Turn with me back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. I love the fact that the Apostle Paul, with all the extraordinary grace, gifts that the Lord had given him, both in his natural abilities, but most profoundly in those abilities managed and massaged and corralled, as it were, for the glory of God, and Paul said, who is sufficient? Who is sufficient for these things? We're treading here on holy ground, as all the scriptures are holy ground, but some parts of scripture are particularly and wonderfully poignant to the children of God. And in Matthew chapter 27 verse 50, there's a verse that begins in life and finishes in death in such a few short words.

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, we know what he cried. It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. And he yielded up the ghost. He's the only person that ever could. He dismissed the Holy Spirit from him as he died. Stephen, when he was stoned to death, he committed his spirit into the hands of God Almighty. He says, When he died, he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. This is God in human flesh dying. And if you think you can figure that out, then at that point, you don't need faith. And at that point, you are far too wise in your own imagining. We are dealing with things which are way, way, way above and beyond us.

And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. Now that veil was a remarkable veil. The veil was a veil of separation. It separated the holy place. There were two rooms in the original temple. It separated the holy place from the holy of holies. And it spoke of separation.

You go in there without the blood, without the incense, you go into that Holy of Holies without the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that he's done, and God will kill you. So the high priest went in through that veil and around the skirt of his garment, he had a bell and a pomegranate and a bell and a pomegranate.

And they said that they used to tie a rope to his ankles because while they heard the bells, they knew that the atonement had been accepted. And how do we know the atonement was accepted? He came out alive. What happened to the Lord Jesus Christ? He went into the holy of holies.

Moses was told, you can read about it in Hebrews chapter eight. Moses was told, you make everything. You make everything according to the pattern of heaven that you saw on the mountain. All of this is a picture. These are earthly pictures of heavenly realities.

That the Lord Jesus Christ, that great high priest, went into the holy of holies in heaven, and he didn't go in with the blood of bulls and goats. He went in with his own blood. And he entered in once into the holy place. And what does the scripture say? Having obtained eternal redemption for us.

That veil was enormous. They say that the veil in Herod's temple, because after Herod wanted to exalt himself in the eyes of religion, you ever heard of that before? Religion and power meet together and all of a sudden there's the exaltation of men. And Herod increased the size of the temple enormously. And the temple, the curtain in this temple, was now it's 18 I'm trying to 60 feet by 30 feet wide so that's 18 57 someone can do the maths for me but anyway it was an enormous and it was a hand span wide so they say it was at least you know 100 mils, maybe 150 mils thick.

And it took 300 priests to lift it up into place and to clean it. And it was so strong and so powerful that horses couldn't break it, the strongest animals they had. It was enormous. And it was gorgeous. It was Blue at the top, the blue of heaven. It was red at the bottom, the red of earth and the picture of blood and in between it was purple and woven into that enormous veil with a cherubim.

And I pray that we'll get more time to look at this whole aspect of it. in the weeks to come, because the cherubim are the cherubim that represent those cherubim that are outside the Garden of Eden with their flaming swords, the Word of God, which cuts and is a double-edged sword. And they guard the way to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to get to the Lord Jesus Christ to have life. They guard the way to the Tree of Life.

And everything about that veil, everything about that temple said, only come, only come God's way, in God's priest, to God's place. And when they built that temple, when God gave them instructions, he says, I'm going to meet you there. There's one place on all of earth, in all of time, where God promises to meet his people.

And he meets with them on the mercy seat, in the Holy of Holies. And he meets them there with blood. And those two cherubim, which are pictured on the veil that was rent, they're looking down, made of one piece of gold. The mercy seat was made of one piece of gold, and on either end of the mercy seat was a cherub with their wings touching each other. And their eyes are fixed on the mercy seat. the place where God meets his people in the Lord Jesus Christ in his blood. And we'll talk more about that over the next couple of weeks but I just want you to get the something of the glory of the picture and the Lord Jesus Christ died at 3pm on that afternoon at the exact time of the evening sacrifice.

And this was the most auspicious occasion. This was the Passover week. And you can imagine all of the religious finery that was going on there and how exalted they were when there were such crowds around. At the moment, that high priest had that blood to go into that place, God tore that temple from top to bottom. God tore it. It was torn from top to bottom because it wasn't the work of man, it was the work of God Almighty. That enormous thing was torn. and it was torn and flung open saying, now in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ there is access to the holy of holies and you meet with God now in the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

These are physical pictures of spiritual realities. I love the fact that we don't know a lot about the cherubim, but the word angel means messenger, and all of God's messengers are like those cherubim fixed to that mercy seat. They have one thing in mind. They have one thing to speak about, and that's the blood.

