Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 208. 208. Have you been to Jesus for the
cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His
grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood In
the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, or
they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the
Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the
Crucified? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood In
the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are your garments spotless, or
they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will
your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the
mansion's bride? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you washed in the blood? In the soul-cleansing blood of
the Lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Lay aside the garments that are
stained with sin, And be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain flowing for
the soul unclean, Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood,
in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb? Are yours garments spotless,
or are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
272. 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus. Jesus name. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness veils his lovely
face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground
is sinking sand His oath, His covenant, His blood Support me
in the wailing flood When all around my soul gives way Healing
is all my hope and stay On Christ the solid rock I stand All other
ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, All blest to stand before the throne On Christ the solid
rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground
is sinking sand Mark chapter 15, 15. I'll start reading at verse 33 and
read down to verse 39. And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And
at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi,
laba sakhthanai, which is being interpreted, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? There's another place where it
says, you know, thou shalt call his name Immanuel, which is interpreted
God with us. It tells us the interpretation. It tells us here that, interpreted,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them
that stood by when they heard it, they said, behold, he calleth
Elias or Elijah. And one ran and filled a sponge
full of vinegar and put it on a reed and gave it him to drink,
saying, let alone let us see whether Elijah will come to take
him down. Jesus cried with a loud voice
and gave up the ghost, and the veil of the temple was rent in
twain, or in two, from the top to the bottom. And when the centurion
which stood over against him saw that he so cried out and
gave up the ghost, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God. Our Lord and our God, in the
blessed, precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into
the holiest of holies. We come with some liberty, with
some boldness, with some confidence, with some assurance that we are
accepted, accepted in your son, accepted in the beloved. And
Lord, we do thank you for that covenant, that covenant of grace. that covenant that requires nothing
from us, that covenant that you, Lord, made with your son before
the world ever began, that covenant that had to have the death of
the testator to make it come into effect. And Lord, we're
so blessed, so grateful, so thankful. From the depth of our heart and
souls, Lord, we look unto you for all that you require, you
provide. And Lord, you put no conditions
on your salvation. You met all the conditions. You
met all the requirements. What you required, you provided.
And Lord, make people understand that. Make people understand
that in their hearts and their souls. Some way to think that
I need to do something. I must do something to be accepted. Lord Jesus, you did it all. All
to you we owe. Sin left a crimson stain. You're
the one that made us white as snow. And Lord, we have a righteousness
before you, provided by your son, provided by you. And Lord, make people to understand
that. Give people grace and faith to believe it. Lord, work in
the hearts and souls of people. May a seed be sown today. May
that blessed seed, that eternal seed, that seed of the Word of
God be sown in a heart today. Lord, bring glory to yourself.
And again, we pray for our lost loved ones, sons and daughters.
Lord, my sons and daughter, my son and daughter, my grandchildren. Oh, Lord, my great-grandchildren.
And every member in this family, every person in this building
today that knows Christ, pray for their children, pray for
their husbands, pray for their wives, pray for their sons, for
their daughters. Lord, you're the only one that
can do anything for them. Make them sense and feel their
great, great need of Christ. Lord, my preacher brother in
this preaching, God bless them. Encourage them, strengthen them
for Christ's sake. Be with us today. May the gospel
run well for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand together and sing
the hymn of the day in the bulletin. Glory to God on high. Let earth to heaven reply, Praise
ye his name. Angels his love adore, Who all
our sorrows bore, And saints cry evermore, Worthy the Lamb. All they around the throne do
fully join in one, praising his name. We who have known his blood,
sealing our peace with God, sound his dear name abroad, worthy
the Lamb. Join all ye ransomed race, Our
Lord and God to bless, Praise ye his name. To him we'll tribute bring, Hail
him our sovereign king, Birth without ceasing sing, Worthy
the Lamb. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
255. 255. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. Air of salvation Purchase of
God Born of His Spirit Washed in His blood This is my my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. This is my This is my song, praising my
Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending ring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This is my story This is
my song Praising my Saviour All the day long This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking
above. Filled with His goodness, lost
in His love. This is my song Praising my Savior
All the day long This is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Well, I know everybody lost an
hour's sleep last night. That ain't fun. Turned the dogs on me this morning
to get me out of bed. It's awful to have two dogs right
up in your face waking you up. Oh, boy. But one dog's waking
up another old dog. We'll get over it. I hope everybody
gets a good nap this afternoon, because I tell you what, you
get older, you can't lose sleep like you did when you were young.
