CHOOSE SIDES  Larry W. Peebles  January 22, 2021  21.03

I drive by a beautiful hole of golf near my home almost every day.  I have played that course a few times, but never did well on that particular hole.  It is an unusual hole in that a creek runs length-wise through a long stretch of the fairway.  The creek splits the length of the fairway down the middle.  Instead of a nice wide fairway with a creek running across as a hazard to get over, the hole presents two skinny fairways separated by a creek.  The entire fairway is hazardous unless the player can choose one side of the fairway to play and stay there.  To go down the fairway playing back and forth over the creek is dangerous.  The right side of the creek presents the more level landing for the ball, and the best approach to the green.  The left side of the fairway slopes toward the creek, and a ball hit into that area will often roll into the creek.  Even if the ball stays out of the creek, the water is a problem on the next shot, and perhaps the next.  Success on that hole is determined by making a choice to play the right side of the fairway, and sticking with that decision. 

Sometimes in life the defining moment or obstacle appears, we figure out how to get over it, and then it is behind us.  Other times, like this hole of golf, we have to contend with an obstacle, decision or challenge that stays with us for a while.  In all cases, it pays to choose wisely.

There is a decision we all have to make in our lifetime.  Following our decision to accept Jesus as our personal Savior, and the invitation to have Him live in our heart, it is the most important decision we will ever make.  The decision that follows salvation is the decision to make Him Lord of our lives, which means we decide to obey Him.  The consequences are a matter of life and death.  These following three Biblical examples will help us dig deeper into these statements:

1. Adam and Eve– as God’s ultimate and highest creation, they were created in the image of God.   They were created for fellowship with God, being born into His presence, and from the first day, spent their days walking with God and enjoying Him in the Garden of Eden.  Today, His presence is still available in the person of the Holy Spirit.  For one who has been in His presence, it is an experience like no other.  We describe it simply as glorious, as the glory of God is His presence.  Adam and Eve were born into the ultimate experience with the God of the universe, but their moment of decision came when they had to choose to obey their Creator. 

In His great love and mercy, He had warned them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It was a level of knowledge they could not handle—it was more than they needed to know.  Satan, the evil one, tempted Eve by questioning if God had really said not to eat of that tree, and then telling her if she ate of it she would have her eyes opened, and she would be like God, knowing good and evil.  (Genesis 3: 1-5).  She knew God personally, and the thought of being like God was too tempting.  He was so glorious, and she was merely “in His image.”  Having been told by her Creator, the Glorious One, not to eat of the fruit, she chose instead to disobey and eat of the fruit of the tree.  Adam sinned and ate of the fruit also.  This is called Original Sin, and the propensity to sin has been passed down through every descendant of these two ever since.  They chose sin over the loving warning of their Father.  They lost dominion over the earth, relinquishing it to the devil.  Sin, sickness, and death entered the earth.  It is not possible to overstate the consequences of this choice.  The devil and hell were unleashed on mankind.  Fortunately, God had a plan to redeem the situation.  It involved the sacrificial death of His beloved Son Jesus.

2. The children of Israel– were rescued and redeemed from slavery in Egypt by Moses, who was a picture of the ultimate Redeemer Jesus.  Moses came into the presence of God on Mt. Horeb/Sinai, where God spoke to him and selected him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. God brought many signs and miracles to Pharaoh to convince him to release the Israelites, ultimately destroying the Egyptian army in the Red Sea when they chased after them.  2

As instructed by God in Exodus 3:12, Moses brought the freed people back to Sinai to worship God.  It was here the entire nation encountered the presence of God.  Exodus 19:17-19 says- “Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.  Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire.  The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet

[previously blasted to call the gathering]

grew louder and louder.  Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him [so the people could hear].”  Through the sound of the trumpet, smoke and fire on the mountain, the trembling of the mountain, and the audible voice of God, everyone experienced the Presence of God.  There was no way they could miss it.

