Remember and Take Heed

Joshua chapter 5, verse 10 says, "And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land. And neither did the children of Israel manna anymore, but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."

Let's pray. God, as we take time to look into Your Word, as we open this book before us, I pray that You'd open our hearts, Lord. As Psalm 139 says, where David there says, "Search me and know me; see if there be any wicked way in me." Lord, I pray that You'd search us and that You would know us. Reveal to us, Lord. The Bible says that Your Word is a lamp unto our feet, and sometimes there are areas of our hearts that are so dark that we don't even realize they're there. Lord, would You expose that so we could confess it and be right with You?

As You spoke through Isaiah to the children of Israel, they worshipped You with their lips, but their hearts were far from You. Lord, I pray that that would not be the testimony of any of us in this room tonight. Father, may we be able to draw near to You, and may You draw near to us tonight. We have a promise in the Scripture. We know that when we draw near to You and You draw near to us, the enemy flees from us. Lord, we thank You for that promise. I pray that we'd be able to apply that to our lives, that we'd take that promise and not just underline it or memorize it, but that it would be a part of our lives, Father. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

You can be seated.

As we have seen in the last few weeks and studies, the children of Israel have crossed over the Jordan River. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, representing God's presence, went into the midst of the Jordan River before the children of Israel. As the priests who bore the Ark touched the brim of the water, the water was cleared away and stood up as a heap, as far as 16 miles away. This entire army, this entire camp of Israel, numbering maybe two and a half to three million people, crossed over the Jordan River on dry ground that day. They came into the new promised land, as we saw last week and the week before. There in the promised land, as they followed God's command to go over, it wasn't the Lord saying, "Now take up the sword and go and get the enemies in the land."

The Lord said to take up the sword and first circumcise, first cut away the flesh. Get rid of that dirty Egyptian flesh that you brought with you, that old life. Cut it away. And so they did so. Just a few days later, we come to this portion of Scripture here in chapter 5, verse 10, where it says that the children of Israel encamped at Gilgal, and they kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

That is such an awesome verse to me, for you see, the children of Israel had not partaken of the Passover for almost 40 years. They came out of Egypt, and you remember this story. The Lord had said that the children of Israel were to take a lamb of the first year, a male lamb, and they were to inspect it for three days, from the 10th day to the 14th day. Then, on the 14th day at sunset, they were to sacrifice that lamb and take the blood of the lamb, putting it on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. It was to be a covering. The Lord was going to pass through. The destroyer would come through Egypt, and if he did not see the seal of the blood upon the doorpost of your house, then the destroyer would come in and remove the firstborn of that family.

There was a great outcry in Egypt, for even Pharaoh lost his firstborn. It was that night that Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to himself and said, "Get out of here. Go away." The children of Israel left by a great and mighty hand of the Lord. However, they came into the wilderness and wandered there for 40 years, during which time they did not partake of this promised feast, this feast that reminded them of their coming out of Egypt. Nor did the people circumcise their children, as we saw last week. For that whole 40-year period, they did not follow the command of the Lord to circumcise their children or to partake of the Passover.

Now they have come into the promised land, and they do those very things. Before they could go and do battle against the enemy there, before the army could have victory, they first had to get right with the Lord. It's the very same picture as when Moses was called by God. In the book of Exodus, in the very first chapters, God said, "I want you to go down into Egypt and get my people out of there." Moses, after he had his arm kind of twisted a little bit and finally relented, said, "All right, Lord, I'll go."

It says in the very next verses that the Lord came and sought to kill Moses. As I read through the book of Exodus and saw this, it was perplexing. Here was Moses saying, "Lord, I'm going to go down to Egypt and do what you told me to do." But the Lord came and sought to kill Moses. Why? Because he hadn't obeyed the voice of the Lord when the Lord had told Israel that they were to circumcise their children.

