowed to have to deal with. But He's committed, and that alone is one of the soundest reasons to commit to Him. You cannot lose out committed to Him, because as long as you stay committed to Him, as chapter 4, verse 19 says, But my God shall supply all your need. He will supply. And needs come in many, many forms and different levels and types. But all you need, He knows what your needs are. Chapter 4, verse 19. And as Peter said, at the end of that pretty much full life, when it's about to be kept off with martyrdom, death, as a witness for God, and an example to others, in 1 Peter 4, 19, He knows His days are about to close on Him, and He refers to God as a faithful Creator. I probably ought to read that. 1 Peter 4, verse 19. 1 Peter 4, verse 19. Wherefore let them that suffer, according to the will of God, because following God's will will involve some suffering, Yes, just living can involve some suffering. Commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator. Again, one of the great issues of this season is commitment. The commitment of Christ to us, and in return, reciprocally, our commitment to Him. Notice Psalm 50, verse 5.

And who do you think this is talking about? Psalm 50, verse 5. Gather, my saints, those with God's Spirit, gather my saints together unto me. Do you realize that every Sabbath, for instance, when we gather together in holy convocation, like we're doing today, this is one of those times, and it's on a weekly basis, where the saints are gathered together unto God. And we could add to that the other commanded assemblies of the holy days, and, of course, the Passover. But notice, gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant. Baptism is a covenant that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. We could not make the covenant of baptism, which it's referencing, that's the covenant, and in that is the new covenant. The new covenant, the covenant of baptism, all of that tying together, would not be possible without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And we would not be able to partake of that covenant, which has been produced for us by His sacrifice, without our willingness to respond in sacrifice, to respond in crossing the lines that He draws and committing. Yet I find it interesting that those who died at the Alamo, who crossed the line and committed, who stepped over, they went down in the history of Texas into historical glory and immortality, as they say. And there was even a movie done years ago titled, 13 Days to Glory. That crossed over into the type of glory and immortality in the hearts and minds of men. We who step over the line for and with God, we cross over into the glory and immortality of God's family and kingdom and eternity.

Our commitment will be tested.

There's no such thing as you having a commitment that will not be tested. Because, just like Christ asking His disciples, will you leave me? Just like Christ testing Peter's level of commitment. Your commitment will be tested.

I look back over the years and...

one of the greatest tests of your commitment will be... and I can expand on this at a future time, but one of your tests of commitment will be... your spiritual ability to look straight first and foremost to God the Father and Jesus Christ and not let another human being turn your eyes from God. Our cause you to give up God's ways. Because if there's any way that you can be, through another human being, offended from God, Satan will do his best to see that.

When people let a man or a woman or another person get in their way of their view of God and start turning their eyes from God, their commitment isn't deep enough to last. See, if we go back to Matthew 10, and I mention this simply because I've seen the reality of failing to appreciate...

what relationships and other people can do to one. See, we read verse 39 of Matthew 10. We read verse 38. Let's back up and read verse 37 because it notates this issue. He that loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. It doesn't say you can't love father and mother. It doesn't say you can't love son or daughter, friend, co-worker, cousin, whatever, aunt, uncle, grandparents. It doesn't say you can't love them. It says, He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. See, again, true commitment to God means you love those in your life, yes, but you love God more, which means your commitment to God supersedes your commitment to those loved ones because if they want you to do something that you know is contrary to God, you have to say no. And that may cost you some sacrifice. But that's what it's all about, about putting God first and foremost and seeking the kingdom and His righteousness first. So, again, it's a time to really examine ourselves and to make sure that we're committed, not just to the degree that we, quote, should be, but that we're committed to the degree that we should be so that we can be spiritually successful because God can continue to work with us with that level of commitment. And God Himself has stated He will never leave us. We have to set ourselves that we will never be turned aside. Say, God has crossed the line for us, and He requires you and me to keep crossing it for Him.