When Communion Breaks Down

We read, "And it came to pass, when all the kings, which were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the valleys and in the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof, that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord."

Let's pray. Father, this morning as we take time to open Your Word, I pray that You would open our hearts. Lord, that You would speak clearly to us and that we would understand what it is that You desire to share with us this morning. Lord, we need You. When we bow down in Your presence, we can see much clearer, and we are much nearer to heaven. As Paul said, our salvation is nearer now than when we first began. We thank God that we are going to one day stand before You. Lord, we will see You with unveiled face, and we await that day. But until then, God, bring us closer into a relationship with You where we can glorify You and know You even more. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated.

On Saturday nights for the last several months, we've been going through the book of Joshua. We've been seeing the journey of the children of Israel into the promised land. As many of you know the story, you've seen the movie, and you've seen "The Ten Commandments," or you've seen "Prince of Egypt." You've seen how the children of Israel were in Egypt and in bondage for over 400 years as slaves. The Lord sent Moses down to Egypt to bring the children of Israel out and into the promised land.

Moses went down to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go." Pharaoh refused, and thus the Lord brought about ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. Through those ten plagues, the Lord brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea and came to a place in the wilderness called Marah, where they experienced bitterness. Then they came to a place called Elam, where they experienced blessing. After that, they arrived at the Valley of Sin, where they experienced hunger. Finally, they came to Rephidim, and they thirsted. Each of us has been through those places in our lives as we've traveled through the wilderness following the Lord.

But the Lord, through a period of 40 years, brought that unbelieving nation to the very edge of the land of Canaan, the promised land, there at the Jordan River. By His great power and outstretched arm, the Lord brought the children of Israel into the promised land. Many of you have experienced the blessings of the promised land that God has given to us. The promise of the Holy Spirit is found in Acts chapter 1, verse 8: "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the world." Many of you have experienced that.

The Jordan River is a picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, being baptized with the Holy Spirit does not mean that you will now have a lovely life that is a bed of roses. It is not just wonderful and heaven on earth until we get to heaven. No, it involves battles. In our lives as believers, we battle three things: the world, the flesh, and the devil.

When the children of Israel first came to Jericho, a high-walled city and one of the greatest strongholds in the land of Canaan, they did not raise a sword or anything. All they did was walk around the city seven times. For seven days, they walked around it thirteen times, and the Lord brought about the victory. Jericho, in Scripture, is a picture or a type of the world—the battle with the world. As you follow the Lord, as they did, the ark went before the children of Israel. As they circled the city, the Lord brought about the victory.

Then the children of Israel went, as many of you know the story, to Ai. Joshua sent spies to Ai, and they came back with a report saying the city is small and they are but few. They suggested sending only about 2,000 or 3,000 of our troops up, claiming it would be an easy win. Heeding the counsel of the spies, Joshua sent about 3,000 men of war. However, they were turned around by the men of Ai and ran. Thirty-six of them were slain.

They came before the Lord, and Joshua bowed himself to the ground, crying out to the Lord, "Why has this happened?" The Lord responded, "There is sin in the camp." Joshua had to deal with the sin of Achan. After addressing this issue, they went back against Ai and brought about a great victory after the Lord said...

Don't just take 2,000 or 3,000; take the entire army. You see, Ai is a type and a picture for you and me of our flesh. It seems so small and insignificant, and yet so many times those little things in our lives are the things that cause us to fall and to fail. We need to exert effort to take it out by the power and the strength of the Lord.

The children of Israel thought they would easily defeat Ai, believing it would be just a simple battle with no problem. Yet, they fell. The Lord said, "No, you need the whole army against Ai." We too need the whole army in this battle of the flesh.

Last week, as we were going through Joshua on Saturday night, we came to a place called Ebal and Gerizim. The entire nation of Israel, numbering maybe 3 million people, traveled some 30 miles away from their camp to go to a mountaintop. Half of the tribes of Israel stood against the mountain of Ebal, while the other half stood against the mountain of Gerizim. The ark of the covenant of the Lord and the priests were in the valley called Shechem. The priests would recount the curses to the men facing Ebal, and they would all say "Amen" to each curse of the law. Then the priests would turn to those who were against Mount Gerizim and announce the blessings. All the children of Israel would say "Amen." So be it. This is the law of the Lord. They reestablished their covenant with the Lord.