You see, he had a son whom he had not circumcised. So, his wife circumcised his son for him, and the Lord relented. Moses was then able to go and confront Pharaoh in Egypt. However, the Lord does not allow us to go out and do great things in His name, or to say, "Let my people go," and all these things until we first come before Him and lay down our lives, saying, "Lord, it's Yours."

The children of Israel couldn't have victory. They couldn't go and defeat even the first land in the promised land, Jericho, until they first came before the Lord and laid themselves down. That's exactly what they did here. They came before the Lord and said, "Lord, we're Yours again. We remember that You brought us out of the land and that You brought us into the new promised land."

Oftentimes, when we go through big victories or see God do miraculous things, there is a tendency and a temptation in my flesh and in yours as well that causes us to start to think, "Well, we've got it going on now." The children of Israel had just crossed over the Jordan River and witnessed God perform this great miracle. There is that little bit of temptation from the enemy where we start to think, "Well, we can do it no problem now." We begin to think, "Look what I just did."

Isn't it amazing how often we look at the work that God has done? We look at the work that God has done in our lives, and our flesh wants to attribute it to something we did. Have you ever battled with that? I know I have. People see great things in my life and say, "Wow, I really see the Lord doing a work in your life." My flesh responds, "That's right. Thanks." Then they ask, "How did that happen?" I might say, "Well, I read my Bible and do all this stuff." But that's not why.

Why are great things happening in my life? It's simply because the Lord is doing it. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just a wicked, vile sinner. If you knew me, you probably wouldn't want to listen to me anymore. But I am just a wicked person. We are all just wicked, vile sinners as well. God has chosen to pour out His grace upon us, to show us awesome miracles, and to bring His power on our behalf.

The eyes of the Lord look to and fro throughout the whole earth, searching for anyone whose heart is loyal to Him so that He can show Himself mighty on their behalf. The Lord has seen in this church that there are people whose hearts desire, "Lord, I want You to do a work in my life." The Lord desires to do that work.

The children of Israel had just seen a great work. God parted the Jordan River, and they passed over on dry ground. They could start to get a big head and think, "Well, we've got it going on now. Look what's happening for us." Their parents didn't come into the land, so obviously, they were doing a lot better than their parents did. They could start to feel prideful.

But the Lord immediately deflated that by saying, "You need to roll away the reproach of Egypt. And you need to remember who brought you out of Egypt in the first place." They spent the first five days in the land remembering, not battling. They asked, "Lord, what have You done?" We oftentimes get big fat heads. We really do. We have a hard time fitting through the doors of the church sometimes because we have such a big fat head.

The Bible says, as Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 10:12, "Wherefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." When you think that you've got it going on, when you believe you're standing and doing a really good job, take heed. That's the time when the fall comes. That's when the enemy just kind of lobs a little arrow at you, and it hits you right in the chinks of the armor, as it did with King Ahab. We need to be careful. Take heed. Watch out. When you think, "I'm doing a great job; look what I've done," that's when the fall comes in. That's when the flesh creeps up.

In Galatians 6:3, Paul told the church at Galatia, "Hey, don't deceive yourself into thinking that you're something when in fact you're really nothing." I have a tendency to do that, and I'm sure there are some here who admit the same thing. We start to think, "Lord, I'm really something. I've really got it going on." But in reality, you're nothing.

When I was in high school, I played football for Orange Glen High School my senior year. I don't think you could say I played football; I practiced football. I was just one of the second-string offensive line dummies, the guys they stick out there who are expendable. You can get hurt, and it's no big deal. But you never play in a game. You just get hit all week long by the first-string defense.

Come Friday, when game time arrived, you would see all of us second-string guys put on those jerseys and walk around the school thinking, "I'm on the football team." But really, you're nothing. You deceive yourself. You think you're something, but in reality, you're nothing. You're just a tackle dummy.

That's the way a lot of us are. If you take the time to think about it, we like to put on the big Christian jersey and say, "Look, I'm something." But in reality, when we look in the mirror in the morning, we realize, "Wow, this is real. I'm really nothing." We don't like to admit that because our flesh really likes to be puffed up. We think that we've got it going on, but it's right then when we get bit. We have to be very careful.