God gave the Law to Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and he recited it word-for-word to the people.  There was no doubt where the law came from–straight from the heart of a loving Father.  The people agreed to obey the Law (Exodus 19:8), and entered into a covenant with God to do so.  Then Moses went up onto the mountain to be with God for 40 days, where he received the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, written by God’s own hand.  He also received the instructions for building the Ark of the Presence and the Tabernacle.  (Exodus 25-31).

At the end of the forty days, God dismissed Moses from His presence by telling him the people had corrupted themselves.  While Moses was away, they had made for themselves a golden calf, and had worshipped and sacrificed to it.  (Exodus 32: 1-15).  They had just met with God, stood in His presence, and agreed to obey His laws.  When they could not wait forty days for Moses to return, they chose to disobey God.  They said the golden image was the god who saved them from Egypt, worshipped it, and became “shamefully unrestrained” in debauchery.

They were only 3 months beyond their rescue from Egypt.  But the Israelites’ chose that day to disobey God.  The seeds of disobedience and doubt were planted.  The seeds of doubt were then woven throughout the negative report from ten of the twelve spies sent to scout the land for forty days.  (Numbers 13-14)  This resulted in their wandering in the wilderness for forty years.  The entire generation 20 years and older (except Joshua and Caleb) who came out of Egypt would die off before they could enter the Promised Land.  Their choice to disobey had tremendous consequences.  One of the last things Moses did was read the Law again before the people, and leading them to make a new covenant to obey (Deuteronomy 29:12-15).  He laid out all the blessings of obedience, and all the curses of disobedience.  He advised them to “choose life” through obedience. (Deuteronomy 30)

3. Joshua– had been in the Presence of God, and had seen His saving hand over the Israelites.  He witnessed the miraculous provision of water and manna in the wilderness, and he sat at the door of the tent when Moses went inside to meet with God.  (Exodus 33:11)  When Moses died, Joshua was made the new leader.  After crossing the Jordan River on dry ground (similar to crossing the Red Sea) to go into the Promised Land, he miraculously conquered the City of Jericho.  Afterward, he encountered the Commander of the Armies of the Lord (Jesus) face-to-face.  Joshua recognized Him, fell with his face to the earth, and said “What does my Lord say to His servant?” (Joshua 5:15) 

Joshua knew God, and had been in His Presence.  God had already told him to not be afraid, that He would be with him every step of the way as He took on the kings and their armies in the new land.  God had told him He would be with him to defeat the giants in the land.  With all these promises, and one huge victory under his belt at Jericho, the first words out of Joshua’s mouth upon encountering the Lord on the road out of Jericho were words of total submission and obedience.  Joshua would choose to do whatever the Lord said to him.

He was eventually victorious in every battle, conquering thirty one kings (Joshua 12).  The final years of his reign over Israel were filled with peace.  Near the end of his days, Joshua called all Israel together, including all the elders, judges and officers.  (Joshua 23)  He reminded them that God would continue to fight for them to drive out any of the remaining inhabitants of the land if they would “be courageous, and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses.” (Joshua 23:6).  Obedience was a choice that would be critical to their continued success.  At Shechem, he had them renew their covenant with God, and closed with these memorable words- “Choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  (Joshua 24:15)

In conclusion, all three of these examples are people or groups of people who knew God.  They had seen His saving hand (Savior).  Then they were confronted with the next decision, the choice to obey (Lord).  Adam and Eve, and the children of Israel demonstrate the far-reaching consequences of the choice to disobey.  Joshua learned the importance of obedience from Moses, and made the better choice.  When we make Jesus not only our Savior, but our Lord and Savior, we will be able to say at the end of our lives something similar to what Joshua wrote at the end of the conquest of the Promised Land (Joshua 21:43-45) – “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.  The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers.  And not a man of all their enemies stood against them, the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.  Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel.  All came to pass.”  Our choices determine our success in this life, and in the life to come.  May we also choose wisely, and choose to obey God.