Many of us in this room have experienced a mountaintop experience. You've been to a retreat—whether a women's retreat, a men's retreat, or perhaps the married couples retreat just a couple of weeks ago. You've attended a Christian camp and reestablished your covenant with the Lord. You had that great experience on the mountaintop, but after such high moments, we often find ourselves in great low valleys. We go down into the valley and falter.

The enemy, our adversary, the devil, takes notice when he sees you doing battle against the world and winning. When he sees Jericho fall in your life and Ai fall as well, he becomes aware that the flesh begins to fail in your life and that you are conquering the land. The enemy does not like that; he takes notice when we begin to win and prevail.

When the devil sees you prevailing, he does two things. You may want to write this down.

He comes at you with force. The enemy comes at you and me with great force. As it says in the very first two verses of Joshua chapter 9, it came to pass that when all of these kings in this area heard that the children of Israel were prevailing, they heard what they had done to Jericho and what they had done to Ai. They gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel in one accord.

These nations, which numbered five—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—normally would fight against each other. Yet, when they saw this group of people, the children of Israel, coming in, they banded together in one accord to go fight. Our enemy, the adversary, the roaring lion, comes against us with great force, as the scripture declares, when he sees us prevailing against the flesh or against the world. When you're no longer falling to the things he has set before you, he comes against you with great force. Peter describes him in 1 Peter as a roaring lion.

Secondly, in verse 3, it says that when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked wily. The second way the enemy comes against us is by bringing folly. He brings force and then he brings folly. He will come against you as a roaring lion, trying to defeat you and deflate you. But he will also come to you as a cunning serpent, as he did with Eve in the garden, seeking to turn you. I would say that this is more dangerous than the roaring lion. The lion roars from a distance, and you can run, but the sound of the hiss of the snake is much more dangerous. Satan is that serpent, and he will come against us with folly, trying to cause us to fall, to falter, to fail.

That is his desire: that you and I, as believers, would no longer be effective in the kingdom of God because we fell down. Then the enemy begins to condemn you and make you think that you're no longer useful to God because you've fallen. Sometimes, it's a lot easier to recover from a battle because you think, "You know what? I fought, but I fell." But it's those subtle little things of the enemy that can be more insidious.

As the serpent comes in and stings you, you might think, "I can no longer go on." Right after he stings you, he comes along and says, "You see what you did? How can you call yourself a Christian?" Has anybody ever in this room gone through that before? I believe many of you would agree.

In Joshua chapter 9, the enemy comes against the children of Israel in a cunning manner, as it says in verse 4. They went and made themselves appear as ambassadors. They took sacks upon their donkeys and old, torn wine bottles that were bound up. They wore old shoes and garments, and all the bread of their provisions was dry and moldy. They went to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, "We are from a far country. Now therefore, make a league with us; make a covenant with us."

The enemy, the Gibeonites, approached Joshua at Gilgal, the camp of commitment to the Lord. This was the first time the enemy had come into the camp. They arrived with broken bones, torn clothes, and worn-down shoes. Their provisions were old and molded, and their wineskins were rent and broken. They claimed to Joshua, "We are from a far country," when in reality, they were not.

Somehow, these men of Gibeon had discovered what God had spoken to the children of Israel and what the law of God was in Deuteronomy. God told the children of Israel through Moses that when they entered the land of promise, they were to make no treaties with the people there. They were to utterly destroy them and completely consume them.

There are those in our peace-loving church today who ask, "How can a God of grace, a God of love, and a God of peace do such a thing? How can He go in and kill all these people, including women and children?" However, back in the book of Genesis chapter 15, when God was speaking to Abraham, He told him that this land would be given to him and all his descendants. But first, they would go away for four generations while the iniquity of the Amorites was fulfilled.

God was giving the people in the land of Canaan a chance to repent. For 400 years, while the children of Israel were in Egypt, God sought to turn the land of Canaan toward repentance, but they would not turn. They were a wicked people.

They offered their own children to Molech. They burned their children on the fires of Molech and engaged in wicked sexual practices throughout the land of Canaan. The Lord said this is a cancer in the world, and if it is not taken out, it will infect the entire world.

So the Lord, using His people, the children of Israel, like a scalpel in the surgeon's hand, brought them into the land of Canaan to remove the cancer. After He had gone through extensive chemotherapy for 400 years, after God had called out to this people for a long time, God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance, as stated in 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9. The Lord desires that no one would perish, that they would turn to Him and come to Him. The Lord does not delight in the death of the wicked, as Ezekiel chapter 36 says. It is not His delight to see those perish. Yet, it is also not His delight to allow them to remain and infect the rest of the world.