I don't know if you guys saw this; this was back in November in USA Today.

It just caught my eye. It says, "Lesson learned: Don't pucker for a rattler." Matt George, age 21, was showing off for his friends by kissing his new rattlesnake when he was bitten on the lip and nearly died. I said, "Matt George, age 21, showing off for his friends by kissing his new rattlesnake, was bitten on the lip and nearly died." His friend Jim Roban recalled, "I said, okay, man, you're being stupid. But put it away." However, Matt insisted, "It's okay. I do it all the time." After the second kiss, the snake bit George under his mustache, and he dropped the snake on the floor. His friend killed it with his cowboy boot.

As they waited for an ambulance, George's face swelled up. He said, "I'm going to die." But Roban reassured him, "No, you're not going to die. Just be calm, relax." George was hospitalized in critical condition after the incident on Sunday. By Tuesday, his condition had been upgraded to serious.

You see, sometimes we think, "I've got this snake under control. I'm doing just fine." But it's right when we do that that we do something really stupid and get bitten. Our faces swell up because we're foolish, and we need to be careful. We need to take heed. How do we take heed? Well, the number one way we take heed is by remembering. By remembering. We need to take time to come to the table and remember the work that God did for us. We weren't saved by some great thing that we did.

Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 clearly say, "For by grace you've been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." So often, we get that mindset in our flesh that we think, "I did something. I had to do something. God had to look down and say, 'You're really good, so I like you.'" But remember, the Bible says throughout that there is no partiality with God. God does not look at one person and say, "You know, I really, really like Pastor Richard. But, you know, I don't really know about you other people. I like him." That's not the way the Lord works.

There is no partiality with God. There is no shadow or variance of turning with the Lord. He loved the world, and He loved us while we were yet sinners. It was while we were yet sinners, while we were yet His enemies, while we were turning away from Him and spitting in His face, that He reached out in love towards us. For by grace you've been saved, and that not of yourselves. We need to remember that it's a work that He did.

So when we come to the table in remembrance of the work that God did, that Christ did on the cross—His death, His burial, and His resurrection; His body that was broken, His blood that was shed—it causes our heads to be deflated. It causes us to realize that, really, I'm nothing. Paul the Apostle said in Romans chapter 7 that in my flesh dwells no good thing. "I'm a wretched, wretched man," he said. "Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

And I praise the Lord that the very next verse says, "I thank God." Romans chapter 7 didn't just end there with, "Who's going to deliver me from this body of death?" No, he had the answer. He knew the answer. We need to remember the answer, or else we're going to be inflated. If you get puffed up, you get inflated; watch out, you'll pop. It's real dangerous.

The children of Israel had the very same temptation, the very same tendency that we do. God reminded them, saying, "You need to roll away the reproach of Egypt right now. You need to be circumcised, and you need to remember. You need to remember the work that I did." Jesus told us in John chapter 5 and John chapter 15, verse 5, "Without me, you can do nothing." How many of us truly, honestly believe that?

I don't know if you guys read "My Utmost for His Highest," but just this last week, Oswald Chambers was talking about how sometimes when we read that verse, "Without me, you can do nothing," we start to think, "Well, yeah, the Bible says that, but I'm sure I can do something. I'm sure there's some good in me." But in reality, there's not. We're wicked. Man is deceitfully wicked, as the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9. There's nothing good about us. Our righteousness, Isaiah said, is as what? Filthy rags. It's dirty rags.

And yet the Lord looks upon us and says, "I love you, and I desire to have a relationship with you. I desire and delight to get rid of those old, junky, dirty rags, and I want to clothe you with my righteousness. I want to pour out upon you." The Lord has instituted this Lord's Supper for us to come to the table and realize, "Lord, you've done the work. I've done nothing. I've done nothing but sin against you and spit in your face. And yet you reached out to me and poured out your grace."