Of course, I'm not that old yet. All right, I do know that it
is rougher. But I want to get my subject.
out of verse 38. And the veil of the temples ran
in two from the top to the bottom there in twain. And you know,
as when our Lord Jesus died, when he actually died, that's
the moment that the veil was rent from the top to the bottom. And our Lord's life was filled
with miracles, full of miracles. His birth was a miracle. You
think about His birth. Born of a woman, made of a woman, without a man. God made, prepared
Himself a body, and He prepared that body in the womb of a virgin. What a miracle that His birth
was, that He had even considered coming into this world. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And then His birth was attended
by angels. Angels began to sing on our Lord's
birth. And there was a star that led
the People that came to his birthplace in Bethlehem, they followed that
star and came where our Lord was born. That's a miracle. And
then he was attended by angels and they began to sing his praises
and sing glory to his name, that Christ the Lord was born this
day in the city of David. His birth was attended by miracles. And the first miracle our Lord
performed was At the marriage of Cana, he blessed that marriage
there, and he turned water into wine. It is the best wine, I
believe, that was ever made. People pay fortunes for bottles
of wine, but you think about the wine that our Lord made.
You think about the wine that he made. And I'm not a wine drinker,
but I'll tell you, it had to be the best wine that's ever,
ever created, but he turned water into wine. And so it's no surprise
to us that in our Lord's death, there should be miracles accompany
our Lord's death. His death was surrounded by miracles. Over in Matthew, it tells us
that the earth did quake and the rocks split in two. Great
big rocks busted open. The earth began to shake. And
then there was darkness, a darkness over the land for three hours,
for three solid hours. Now you think about when Christ
died, the moment he died, the rocks began to bust open. And
I'm not talking about little, these are big rocks, rocks on
the hillside, rocks on the mountains, rocks wherever they were, they
began to bust open. The earth began to shake. And
then this darkness came. The sun refused to shine as our
Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on that cross. The sun said,
I can't behold such a thing. He who said, let there be light,
was subject to darkness, was brought down to the darkness
of being rejected of God, to being forsaken of God, being
betrayed by men. being mistreated by men. And
they said, this is all I can stand. And God pulled down the
curtains of heaven and turned out the light. And then also
it said over in Matthew, it says that dead people arose. The saints
arose. Many of the saints arose and
went into Jerusalem and appeared to many. That's three miracles
right there. But now here's another miracle
that took place. The minute he cried and gave
up the ghost, there was a, in the temple, in the temple, there's
a great big, huge veil. And I'll tell you the description
of it in a little while. But when he cried, that veil
was rent from the top to the bottom. It started at the bottom
and go to the top. It started at the top and right
down the middle, that thing was split open, split open. And our
Lord's death, oh, what a wonder. What a wonder. Oh, what wonders. The eternal God, the eternal
God, infinitely eternal, come into this world clothed in flesh,
clothed in a body like this, sin accepted, and becoming subject
to the power of death. becoming subject to the power
of God, becoming subject to the power of sin, becoming subject
to the justice of God, becoming subject to the penalty of the
law of God. Oh my, what a wonder of wonders. Our Lord subjected himself to
these things. And I wanted to look at this
miracle, the veil being rent. brought, ripped in two from top
to bottom. Now, let me tell you about this.
I was reading about this. I read several commentaries about
it, several people about it. And when they made that one in
the tabernacle, they said it was fine-twined linen, and that
means they doubled it four times, up to six times. They just kept
doubling it and doubling it and doubling it. Well, in Solomon's
temple, that fine twine linen, it was made of blue and purple, and they had cherubims
all entwined in it and made inside that thing with that blue and
the scurple. And then it was all white on the background. And when it hung in Solomon's
temple, it was 40 cubits high. That means it's 60 feet high.