He sent the children of Israel with specific instructions to utterly destroy those in the land. They were not to allow any to remain. However, there was a provision given that those from a far country could make a treaty with them, but not those who lived in the land of Canaan. Somehow, the Gibeonites had found out about this loophole in the law, this provision in God's command. They came to the children of Israel dressed in torn clothes and worn-out shoes, and their provisions were old. They said, "We are from a far country."

But the men of Israel, in verse 7, said to the Hivites, "Perhaps you dwell among us." They questioned, "What if you are not really from a far country?" You see, a lot of times that first inclination we have is that still small voice of the Lord saying, "Stop. Don't go any further." When you begin to take the exit towards sin off the Lord's highway, the Lord quickens your heart and says, "Don't go that direction."

God was quickening the hearts of the children of Israel, saying, "No, don't listen to these guys. They are liars." They asked, "How do we know that you don't dwell among us? How shall we make a league with you? How shall we cut covenant with you if you do dwell among us? We can't do that."

But in verse 8, the Gibeonites said to Joshua, "We are your servants." And Joshua said unto them...

Who are you and where do you come from? These Gibeonites said, "Oh Joshua, we're your servants. We're here to serve." He replied, "Oh really, but where are you from?" They answered him, "We're from a very far country. Your servants have come because of the name of the Lord your God."

You see, the enemy, when he comes against us with folly, sounds very much like the person sitting next to you in church this morning. He sounds a lot like the Bible. The enemy, our adversary, the devil, knows the Word forwards and backwards. He knows it very well. Never would he deny that this is not the written Word of God. Never would Satan deny that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Never would he deny that Christ is Lord. However, he refuses to submit to Him.

The devil knows the Word, and when he comes against us with folly, when he tries to cause us to fall, it seems so justifiable. What he says seems like it could be right. When he came to Eve in the garden, you know the story: Did God truly say that you shouldn't eat of this tree? Did He really say that? He twists the Word of God just ever so slightly.

These men, the Gibeonites, who are a picture of Satan, come and cover who they really are. The Bible says that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He comes sometimes with thoughts that seem so enlightening, and you think they could be true. They say, "We've come because of the name of the Lord. We've heard about your God."

In verse 9, they continue, "For we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan: Sihon king of Heshbon, and all that He did in Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashereth." They say, "We heard what your God did to the Egyptians, and we heard what your God did to the Amorites on the other side of the Jordan River."

Notice that these Gibeonites didn't say, "Hey, we heard what you guys did to Jericho and to Ai." Had they said that, Joshua would have known that they were not truly from a far country because word had not spread far yet about Jericho and Ai. Those cities had just fallen. And so these enemies, the Gibeonites, come and they speak of what they have heard.

The old accomplishments of Israel were surely on the minds of the men standing there. They thought, "That's right, God's fame, our fame has spread throughout the whole world." The enemy loves to play on our pride, and every single one of us is prideful people. We may not like to admit it, but that reluctance to acknowledge our selfishness is pride in itself. Many times, our humility is really a false humility focused on ourselves, trying to gain vain glory from others.

The Gibeonites, the enemy, came in and reminded the children of Israel of their past accomplishments. Israel, no doubt, had inflated egos at this point in time. The Gibeonites continued in verse 11, saying, "Wherefore our elders, after we heard of the accomplishments of your people, spoke and said to us, 'Take provisions with you for the journey and go meet them. Say unto them, we are your servants; therefore, make a league or covenant with us.'"

In verse 12, they explained, "This is our bread; we took it hot for our provision out of our houses on the day that we came forth to go unto you. But now behold, it is dry and moldy." They continued, "These bottles of wine, or wineskins, which were filled anew when we left, are now rent; they are torn. Our garments and shoes have become old due to the very long journey." They had that masquerade, saying to Joshua, "We're from a far country. You see this bread that's old and molded and dry? When we left, it was brand new; it had just come out of the oven, it was hot. These wineskins were brand new when we left, and yet now they are torn. Our clothes were great when we left, but the journey has been long."

Verse 14 states that the men took of their victuals. The elders of Israel grabbed hold of the bait. They looked at the outward appearance of things—the old and molded bread, the broken and torn wineskins, and the worn clothing and shoes. They took them at their victuals, seeing only their provisions.