Isn't God just so good? Are you guys as amazed as I am at the glory and the awesome power of God and how great He is? When we take time to sing these songs, "Lord, you are so good to me," do you realize how good the Lord has been to us? That's what we do tonight. We take time to remember, "Lord, you've poured out upon me sweet rivers of living water. Lord, you are so good."

I'm simply amazed. I'm blown away. Are you really amazed tonight by the work and the power of God? Are you blown away? Are you able to take time to look back at Egypt, from where you came from? Now, look where you are and what God has done to get you to where you are today.

You see, tonight as we partake of communion, as we take the bread and the cup, it's good to take time and remember where I came from. Take heed when you think you stand. Where did I come from? How many of you realize you're vile, wicked sinners? Me? Where have we come from? Where are we going? The Lord has taken us, wicked people, who only murmured and complained. He's taken us out of the wickedness and the bondage of Egypt, and He has set us on a new path. He's clothed us in His righteousness. We're going to heaven.

Yet, do you realize that heaven would not be very heavenly if Jesus wasn't there? If God was not there, if we were not in the presence of the Lord, heaven would be hell. It would just be like spending your whole life in Hawaii; you would get island fever. Lord, where are You? What makes heaven so heavenly is the fact that God is there, and one day we're going to be in His presence. We're going to be able to worship Him and see Him with unveiled face.

Right now, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 that we see dimly as in a mirror. But one day, the veil is going to be taken away, and we're going to stand before the Lord. Even right now, here on earth, we can have glorious fellowship with Him because the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 4 that we can come boldly before His throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in our time of need. How many of you need mercy and grace tonight, right now?

The Bible says, I believe it is in Ecclesiastes, that His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. How awesome is that? God is so faithful that every single morning He pours out upon us new mercies. And you know that right now, it's morning somewhere in the world, so it's morning continually. We know that the Lord has poured out His mercy upon us, that He is the one who has saved us.

Turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 26, just one book from Joshua to the left. Deuteronomy 26, verse 8.

Moses says, "And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs and with wonders. And He has brought us into the place and hath given us a land, even a land that flows with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which Thou, our Lord, hast given me. And Thou shalt see it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord."

You see, when we take time to realize that God, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, has taken us out of the land of Egypt, it should cause us to take time to worship Him, to bow in reverence and remember, "Lord, You've done an incredible thing. You've taken this wicked, vile person, and You've brought me into Your family." Ephesians tells us that we have been adopted as children into the family of God. He's redeemed us. We're in Christ. How awesome is that, that we can come before God constantly?

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who has made us able ministers of the new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). You see, the Lord has brought us in. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, not that we did anything, but it's His sufficiency, the work that He did; it's completely sufficient.

And I don't know about you, but there are times when I can just look at the bread and the cup and start to think, "Is it really that big of a deal?" But yes, it is. You see, the work that Jesus did on the cross is completely sufficient to save us. The letter, the law, was not. Not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, the letter condemns. The letter shows us, the law shows us that we're sinners.

Every single time I read the Old Testament—and I read the Old Testament quite a bit—every time I read the law, I just realize I'm a real big sinner. I've blown it a lot. I've been reading Ezekiel chapters 18 and 19 the last few days, and I just realized, "Lord, I am a real big sinner. There's nothing good in me, and yet You've redeemed me. You took me out of the mire and You've set me upon the rock. You've cleaned me."

We take time to remember tonight, "Lord, You've cleaned me." Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 51, the great psalmist of Israel, David. Here in Psalm 51, he takes a look at his sin.

You see, this time of communion and this time of worship before the Lord is a time where we remember the Lord and rejoice. Lord, thank You for what You've done. But it's also a time when we need to examine ourselves. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 tells us to let a man examine himself, and then he should eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

Before we can have that rejoicing, before we can truly fall on our faces in joy and remembrance of what God has done, sometimes we need to repent. David, in Psalm 51, has a story that many of you know. David decided not to go out to battle in the chapters of 2 Samuel. While he stayed behind and his army went out, it says that he went up on the rooftop near evening. He walked around and saw Bathsheba bathing on another rooftop. He called to his servants and said, "Bring her to me."