This veil we're talking about was 60 foot high. 30 cubits wide, 45 feet wide. And it was either from four to
six inches thick. Four to six inches thick. A hand's
breadth in thickness. That's what it said, a hand's
breadth in thickness. So it evidently was some kind
of a miracle to rip that thing. To rip it in two. And it made it obvious that human
hands couldn't have tore that thing. In the instance our Lord's body
was writ by death, the veil which concealed the holiest of holies
was tore from top to bottom. Top to bottom. And you know the
time that this was? It was the time of the evening
sacrifice. Look down in verse 42. And now when the evening was
come, because it was the preparation, that is the day before the Sabbath. It was time of the evening sacrifice. You know, they had a morning
sacrifice and an evening sacrifice. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
the wonder, John said, behold, the lamb of God. This was going
to be the last lamb, the last sacrifice that would ever be
made on this earth that would actually put away sin. This is
the only sacrifice. Christ our Passover, Christ our
Lamb. And there were priests. There
were priests in there. Caiaphas was in there. And all
them priests that made fun of our Lord and mocked Him and cried
out to crucify Him, they went over to the temple. They went
over there to that temple to offer the evening sacrifice.
And they're in that temple working, doing whatever they did. And
can you imagine what they felt like when they're in there and
all of a sudden that veil goes, splits wide open. Can you imagine how afraid they
were, how scared they were, how shocked they were? They're just going about their
regular business and all of a sudden that six inch, four inch veil
gets split right down the middle. And I tell you, I believe it
scared them to death. I believe it terrified them.
Surprise, full of fear. Let me give you a couple of reasons
why it was rent, why it was tore. The veil rending could have been
an account of mourning, been an act of mourning. The Jews,
whenever they were in mourning, they rent their clothes when
they were mourning. Well, maybe shocked at man's
sin, shocked at the murder and crucifixion of the Lord of glory.
Maybe, maybe there was a sympathy with the true temple of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And just the outward symbol of
that holy veil was rent from top to bottom. But I think and
I believe that this miracle also meant that from that hour when
our Lord actually died, the whole system of all the types and all
the shadows and all the ceremonies and all the pictures that showed
our Lord Jesus Christ, they came to an end. It exposed the falseness
of their religion. Now let me tell you something.
There was no Ark of the Covenant behind that veil. There was no mercy seat behind
that veil. Those guys was playing and pretending. They was acting like there was
something still behind that veil. Now under the Old Testament,
back under the tabernacle, they did. They did. But oh my, everything
that those earthly priesthood did, it was exposed and destroyed
and done away with when that veil was ripped from top to bottom.
Oh my, what did it mean? It meant that every legal ordinance
that separated us from God was abolished. Huh? That veil, what
it first did, showed us our inaccessibility to God Almighty. Nobody was allowed
to enter that temple. Nobody's allowed to enter behind
that veil. Nobody but the priest, one priest
once a year. And I tell you, that veil showed
us our separation from God. You know, there was two veils
in the tabernacle. There was a veil that where you
went in, first veil you went in, there was a showbread, the
light, the laver, the brazen altar, and then you went up to
the holiest of holies. And there was a censer there that offered sacrifices,
the incense that burnt before Christ. But when you went behind
that second veil, that's where the mercy seat was. There was
the Ark of the Covenant. But now these folks didn't have
any of those things. Those had been lost for centuries. For centuries. But oh my, no
man could go into the most holy place but the high priest and
him just once a year, but he couldn't go without blood. Now
keep marking, look over here in Hebrews 9 with me. Look over
in Hebrews 9. I want to show you something here.
Oh my, nobody could go in there. We understood that without a
shadow of a doubt. You know, I tell you, man, I
tell you something, man cannot, still cannot approach God without
Christ. But here he says this, in Hebrews
9, look in verse 3. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of holies, holiest of
all, and had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna,
Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, that
means the law, and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing
the mercy seat. And we're not going to talk about
that now, right now particularly. Now, when these things were thus
ordained, the priest, went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God, but into the second, into that holiest
of all, the high priest alone, once every year, but not without
blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins of the people.