In First Samuel chapter 16, God tells Samuel, when he goes to anoint David as king, that he should not look at the countenance.

Of the first son of Jesse, Samuel thought, "Surely this has got to be the guy." But the Lord said, "Samuel, I do not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart." You see, God looks and knows our hearts. We in this room this morning may think that we know our own hearts, but we don't. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9 says that the heart of man is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it? Our hearts are wicked.

The Bible also tells us that God tests the hearts of men. God is the only one who knows my heart. He exposes it to me as I walk with Him. As I follow Him, His light begins to shine on those dark areas of my heart, and I realize that I really am quite wicked. However, I do not truly understand the depths of the depravity of my own heart until God reveals it to me. I tend to look on the outward appearance of things. You and I have a tendency to look at our own lives and think, "Well, everything seems and looks just fine." Yet the Lord would expose and show that our hearts are wicked and depraved.

We are wicked people. The Gibeonites were wicked as well; they had wicked hearts and wicked intent. Yet the children of Israel didn't see it because the outward appearance of things looked so good. When they looked at the outside, they thought, "These guys seem to have everything right. They seem like they're from Israel. They seem like they're from a far country." They took them at their victuals and did not ask counsel of the mouth of the Lord.

Verse 14: underline that in your Bibles. They did not ask counsel of the mouth of the Lord. They looked at what was on the outside and did not seek the Lord's guidance. Why? Everything looked to be in order. All the T's were crossed, and all the I's were dotted. It seemed alright. But they did not ask counsel of the mouth of the Lord.

Joshua made peace with them, as stated in verse 15. He made a covenant with them to let them live, and the princes or elders of the congregation swore unto them. It came to pass at the end of three days after they had made the covenant, or league, with them that they heard they were their neighbors and that they dwelt among them. Joshua made peace with them, and the elders and the children of Israel swore that they wouldn't kill them. Just three days later...

They found out they're not truly from a far country; they're our neighbors. Just 25 miles away, right near the city of Jerusalem, where the Jebusites dwell, was the land of Gibeon. Why did this happen? Why did the children of Israel make this mistake?

Two things I want you to notice. As we look up in verse 12, the very last portion of verse 12 says, "Behold, the bread is dry and molded." Then, moving on into the next verse, it says that these bottles of wine were new when we left, but now they're rent. The bread and the wine are always, in Scripture, a picture of what? Communion. The body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bread was old and molded, and the wineskins were rent.

You see, communion with God had broken down. When we allow in our lives the bread to become old and molded and we allow the wineskins to become rent, and we're no longer spending the time with the Lord that we need to, two things will happen when communion breaks down. Deception is near. When communion with the Lord breaks down, deception is near, and your perception of things becomes unclear.

When we're no longer spending time with the Lord, when we're no longer asking counsel of the mouth of the Lord, we know for sure that the deception of the enemy is right there. It's very near. Your perception of things, the way that you see things, is no longer clear. You'll no longer be able to see clearly. When you're not at the cross before the Lord, you won't see clearly.

Many of us have been in that place before. Some of you in this room have made the mistake of making a covenant with someone because you didn't ask counsel of the Lord God. Because your communion had broken down, you married an unbeliever. Now you find yourself alone at church because you're unequally yoked. Your husband would rather sleep in on a Sunday, or your wife would rather get some other things done.

On the day of the Lord, it is better to go to church than to stay away. It's fine if you go to church; they may say, "Okay, take the kids, that's fine." However, I don't want anything to do with it. You see, you looked on the outward appearance of things. The bread was old and molded, and the wineskins were rent. Some of you have made contracts with people who weren't believers. You have become partners with individuals in business who didn't know the Lord. Now, years later, the sting of it hurts because you didn't ask counsel of the Lord.

This is exactly what we have here in Joshua chapter 9. The children of Israel did not seek counsel from the Lord their God. They made peace with those around them and formed a covenant without realizing that these individuals were right next door. The bread was old and molded, and the wineskins were rent. When communion breaks down, you become easily deceived, and you won't be able to see clearly.

Some of you this morning are thinking, "That's right, that's me. I've done that." Everything that has been said this morning has pierced my heart like a sword. I am broken. I have been broken for years and have suffered because of the decisions I made. All I can really do now is pray that people in the body of Christ do not make the same wrong decisions. I feel like I am of no use to the Lord any longer.