They have one person to speak about, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. They have one event to talk about, the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, the Lord Jesus Christ and him glorified the Lord Jesus Christ and him raised to glory. The Lord Jesus Christ in union with all of his people entering in to the Holy of Holies. We'll talk more about that if the Lord would allow next week.

I want us to turn to a couple of scriptures and then I want to look at the ands. I want us to see that we read out of John chapter 17 that there is a glorious union between the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his people. And this is a living union. This is a vital union. This is a union of glory. This is a union of grace. This is a union created by God. This is a union sustained by God. This is a union, and that's why I love that word and. This is a union that and, and, and. This is a union that impacts all of God's people for all of time. Everything about our lives.

Listen to what he says in Isaiah 26 verse 19. Speaking of these people that came out of their graves and the body of the saints which slept arose, Matthew 27, 52. And they came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city. Listen to what the promise of God is. All the promises of God are yea and amen. And the Lord Jesus Christ, Isaiah 26, 19. Thy dead men shall live.

Together with my dead body shall they arise. And what's the result of that? Awake and sing. Awake and sing. If you've been awoken by God to that, you'll sing. Ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of the herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead.

Did it happen? This is a glorious picture that we're reading about here. in these amazing verses in Matthew. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter six, and I just wanted us to see a couple of verses that declare that this is what's going to happen. And you know Isaiah 53 declares all this with great clarity, and so does Psalm 22, and so do the rest of the scriptures. When I awake in thy likeness, I'll be satisfied. That's what David said in Psalm 17. Listen to what Hosea chapter six says.

Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, if you're going through your Old Testament. Come and let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn and he will heal us. He hath smitten and he will bind us up. And after two days, he will revive us. In the third day, he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight. What's the eternal covenant of grace? What's the eternal covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ saying all the time? It's very simple, isn't it? I will and they shall. What's religion saying? I will and then he shall respond.

We were up in Wollongong the other night having dinner and these people were having some sort of a concert outside. handed out these tracks. And of course, up in the corner behind the band, they said they had this big sign saying, Jesus is king. That sounds nice. That's what the Jews, the Pilate, put above his head. And they talk about the fact that he's king, and then they say, what must I do? He's king, and now he's done the best he can do. He sent his son, and his son's been crucified, and his son's now risen.

And how do I make that happen in my life? Isn't that what you thought? That was the darkness that covered all of this earth in its religion. That's satanic religion, isn't it? What must I do? I cannot build the bridge, but I can choose. I have my free will. I'm no longer dead, I'm alive. God says I'm dead. I have two things to do. I have to repent and I have to believe. If I don't cross the bridge, I'm separated from God forever. That is hell. But if I change my direction and trust in Christ, I will be with God forever. Is there any good reason why you shouldn't do that now?

I, I, I. What does the gospel say? The gospel says God will do it. He shall, he will, and they shall. God acts. And I want us to see that if you can come back with me to Matthew chapter 27. I want us to look at these glorious ands. This is what happened when the Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross of Calvary and he was dead. And yet God acts in a situation where it seems impossible for God to act. Isn't that how it is with us so many times? These are spiritual Pictures, these are physical pictures of spiritual resurrection. These are spiritual pictures of what God does in the hearts of his people.

And listen to what happened. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Who did that? God did. He was saying to those religious people that all of your religious activity is nothing but a sham and I, all by myself, have opened the way to the meeting place of me and God. I will meet with you there.

And the earth did quake. When was the other time that the earth did quake in the scriptures? Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai. The earth did quake. And the rocks rent. The rocks were torn apart. And the graves were opened. The graves and the rocks were opened. Who did all that? What did man do?

There's a chapter in some sections of Hebrews which are just so profoundly important, but Hebrews 12 is one of those sections that makes me tremble in fear before God because as extraordinary as it was to be at the foot of Mount Sinai and to see that extraordinary darkness come down onto that mountain. Moses was terrified. Two million people were sitting there, they were terrified. God says, don't come up on the mountain. There's no way in the world they were going anywhere near that mountain. They said, Moses, you go up there. We're not going up there. Moses was terrified.

And you would think, you would think that that event would be so, so profoundly woven into People coming to meet God with fear and trepidation that they would never come in any other way except in a substitute. Send someone else, send a substitute. Listen to what Hebrews 12 verse 18 says. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice that they heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more.

For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart and arrow. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. But you think that was terrible?

You've come to something much, much more significant now. That's what all of Hebrews is saying. Better, better, better. You've come, listen to it. But you have come to Mount Sion, under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to the God, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men. Listen to it. Made perfect. If you're a just man, you've been made perfect. How? God did it. God did all of this.