And watch this now, the Holy Ghost telling us that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while that
first tabernacle was standing. How are you going to get behind
that? He said, it ain't manifest yet how it's going to be, but
it's going to be manifest how you're going to get behind that. It wasn't seen then, but it was
still going to be seen. It's going to be seen. And I
tell you the awful distance The awful distance between man and
God, God through the law, the people was always at a distance.
And I'm going to deal with this tonight, the awful presence of
God. But in Exodus, it says, God came
down in a thick cloud, on Mount Sinai, came down in a thick cloud. And then he set bounds all the
way around that mountain. And he warned the people, said,
don't you touch that. Don't you come no farther. Don't
you come close to me. Don't you dare touch it. Don't
you come to the border of it. And he that does will be put
to death. That's all the law can do is
pronounce death. All the law can do is make a
man know how sinful he really is. God says, don't come near
me. In fact, Moses said, they said,
Moses, don't let us hear the voice of God. You speak to God
for us. They said, we can't come into
the presence of God. We don't even want to hear his
voice. You, you speak to him and come tell us what he said.
And how many people have that reverence for God today? How
many people have a reverence for God Almighty? It's hallelujah,
hallelujah, hallelujah. Jump up and down and do all kinds
of rigamaroles and all kinds of bands and all that rigamarole
going on in the name of Christ, in the name of Jesus. These folks
that God said, I don't even want to hear God's voice. As Scott
Richardson said this, I don't know how many times I've heard
him say it. God will not be spoken to, nor will He speak to anybody
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He won't touch us with a 10-foot
pole. Oh my. And I'll tell you, that's
the way it is. People think that they're going
to do something to be accepted of God. They're going to pray
a good prayer. They're going to read a few verses.
They're going to shed a few tears. And they think that's going to
be all right with God. God said, you even come close
to me, I'll kill you. You think God ain't holy and
God ain't righteous? You remember Uzzah? They was
moving the ark on a cart. And that cart just tilted just
a little bit. and it had the Ark of the Covenant
on it, and us to reach out to try to steady that thing. God
killed him on the spot. He said, I don't need you to
do anything for me. I take care of this cart. I'll
see that the cart gets where it wants to. I'll see that the
Covenant is taken care of. I don't need your help, and I
don't even want you touching it. Now how many people got reverence
for God? They don't even have any clue who God is. Oh my. And all this has ended now. This
awful distance between us and God's ended now. Oh, the precept of stay back
is abolished. Now he says, come unto me. Now he says, come to me. And
no man could come unto the Father but by me. And no man hath, he
said, come unto me. And all that the Father giveth
me, you know what he said? They shall come to me. And him
that cometh to me, I'm not going to cast him out. I'm not going
to treat him like he's under the law. I'm not going to treat
him like he's done something bad. Whatever he does, there's
nothing I'll ever do cause me to cast him out. No man can come to God except
the father which saw him, and everyone that the father hath
taught shall come unto me." Now, they back there said, stay away.
Now, God speak to us. We always come to the services.
Lord, speak to us. I pray, Lord, speak through me.
Oh, we want to hear from God now.
We want Him to come near. We want Him to come among us.
We want Him to come down and speak to us. We want Him to speak
to us now. Oh my. Now the saints can draw
near. Look again in Hebrews 10, 19.
Oh my, the saints can draw near now. We can come close. We can come close in Hebrews
10. Look what it says. Verse 19. Talking about our sins
being gone. Our sins and iniquities, I'll
remember no more. Now, he says this, now look what
he says in verse 19. Having therefore brethren, boldness,
and in the margin it says liberty. Having liberty to enter into
the holiest. That place over there where the
only priest was allowed to go in. Now he says, all of us can
go. How? not by a dead way, not by
dead sacrifices, not by dead lambs, not by a fallen priesthood,
having therefore, brethren, boldness, liberty to come into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new, new way. And listen to this,
a living way. And what that word new means,
it's like he's newly slain. It's like he's always, blood
always before the Lord. And listen to this. hath which
he hath consecrated for us newly made for us now listen to this
through the veil what was that veil his flesh that is to say his flesh and
having a high priest over the house of god whose house we are
let us draw near let us draw near God says, back in the law, they
say, stay away now. God said, come here, come on,
come on. Just get to, you know, people
say they want to get close to the Lord. I'm telling you, you
cannot be closer to God Almighty than being in Christ and Christ
being in you. People said, I want to go on
higher ground. You can't get on higher ground.