The enemy would like you to believe that this morning, but it's not true. That is not the case. We make mistakes; we fall down; we falter. Is there anyone in this room this morning who has never made a mistake? Please raise your hand. For the record, I see no hands.

Some of you are suffering because of decisions you made. Others are standing on the very verge of making a decision, and I counsel you this morning to seek counsel from the mouth of the Lord. Ensure that your communion with Him is strong before you make the wrong decision or walk down the wrong path. It's easy to do, and the enemy will cause you to justify it in your heart. You might think, "Well, yeah, it's okay. Sure, they're not a believer, but I'll win them to the Lord." Do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.

What fellowship has light with darkness? Not just in marriage, but in business, in friendships, whatever it may be. What fellowship has light with darkness? There is none.

For those of you this morning who are on the verge of making that decision—a covenant with a Canaanite—I counsel you to ask counsel of the Lord. Make sure that your communion is right with Him this morning.

For those of you who have made that decision and look back on that covenant you cut, you may have suffered for years because of it. What now? What can be done? Well, in verse 17 we read, "And the children of Israel journeyed, and they came unto the cities on the third day." Now the cities were Gibeon, Shepharem, Bereoth, and Kirjath-Jerim. The children of Israel smote not the people there because the princes, the elders of the congregation, had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. All the congregation murmured against the princes.

You may say this morning, "I've made that mistake. I've cut covenant with someone I shouldn't have. What now? What can I do?" The first thing to do is admit your mistake. Admit it. 1 John chapter 1, verse 9 tells us to confess our sins before the Lord, for He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So the first thing we need to do when we falter, when we make a mistake, is admit it.

The second thing we need to do, despite the murmuring of those around us, is to commit to it. We admit that we've made a mistake, but now we must commit to the covenant we've made. That's what the children of Israel did. They smote them not because the elders of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. They made a covenant with them and said, "We're not going to break that. We've made this covenant before the Lord. We admit we've made a mistake, but now we're going to commit to it."

All the princes said to the congregation, "We have sworn unto them by the Lord, by the Lord God of Israel. Now therefore we may not touch them." In verse 20, they said, "This we will do: we will even let them live, lest wrath come upon us." They decided to let them live, lest the wrath of God come upon them for breaking a covenant they had made before Him because of the oath which they had sworn unto them. The princes said unto them, "Let them live, but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation, as the princes had promised them."

The elders said to the children of Israel, "We're not going to slay them. We're not going to take them out. Instead, we're going to let them live so that God's wrath will not abide upon us. We're going to make them hewers of wood and drawers of water."

Joshua called unto the Gibeonites and spoke unto them, saying, "Wherefore have you beguiled us, saying, 'We are from a very far country,' when you dwell among us? Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen or slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God."

They answered Joshua, saying, "We did this because it was certainly told thy servants how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all of the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you. That's why we've done this. Now behold, we are in your hand. As it seems good and right unto you, do unto us."

So Joshua did unto them. He delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, and they slew them not. Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, even unto this day in the place which he should choose.

You've made that mistake. You've stumbled into a covenant that maybe you shouldn't have, and you've suffered for it. What can you do now? Admit your mistake and commit to it. You see, you have a choice. You can be like the congregation of the children of Israel, who just wanted to murmur and be upset. You can murmur and complain, saying, "I'm suffering. I did this, and I made this mistake." You can live in that condition.

Or you can say, as Joshua and the elders of Israel know, "We're going to commit to this." But you Gibeonites are going to become hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God. Hewers of wood and drawers of water. The wood—what is the wood used for? Well, the wood was to be used for the burnt sacrifice. These Gibeonites, these enemies, were now going to be the bondmen.

The workers in the house of the Lord later became known as the Nethanim. They were the ones who would bring the wood to the altar to build the fire. That person you feel bound to now, who refuses to know the Lord and refuses to go to church, that person with whom you made a covenant, can become the very instrument in your life, if you allow them to be, to stoke the fire of God in your heart. They will bring the wood to your life to cause you to burn even brighter for the Lord.

If you decide this morning that you are no longer going to murmur and complain, consider the water. The water is to be used there to wash the priests. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 25 tells us that the Lord desires to wash us by the washing of the water by the word. You see, the Lord desires to purify and cleanse us. You have made a covenant; you can't go back upon it. Instead of murmuring and complaining, commit to it. The person in that covenant will be the very one to lead you to the water of Christ to be cleansed.