And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than the blood of angels, see that you refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, But now he hath promised yet once more, I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.

And the Lord Jesus Christ said, it's finished. all of that way of approaching God under all of that law is finished. And he tore that veil open. And access now is in the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. That's what the earth did quake. All the shaken things, you think of anything that you can see is gonna be shaken. Can it be shaken? Good. It's passing away. Don't hold on to anything that can be shaken. The lawgiver now declares it is finished.

The law came to him on the cross and said, I demand satisfaction. I demand perfect satisfaction, perfect justice for every sin of everyone who was in the Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross of Calvary. And God got it. Perfect satisfaction. The law demands perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted. Not do your best. God never says do your best. He says it must be perfect. He said to Abraham, you walk before me and be perfect. Be holy as I am holy. He didn't say do holiness. He said be holy. How do you be holy? Just like the only way you'd be righteous. Only way you'd be perfect. is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our perfection. He's our righteousness. He's our acceptance with God. He's the meeting place between God and man.

It's his blood on that mercy seat. And his angels just look at it and look at it and look at it and they declare it and they declare it as if they are fixed in gold. That mercy seat with those two cherubim were just made out of one piece of gold. Nothing moved, no hinges, no joints anywhere, one piece of gold. That's exactly what God's servants are always saying.

Our dear friend Donny Bell's coming in less than, in about 10 days' time, and what's he going to say? What will he be preaching? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When he begins, he'll be talking about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All the time he's here, he'll be talking about it. When he finishes in his last message, what will he be talking about? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Is it worth Him coming all the way from Tennessee in these worldly circumstances to proclaim that?

You bet it is. You bet it is. The most significant thing happening in Australia in a couple of weeks' time is happening right here. You better be here. You'll hear about the Saviour. You'll hear about God Almighty and how He saves sinners. I must move on.

And the graves, the rocks were rent, the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were open, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. There's so much in here that is so extraordinary, isn't it? The graves were opened, and they remained opened from the moment he cried, it is finished, until Resurrection morning, that middle day was the Sabbath day. There was no one around. Those graves stayed open. And when he rose from his tomb, and that stone was rolled away, and those two angels looked on where the Lord Jesus Christ had been, just like the angels looked on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. They were there almost as a living mercy seat. And he rose, and they arose.

Listen to what he says. Listen to what God says. I hadn't noticed this before. I'm so thankful for going down to see Owen. It's wonderful. and many bodies of the saints. What is it to be a saint? To be a holy one. We looked at it last week. Almost every time that word is used in the New Testament, it's attached to him. They're his saints, they're my saints.

Many bodies of the saints which slept. What a glorious description of what these people had gone through. They just slept. That's what death is for God's people. Their death is gone, isn't it? Their death has been died. They're just asleep. They're asleep. All of them. Abraham's asleep. Abel's body's asleep. You think about them all. That's what we read in Hosea, didn't we? And Isaiah, the earth will give up us dead.

But they're only asleep, according to... They're not dead. They're not dead. He's the God of the living, not the dead. That's what resurrection is saying. He's the God of the living. They are alive. All of the saints of God that have gone from here to heaven's glories are more alive now than they ever, ever were. Do you reckon they'd want to come back here? No way in the world. They are there in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his angels.

They just slept. And if they're asleep, he can wake them up. Just the voice of God wakes them up. Isn't that easy? I love sleeping. Sleeping has become more and more precious. The older I get, the more precious it becomes. And when I sleep well, I just love it. I just love it. And waking up is delightful after you've slept well. They just slept and they arose. Who did it? This is a picture of salvation. You read John chapter 5. It's just a picture, isn't it? It's a glorious picture of salvation. It's a glorious picture of resurrection. And it's said in so few words.

I had never noticed it before. I thought, what on earth? This is remarkable. And I read it and read it and read it and I hadn't read it. And I'd heard it and heard it and heard it and I'd never heard it. That's for the word of God, it's living and active.

And after they slept and, verse 53, and came out of the graves after his resurrection. What a glorious hope we have. How'd they come out of the graves? By men's work or by God's work? This is a picture of salvation. Does God do it all? Does he do it all on account of the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? He does it all. This is the hope, isn't it? The hope of resurrection.

And where did they go? They went into the holy city. Was there anything holy about that city? The only thing holy in all of that city was the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his people there. Turn with me to Revelation 21 and you'll see what this city is really speaking about.

Do you long for this day? Is this hope? This hope of resurrection, this hope of eternal life. Religion is telling people how you to live in this world and how you to behave in this world and what you to do and what you're not to do. Rules and regulations about what you do. Those angels looked at the mercy seat. If only the Lord would allow us, by his grace, to be caused to look to him.