I remember somebody, I think it's Clarence Poore, Somebody
told him there's something else to preach, and he said, you know,
we got to get on higher ground. He says, no, there ain't nothing
else to preach but Christ in him crucified. You can't be on
higher ground than in Christ. In fact, you know how high we
are? Seated with him in the heavenly places. That's a pretty good place to
sit, ain't it? Oh, boy. All right. And this is the second
thing the written veil meant. The removal of sin that separated
us. Sin that separated us. You know,
sin, sin is the great gulf between God and man. Sin is that great,
great gulf between God and man. And that veil typified the separation
from God and him from us. The scripture said, how can two
walk together except they be agreed? And that high priest
went behind the veil once a year with the blood. And now, you
know, and I've preached this before and under the law, when
that high priest went behind that veil with that blood once
a year, he had bells on his robe. You know, I had bells on his
robe. And those, you know, when he moved around, those bells
would jingle and they would make a noise. And the reason they
had those bells on there, so when he went behind there, they
could hear those bells moving. And if those bells stopped ringing,
that meant God killed him. And they all just waited with
bated breath, see if he's going to come out behind there. And
boy, when he come out behind there and they heard them bells
ringing, they said, we've been accepted for another year. That's
all they got accepted for, a year at a time. We accepted for eternity. We accepted in the beloved. We
got an eternal acceptance. My Lord put away the sins of
his people once and for all. How? By the sacrifice of himself. And he said, God said, where
the remission of these is paid, you don't never need another
offering. If your sins are paid for, you don't never need another
offering. That's what he said. If your
sins are taken care of, don't bring any more offerings, because
He, by the sacrifice of Himself, put away sin, once and for all,
us, all of us. Oh, that blesses my heart and
soul, I'm telling you. And you know the Scripture says
that our Lord Jesus Christ Nobody, without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sins. And I tell you, our
Lord Jesus Christ entered into the holiest of holies, went into
the presence of God, and with his own blood, with his own blood,
as those went into heaven, our Lord went into the holiest of
holies with his own blood. God said, Listen, I accept that
blood, that blood put away all the sins of everyone you represented
once and for all. And he come out with an eternal,
eternal redemption. Now what's with eternal redemption?
You think redemption started the day Christ died on the cross?
No, no, redemption started with God Almighty before the world
ever began. Christ was that Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, but He was offered in time. But
as far as God was concerned, God looked at all of His people,
and all of His elect in that Lamb slain, and whose names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life before He ever made this
world. I could almost shout, I could
almost jump. And then Christ come here, and
made it effectual in time. How can you have eternal redemption
if it starts one day? It can't be eternal if it just
started on the day Christ died. How could that be eternal? What
happened before that, before Christ died? Huh? Good question, ain't it? And you know, That's what the
gospel makes the gospel so precious to us, so real to us, so blessed
to us, is that God Almighty, everything He required of us,
He provided for us. You need sin put away, I'll put
it away. You need justice satisfied, I'll
satisfy it. You need the law kept, I'll keep
it. You need death abolished, I'll
abolish it. Everything that could possibly
be against you, he said, I'm going to take it and put it out
of the way. And that's what that meant. And now, now we can draw
near to God because sin is gone. Sin's gone. And you know what
God said? God, God, I read a message by
Tim James yesterday on God remembers everything. God remembers everything. And he does. He does. But one thing, our sin. There's sins and iniquities I
will remember no more. He said he searched for sin in
Jacob. And you know what he said? He
didn't find any. Oh, my. You know, because there
are no more. The veil is rent. The veil is
rent. It's not only, and I'll tell
you something about sin, sin is not only what we do, it's
also what we are. It's also what we are that separates
us from God. You know, I remember Todd, maybe
some of y'all remember it, that he come here one time and preached
on, are you a Roman seven sinner? You know what a Roman seven sinner
is? He says this, what I love, I