I have met many people who know they made a mistake. Maybe before they were even believers, they married someone just like themselves. But now they have come to the Lord, and their spouse refuses to do so. Yet, because of that very situation, the Lord has caused their lives to become a bright flame. They have come to the altar daily to be stoked by the Lord and to be cleansed by His washing water.

There are others who have made that mistake, who murmur and complain, and they never move on with God. They ruin the witness they could have with their spouse. Today, if you have made a covenant with someone, perhaps someone you shouldn't have, and you don't exactly know what to do, Scripture tells us in Colossians chapter 3, verse 23: "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord and not to men." Commit to it. Do it heartily as unto the Lord. You are no longer serving this spouse who refuses to do anything around the house.

I'm now serving You, Lord. This business partner that I have—I'm no longer working just so that they can have a bigger portfolio. I'm now serving You, Lord.

Paul continues in Colossians chapter 3, verse 24, and he says, "Knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ." Paul says to commit to it and do it heartily as unto the Lord, and you will receive your reward from Him.

Also, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verse 12, we read, "If any brother has a wife who does not believe and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away." And the woman who has a husband that does not believe, if he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.

You see, for those of you this morning who are here alone, and your husband or wife is not here because they don't want to go to church, if you commit completely to the Lord and say, "Lord, I'm going to serve this person as unto You," the Lord will make you a bright, shining witness for them. They won't even realize it, but they'll be the very instrument of God to cause you to be filled with fire and cleansed by His water and by His power and strength. God will use you to be a witness to them.

There are those here this morning who were the witness to their spouse, and their spouse is here today because of it. They didn't turn and murmur and complain; instead, they stoked the fire. They sat before the Lord and said, "Lord, I'm going to do this as heartily unto You. I'll receive my reward from You."

This morning, if you've made that wrong decision, make the right decision to come to the altar before the Lord. Admit, "Yes, I've made a mistake," but say, "Lord, this day I commit afresh and anew that I'm going to serve You." For those of you this morning who are on the very edge of a decision—maybe a wrong decision—let not the bread become old and molded, and the wine skins rent.

Have deep and sincere communion with the Lord this morning. It's not just eating a cracker and drinking from a cup; it's bringing your heart before the Lord and remembering, "Lord, your body was broken for me. Your blood was shed." The sin that I've committed can only be cleansed and atoned for by your shed blood. For without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sins.

This morning, allow the Lord to work that work in your heart. Come before the altar and allow the Lord to alter your life. He'll do so; He desires to. We have this confident assurance in Philippians chapter 1, verse 6: "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." The only one who can keep you from that work is you. If you continually jump off the wheel as the potter desires to mold you, or if you murmur and complain, saying, "I don't want to go that direction. I don't want to serve that guy. He's a donkey. I don't like him," that's what the Lord has called you to this morning.

Israel made a covenant and said, "We shall not go against it." Later, under the reign of King Saul, Saul did go against it, which brought about a great famine in Israel. The famine lasted for a long time until David made it right. Today, if you go against the covenant that you've made, you will find a great spiritual famine in your life. You will continue to murmur and complain, but know for sure it's because you refuse to allow the Lord to use you in that relationship.

I'd like the worship team to come up at this time, and we will have several of the pastors and elders up front as well. There are those of you this morning who need to lay down burdens, and the Lord desires that you come and receive prayer. The prayer of faith will heal the sick, as James says. The Lord desires to free you from the bondage that you've put yourself in, for the yoke of the Lord is easy and His burden is light. If you desire rest for your soul today, come to the altar and lay down those things that you've carried for so long.

As the Lord would lead you, come and partake of the bread and of the cup. Take it back to your seat. Kneel in the aisle if you'd like to. Come before the Lord and reestablish that communion with Him. Allow the bread to become old and molded and the wineskins rent. God desires to do a great work in and through you and me.

Let's pray. Father, we need Your touch. Lord, last night there were those who were loosed from burdens they've carried for such a long time, and what an awesome blessing that is. Lord, I pray that this morning the same would happen. We know that Your Word is powerful; it's sharper than any two-edged sword. These are not my words; these are Your words.

Lord, we ask that by Your Spirit now, You would use Your Word on our hearts to expose wrong motives and wrong hearts, and bring us to a place where we can commune with You this morning. God, we need You. Apart from You, we can do nothing. The guilt that we've borne because of the covenant we may have sworn, Lord, we can't get rid of it apart from You. Help us this day to commit ourselves afresh to You, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.