The hope of resurrection, it's the hope of eternal life. Look at this city, Revelation 21, and this is the and, isn't it? These are all the ands, isn't it? Those ands in these verses go on and on and on to this and. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, thankfully, and there was no more sea. I love that. Where did he cast our sins? He put them behind his back. He wrapped them up in a bag and he put them in the bottom of the sea. There's no more sea, no more sins, is what he's saying.

And I, John, saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. He that sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new.

And he said unto me, write. I'm so thankful it's been written now and I can read it again and again and again. And when my memory fails, I can go back and read it again and read it again and again and again. Write, for these words are true and faithful. That's what our God says.

Religion is telling people how to live in this world. We're telling people how to die, how to approach the living God and live in his presence forever. Men are trying to earn favour with God by their works, but these events here, and they appeared to many eventually, these events here are a great declaration, aren't they, of the power of God to do something which is impossible with men. They are a great declaration of the impotence of men, the powerlessness of men. What's man's will got to do with any of this? This is the work of God, isn't it? Who gets all the glory? He's not sharing his glory with another. Who would want to? Who would want to rob him who does this of the glory of what he does?

And we have a glorious picture of the grace of God in salvation. the grace of God in salvation. And it's applied to dead people. Don't you love that? It's applied to dead people who don't do anything themselves and have it all done to them and done for them and done in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what is death and resurrection. What a glorious picture. These, also, these events picture gloriously a union. When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried with him. When he rose, I rose with him, and all of his people rose with him.

No wonder Paul, as he reaches in some sense, the wonder of his personal desire. What's your personal desire in this life? But what things were gained to me, Philippians chapter three, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I do count them but done. If we'd only be able to do that, may the Lord cause us to see that all of our righteousness, all of our defending our own righteousness is done. There isn't any. It doesn't exist. That I might win Christ. I want to win him.

And listen to what he goes on to say, and, Philippians 3.9, and be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith. This is the faithful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the faithful work of him on the cross. This is what he does in the hearts of his people. I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of that.

Not having my own righteousness, I haven't got any. I don't have any, you don't have any. Let's not kid ourselves. I don't have a righteousness to defend. I have the freedom of not having a righteousness. It's wonderfully liberating not having a righteousness because I've got nothing to defend. And I don't have to maintain it by anything that people can see. Not having my own righteousness which is of the law, which is of my doings of any sort, but that which is through, listen to it, the faith of Christ. The righteousness which is of God by faith.

I may know him. I may know. This is eternal life, that you know him. I may know him and the power of his resurrection. This is what we're reading about here, isn't it? The power of his resurrection. They came out of the graves. They went into the holy city. They appeared unto many. They're just a foretaste, aren't they? They're just like the first. The first leaves that spring out of a dead ground, don't they? There's life. There's life coming. There's a huge resurrection coming, brothers and sisters.

That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. being made conformable unto his death. If by any means, it doesn't matter what you have to use, dear Lord, use it. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, neither were already perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend, or I may be taken whole. That apprehend is what a policeman does when he comes and arrests you for being naughty. That's what God does in the hearts of his people. He comes and he apprehends these people that have been in the graves and he says, you're mine, you're coming out of there, you've always been mine. I may, that I may follow after, that I may apprehend that which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

He's come to take his people captive. He's come to set the captives free. He's come to give them liberty. These are the trophies of his grace. These are the trophies of his death on the cross and the trophies of the glory of his resurrection when God says it's finished. I will and they shall. It's union and communion.

He rose and they arose from their sleep. He came out, they came out. He went into the holy city, they went into the holy city. He appeared unto many, 500 at one time, 1 Corinthians 15 says. They appeared unto many. He returned unto heaven, they returned to heaven.

Just like Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. We have a sure word, Peter says, a sure word of promise. What a glorious saviour. What a glorious saviour. Ask and you shall receive. Knock and the door will be opened. Come, come and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. The church says come. The bride says come. The way into the Holy of Holies is wide open. Come, let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the word made flesh. We thank you for the blessed Holy Spirit that takes these words and they become spirit and life in the lives of your people. And we pray, Heavenly Father, that you would cause us to arise from our graves. to come out with him and to be made to appear as emblems of the glory of his wonderful death, taking away all of the sins of all of his people and the glory of his resurrection that says we are accepted in the beloved. Oh Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are commanded to eat and drink in remembrance of him and to proclaim his death and all the wonders of what flows from his death. until he come again. Come, Lord Jesus, cause us to eat and drink with joy in our hearts and thankfulness to such a great God and Saviour. For we pray in Jesus' name and for his glory, our Father. Amen.