don't do. What I hate, I do. So it's no more I that do it,
but what's doing it then? Sin that dwells in me, that's
what causes it. You know, now this is, I hope
this ain't your experience, but when I open a Bible and read
it, My mind will just start wondering. You'll read and you'll say, oh
my goodness. And you try to stay focused. You know why that happens like
that? Because we've got so much flesh in us that we can hardly
even face a Bible without our mind wandering. So we've got
to ask God to focus us or clear our minds so we can do it. We
can't even do that. without sin. Huh? Oh, my. How in the world can
we know then, know the Lord when everything about us is evil,
tainted with sin? Let me show you something. Look
in Exodus 28. Look in Exodus 28. You know, I've told you before,
my My prayers have to be prayed
over. My tears have to be prayed over. Everything about us has to be
prayed over. My preaching is filled with sin
today. Our worship has sin involved
in it. We come here, want to be really
involved in the service, but our mind goes here, yonder, We
get tired, we get cold, we get hot, we go through all these
things. Oh, my. Well, how in the world
can I know the Lord and everything about me is evil, tainted with
sin? Look what is said here in Exodus 28, 36. And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold, engrave upon it the engravings of a signet, holiness
to the Lord. He said, I want that all capitalized
right across front of that mitre on his head. And thou shalt put
it on it blue lace that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront
of the mitre it shall be. That's what he put on his head.
And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead. Now listen to this.
that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, with the
children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts." In
other words, all the sin that we commit, we come to worship,
come to do anything spiritual, and we have it tainted with sin.
Guess what happens? Christ bears the sin of our holy
things. Oh, listen, upon his forehead
that they may be accepted before the Lord. What about, you know, those folks
sinned and what they brought their offerings, sacrifices and
gifts. He said, well, how are we going to do with those sins?
He said, Aaron's going to bear them. Our great high priest bears
ours. The sins we've committed in every
service, every time we pray, every time we open the Bible,
everything that we do in our relationship with God, our Lord
Jesus Christ bears the sin of all of our misled prayers, tears,
all the things. Oh, ain't you so grateful? And
then let me, you know, there's a verse over in Colossians 2.14
said, he having spoiled Principalities and powers. Stripping them. You know, the covenant God made.
It says, I'll be their God. That's all he says. I'll be their
God. You know what else he said? And
they shall be my people. That's the way the covenant runs.
We didn't say, I'll be God's people. I'm going to go join
the church. I'm going to go dedicate myself to the Lord. I'm going
to go to the altar and really start living right. No, no. No,
no. God said, I'm going to be your
God. I'm going to do it. And he said,
you know what else? And you're going to be my people.
And I tell you, everyone he said that about, that's exactly the
way it works. How do you find out you're one of His people?
God'll say, I'm your God. He stripped, when our Lord stripped
principalities and powers, He stripped death of His power,
of His sting. He stripped sin of His power. He stripped hell of His power. The wrath of God that was against
us, justice against us. Christ stripped everything of
His power that could have been against us. Everything. Now, He sends the Spirit into
our hearts. We say, Father, Father. Father,
Father. And oh, that veil hung between
the nature of God and the nature of man was rent by Jesus Christ
our Lord. There's a nature of God and there's
a nature of man. That veil was rent between the
nature of man and the nature of God. I read something this week and
it blessed my heart. How could God? Martin Luther
asked the question, he's studying one day and he banged on his
desk and he's studying the death of Christ and he banged on his
desk and said, how can God die? How can God die? How can God be dead? And yet,
well, God wasn't. You know, Christ dealt with our
Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity. You know the reason he prepared
him a body? So he could die. So he could
live our life, die our death. That's the only reason Christ
had flesh. I read a fellow say this morning,
he said, if God knows everything, if he's all wise in that, why
in the world did he have to have a cross? And he didn't think
that if he was smart enough and wise enough, he'd have never
done his son that way. Well, he don't know nothing about sin.