David, the great king and the great psalmist of Israel, committed adultery. Not long after that, he found out that she was pregnant. He called out to the battle lines and said, "Send Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, back." When Uriah returned, David asked him how things were going in battle. Uriah replied that things were going well. David then suggested, "Why don't you take a break and go spend the evening with your wife?" David was trying to cover up his sin.

However, Uriah was a very honorable man and didn't want to leave the battle. He couldn't believe he wasn't out there with his comrades. So, Uriah slept at the door of David's palace. The next day, David asked him, "What are you doing? I told you to go home and be with your wife." Uriah responded, "How can I be with my wife and be in the comfort of my home when my friends and comrades are out in battle?"

David then tried to get Uriah drunk, hoping he would go home, but Uriah still did not go home. In desperation, David wrote a letter to Joab, his general, instructing him to put Uriah at the front of the army, near the wall where the battle is intense, so that he would die. Not only did David commit adultery and lie to cover it up, but he also sent this man to his death.

He covered it up for seven months. Many of you remember the story of Nathaniel, who came to him and said, "David, there's a man in your kingdom who has tons and tons of stuff, very rich. This rich man has a neighbor who has very little. His neighbor has this one lamb that he loves; it's part of his family. When the rich man had some friends over, he went and took this lamb, slaughtered it, and gave it to his friends for their meal."

And David said, "This man should be killed. He should restore it fourfold, and he'll be put to death." David wanted to know, "Who is this guy?" Nathaniel replied, "You are the man." The Lord had exposed his sin, and Psalm 51 is David's repentance.

We read in verse 1: "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions and wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity. And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest."

David continues, "Behold, I was sharpened in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, thou didst desire truth in the inward parts." In verse 6, he acknowledges that in the hidden part, God shall make him to know wisdom. He pleads, "Purge me with hyssop," in verse 7, "and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice."

Before he could rejoice, as stated in verse 8, and before he could have joy, he says in verse 12, "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation." Before that joy and rejoicing can come, what did David have to do? He had to repent. He had to confess, come to the Lord, and say, "I acknowledge my transgressions; my sin is ever before me. Lord, against you and you only have I sinned. Cleanse me with hyssop, Lord. Come and cleanse me."

Hyssop in the Scriptures is a bush, a picture of humility. It is a very small bush. David had to humbly come before the Lord and say, "Lord, cleanse me. Take away my sin, purge me, make me whiter than snow, so that I can again hear your joy, so that I can again rejoice, so that I can again have the joy of my salvation. Lord, I need you to do a work."

Some of you, as we gather together tonight to partake of communion and remember the work that Jesus did on the cross, realize that there are areas in your life that need to be taken care of. Paul the Apostle, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, talks about partaking of communion. As I already mentioned, he said that you are to examine yourself and then eat. Later on in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he states, "For this cause, many are sick among you, and many sleep."

For this cause, there are many who are sick and many who have died because you have not partaken in a worthy manner. Some of you tonight are sick with sin. No one else realizes it, but you know deep within your heart that you're sick. It pains you and hurts every single time to come to church deep down inside. Tonight, you need to lay it down.

How do I do that? You do the very same thing that David did as we worship the Lord. You say, "Lord, have mercy on me. I'm a sinner." And you confess. 1 John 1:9 says that we are to confess our sins to the Lord, for He is faithful and just to cleanse us of our sins. Confess. What does it mean? What does confess mean? It means simply to agree with the Lord. You don't say, "Lord, I fibbed." No, you lied. The Bible doesn't say "fib" anywhere. You don't say, "Lord, it wasn't an affair." No, it was adultery. Lay it down. Confess. Agree with the Lord. "Lord, this is what I've done. I committed it even in my heart."

