I’ll never forget the first house Marge and I purchased. We had just moved to the beautiful west Texas town of San Angelo. We both had decent jobs and decided it was the right time to take the plunge and buy a house. God’s providence was at work, the housing market in 1999 was extremely soft and we bought a brand new house for a great deal. There are two things I’ll never forget about that week of closing on the house. The first was Margie and I sitting in the parking lot of the title company and praying and crying together because we were so terrified of making a loan for almost a hundred thousand dollars. The second was the impact of signing my name. Several people had told us to be ready to sign our names a lot, but we were totally unprepared. I had bought several of my favorite pens for this day and brought them with me to give to all that would be signing. Call it a gift with my purchase. We signed a few papers and then signed a few more. More were carefully explained to us and then we signed those. It seemed like we signed about 30 different legally binding documents that day, I was wondering if my new pen would last. It surprised me that our signatures were all that was required to borrow all that money and buy an entire house. Up to this moment, I had no idea my signature meant so much and had so much merit. To buy an entire house, all I had to do was sign on the line.
I’m sure that whoever might be reading this has had a similar experience. Whether it was a house, a car, student loans, a boat, a mansion or a Lear jet, you have to sign your name on the line to make that purchase. In fact, in our world today that’s pretty much all you have to do to buy costly things. I’ll never forget the first time I had this realization in college, the one that companies would actually loan me more and sell me more than I could afford to repay them for. It seemed silly to me as a business major that companies would operate this way but it also taught me the valuable principle that you have to manage your money carefully based on what you can afford, not what you want or think you deserve. Dave Ramsey calls it to “act your wage.” Get it?
I have a tough question for you. If you can sign on the line and dedicate your future finances to repay a debt for things that you desire, how do you honor your commitment to Jesus Christ? How do you commit to repay Jesus for His un-repayable work upon the Cross for you? Have you ever signed on the line with Jesus?
If you have ever fully realized the destination that your sin will eventually take you to, then you have also realized the conundrum you’re in. You have a sin disease that you or no Doctor in the world can do anything about. Your sin against God has caused you to be blemished. Holy God cannot be in the presence of the disease of sin and you have it, so what do you do? Well, if you are a born again Christian, somewhere along the way, somebody loved you enough to tell you about the miraculous healing work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. As a result of God sending His only Son to be a perfect sacrifice, you can call upon Him to save you from the disease of your sin. God made a way to save your life. I’ll never forget the day I called upon Jesus to save my life; it was a day etched into my memory forever. The day the God of the universe reached down and picked me up. The day Jesus washed this sinner in His precious blood.
You could easily say that the day you cried out to Christ to save you was you signing on the line…metaphorically. And you would be right, by giving your heart and life to Christ, you signed your life away to God. But for the point of an applicational teaching moment, let’s take this study somewhere new. Somewhere tangible, somewhere you can see, feel, touch and relate to today. Somewhere to help you visualize a new commitment to love, serve and obey God. Please understand this, this practice exercise is not a substitute or requirement for salvation, it’s merely an applicational exercise to spur self-awareness and change. If you have been saved by Jesus Christ, you are and always will maintain that Salvation. (1 John 5:11-13) But today, wherever you may be in your walk with Christ, would you be willing to sign on the line? To sign a written commitment that you are willing to re-dedicate your life to His work, His plan, His laws and His Love?
In Deuteronomy 10 this morning I came across a passage that moved me. Moses is recounting the goodness that God has blessed the Israelites with in an effort to spur their memory. You see when it comes to the good of God, we suffer from short term memory loss. The goodness and blessings that God rained down upon His children yesterday can be easily forgotten as we see our needs of today. Much of the book of Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance. A book of memories. A book of Moses telling God’s people, don’t ever forget all the good that God has done for you. Because for the Israelites and for us today, with God, history will repeat itself. His blessing will continue to readily flow to those that love Him, honor Him and keep His commandments.
What you’ll see below is Deuteronomy 10:12-13. It’s addressed to the Israelites but with all due respect and honor to God’s Word and only for our object lesson this morning, I want you to not only read the word “Israelites” but also see it as “children of God.” If you have been saved by the blood of Jesus from your sins, you are indeed a child of God. Therefore, even in the Old Testament, God’s Word applies directly to you as His child.
This is what I’d like you to do. Read the passage twice, slowly. Let the fullness of it sink in deeply. And just as if you were closing on a house, if you will accept the responsibility of the commitment, sign on the line. Where the third word says “Israelites” see it now as an opportunity for you to sign on the line as a child of God and make a new commitment to God today. By signing, you will commit to all that these verses say, and all that God requires of us. I pray that you will be willing to sign on the line and re-dedicate your actions, your mind, and your hands to the work God.
“And now (insert your first name here) what does the Lord your God require of you? To fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good.” Deut 10:12-13
Folks, if you have made the decision to sign on the line today, I’ll be praying for you. That you can love, fear, serve and obey God in new, exciting and bold ways. That starting today you will love Him even deeper, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. That you can shirk whatever rut you may be in with God and emerge as a new butterfly with big beautiful wings that will soar for Christ. That you can shed whatever sin that is keeping your life in bondage, that you will commit to a new pure heart that God will instill in you. Walking with God is all about growth and growing means moving forward and embracing change. You see, as followers of Christ, our goal is to become more like Him each and every day we breath in the air of life. If you’re not changing, you’re not becoming more like Christ. Sign on the line today and move into new and exciting areas of serving God that He has waiting just for you.
God bless you in your journey to be always moving closer to Christ. As you do, never forget His blessings of yesterday.
“You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your eyes have seen.” Deut 10:20-21
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