He don't know nothing about God. If you ever find out who God
is, you know what you'll say? I need somebody to go between
me and God. And God, when he forsook Christ,
he forsook his humanity as a man. He couldn't forsake him as God,
because God can't die. It's impossible for God to die.
But a man can die. And that man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he died. And only God could satisfy God,
so God in Christ satisfied God in every way possible. And how
do we know He satisfied Him? He raised Him from the dead on
the third day and set Him at His own right hand with all power
and glory and majesty. Oh, God fixed that great... God's got to have somebody that
He can touch. God has to have somebody to touch
us. And you know who that only person can do that? That's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He can bring God and man together.
And He does it in such a way that God can stay holy and just
and accept us who are sinners and make us as righteous as God
Himself. I can't explain that, but I do
know I believe it. I wish I could explain it better,
but I can't. Oh my, it's like that Pharisee and publican. That
Pharisee prayed thus with himself and, oh, I'm not like other men,
like other men. But that poor old publican, he
said, oh Lord, be merciful, be merciful to me, the sinner. Well,
how in the world can he be merciful to him, the sinner? By assuming
our nature. And when he assumed our nature,
I wonder how many debts you personally owed before God? How many sin
debts you reckon you had? Christ died on the cross. How
many sin debts are you accumulating day in and day out, day in and
day out? Well, our Lord Jesus Christ took
all of our debts. He agreed with his adversary
with God Almighty. He agreed with him. He said, Until you pay the uttermost
farthing, you ain't getting out of here. He paid to the uttermost
farthing. You know, I don't owe one debt
for one sin. Not one debt. All right. All right. Well, let me wind this thing
up here for you. Who rent that veil? that four
to six inch thick, 60 foot high, 45 foot veil. Who rent it? Who tore it from top to bottom?
God did. God did. And if we, what God
did when he rent that veil, if we approach God, there's only
one way we can come, and that's through his son. God showed that
the darkness and mystery of ceremonies and laws and rituals are done
away. He opened a new way, a living
way. The one way to approach the mercy seat, back in the Old
Testament, back under the law, the only way to approach that
mercy seat, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, was by lifting
that veil and going behind it. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ,
His body was the veil. When it was died, it done everything
that God required for him to do. Oh my, now the veil is rent by
the death of Christ. This is the way, the only way
to approach God Almighty. And I'm so thankful to have a
way, you know, that I can come into the very presence of God,
speak to God, and God speak to me through his word. And I tell
you something, that veil's not rolled up, may flop back down
one of these days, and it won't be put back up in a future state
in a thousand-year reign when they're going to go back to Jerusalem
and set all that rigmarole up. That's not going to happen. And
in our temptations and in our doubts, the worst the devil can
do is hang up a veil that's already split. All is open for us now. We're
at in his blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what an open,
open way. What a blessed way to come into
the presence of God. Here we are. Here we are. You know, there's not, you know,
as much, not much to any of us, not much to anything. But you know what makes it worth
coming here and worth hearing the gospel? Because Christ opened
a new and a living way for us. And we're coming to God the way
He said, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Been washed
in that blood. Power, there's power, wonder-working
power in the blood. Are you washed? In the blood
of the Lamb. Our Father, O our Lord and our
God, thank you, Lord, blessed be your name, for teaching us
these wonderful, wonderful truths that we can now, by even ourselves,
just like the high priest went into the presence of God in the
holiest of holies through that veil, now every one of us, every
soul that you've ever saved, every soul and that you've ever
washed from their sins. Now we are, all of us, are priests
that's able to come into the very presence of God, into the
holiest of holies. There's nothing keeps us out
now, absolutely nothing. Death will utter us into your
blessed presence for eternity. The Lord thank you, blessed be
your name, for opening the way, making the way, being the way,
being our approach to God Almighty. Thank you, Lord. God bless the
gospel here today. Cause it to be a blessing and
encouragement. For Christ's sake, amen. We'll just sing one verse
and I'll lead us in it. There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. Sinners plunge beneath that flood,
lose all their guilty stains. I'll see you tonight, God willing,
6 o'clock.