Jesus spoke of the man who came to the altar. He said, "If you come to the altar to worship the Lord and you have ought with your brother, if you have a problem with your brother, go and make that right first and then come and be renewed and restored and worship the Lord." Tonight, some of you may have been harboring hate in your hearts, and you need to bring it before the Lord and say, "Lord, please remove this from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation." The joy of my salvation.

Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Come to me, all of you who labor, and I will give you rest for your souls." Some of you have been toiling and laboring. Coming to church tonight was very difficult for you. Yet the Lord wants to make salvation a joy. Walking with the Lord is to be a joy, not a burden. If it's a burden, maybe that's because there's sin that needs to be confessed.

If you're sitting in your chair tonight thinking, "I don't want to walk up there and get the cup and the bread, but I don't want my neighbor to think something weird of me if I don't," then while you're in your chair, during our time of worship in a couple of minutes, call out to the Lord and confess it. If you need prayer, the pastors are going to be up here this evening to pray for you. If you need to lay it down and confess it, then you can come forward, kneel down, and pray. Take the cup and the bread back to your seat.

And kneel where you are. Lord, cleanse me. Take that hyssop and cleanse me. Purge my sin. Make me to hear the joy and gladness. The bones that Thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide Thy face, Lord, from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with Thy free spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness. Let's sing aloud of the Lord's righteousness tonight. If you're having a hard time singing aloud of His righteousness, then fall down on your feet or on your face before the Lord and say, "Lord, clothe me with Your righteousness so that I can teach sinners Your way."

O Lord, open Thou my lips and my mouth. Verse 15, Psalm 51: "And my mouth shall show forth Thy praise." For You desire not sacrifice, or else I would give it. You delight not in burnt offering. The Lord's not looking for you to just give up your Saturday night or your Sunday morning. Those aren't the sacrifices that the Lord desires. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and a contrite heart. O God, those You will not despise.

Some of you already have the joy of your salvation tonight. Great! It's time to sing with a loud voice. Lord, thank You. But some of you don't, and tonight's the night to come and confess it. I've said it many times before: come to the altar so that you can be altered. Why do we come to the table? So that the Lord can change us and transform us. He desires to do that in every single one of us tonight. He doesn't want us to go out here the same. The Lord wants to fashion in us a new heart.

Let's pray and let's ask Him to do that. And let's worship Him. Father, we need Your touch. Lord, we need You to open our eyes that we could see You.

As we sang at the beginning of this evening, Lord, help us to fix our eyes upon You and the work that You did to save us. That we could die to our sin and no longer live in it. How amazing that is, Lord, that You freed us from the bondage of Egypt, the bondage of the sin of this world. You've brought us into a new life.

Lord, I just want to take this time for myself. If there's anything that needs to be cut away, as Paul talks about, it's not a circumcision of the flesh but a circumcision of the heart. If there's anything in my heart tonight, Lord, I pray You show me. Help me to lay it down. I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room as well, that You'd help them to see it as well, if there is anything to lay down. Lord, we need You. You are the God of wonders. You are holy; You're perfect. You desire to make us holy and without blemish.

By the washing of the water of the Word, Lord, You want to set us before You someday as a clean church. Sanctify us, I pray, Lord. Cleanse us and make us as white as snow, though our sins were as scarlet.

As we take time tonight to just look at the cup, the juice, it's bright red, Lord; that's the sin of our lives, but You want to make it as white as snow. Your body was broken; You were bruised, but by Your stripes, we're healed. Praise the Lord, we thank You. We praise You, Jesus. We thank You.

Let's worship the Lord. As we do, you can come forward and partake. If you need to kneel down in the front, in the back, or wherever, then do so. We're going to spend time worshiping the Lord and praising His name. The pastors are going to be up front here to pray for you, so come. As the song says, come just as you are, but I would add to that, don't leave the same. Lay it down. Let's worship. Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, here I am to say that...

You're my God. You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, and altogether wonderful to me. Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down, and here I am to say that You're my God. You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy, and altogether wonderful to me.