If you have your Bibles open
to Matthew chapter 27, I would like to read, beginning here with verse, let
me just read verse 45 and then skip up to verse 50, and read
a few verses there. Now from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land, unto the ninth hour. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. He commanded his spirit
to leave his body. He was in control right up to
the very end. And behold, the veil of the temple
was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, And the earth
did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened, and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city,
and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those
things that were done, they feared greatly, saying truly, this was
the Son of God. In the reading of these passages
of Scripture here, we see that the death of our Lord was surrounded
by miracles and wonders. Miracles and wonders. But beloved,
it is not surprising to me that the sun refused to shine. It's not surprising to me that
the earth did quake and the rocks were torn and the graves were
opened. The graves of many of the Old
Testament saints and came out of their graves and went into
the holy city and peered into many. It's not a surprising thing
to me because after all we got to remember who it is that's
dying here. Who it is that gave up the ghost.
Who it is that now hung between heaven and earth on a cross between
two thieves. This was the Son of God. And it seems natural enough to
me that these wonders and miracles would occur. It seems very natural to me seeing
that this one who was dying was the only one who had immortality
and he was giving up the ghost. Now beloved, the more you think
of the death of the Son of God, the more you will be amazed at
it. The death of the Lord Jesus is the marvel of time and eternity. Yet, I believe that, you know,
when we focus on these wonders and miracles, I think that the
chief among them, these wonders and miracles, That which concerns
the people of God maybe more than any of the others is the
veil of the temple being rent in twain. I believe this has
more significance to it, to the people of God, than all of these
other miracles that took place, all these other wonders. And
that is the renting here of the veil in twain. And this is not
to be taken lightly. I hope this morning we can look
at it a little bit and we will be able to see how significant
this is. Let me say just a word about
this veil that was written in twain. It was made of fine twine
linen and it was a very substantial fabric. It was a piece of lasting
tapestry which would endure the severe strain. It was a tough
material. No human hands could tear that
sacred covering. It could not have been divided
by any accidental cause. This veil God Almighty reached
up when His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died at the time of the
evening sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
expired, died, shed His blood as an atonement for our sins. God Almighty reached up and took
this garment, took this veil, and rented in twain, rented in
two, tore it in two. Now he did not just tear a little
corner off of it, or he did not take it down and fold it up in
order that it might be at some later date put back up. No, he ran it in twain. And one
of the Bible expositors that I read after said that it was
suggested by many that two pairs of oxen one on either side of
this veil, pulling against themselves, could not have torn this veil
in two. This was a piece of material
that only God Almighty Himself, if you please, could have rent
in two. This was an act of God when His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died. Now, I want you to turn with
me to the 9th chapter of the book of Hebrews. We want to talk
a little bit about what happened here and show you the significance
of it if we can. In the 9th chapter of the book
of Hebrews, I want to read beginning with verse 6 of Hebrews 9. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest in the Old Testament went always into the
first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second, that is into this area that the veil covered, the
veil that was wren and twain covered, he went in alone once
a year, once every year. He went in alone. Just only the
high priest could go in. And it is said that when the
high priest would go in, they would tie a rope around him so
that if he died in there, they could pull him out from under
the veil. because you just could not walk
in, just anybody could not walk in. There were those that did
and they were struck with leprosy. And so the high priest, he went in alone once every year,
but not without blood. They had to slay the animals
on the outside and burn their flesh and catch the blood and
take it in to the Holy of Holies and sprinkle it up on the mercy
seat. Not without blood, that's significant. Not without blood. There is no
approaching unto God without blood. No approaching unto God
without blood. Now, this high priest went in And
he offered this blood sacrifice for himself and for the heirs
of the people. The Holy Ghost in verse 8, this
signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest, while the first tabernacle was yet standing.
In other words, the Holy Spirit was saying to us that This must
continue. The way into the holiest of all
has not been made yet where all believers can go right into the
presence of God. It's not been made yet. And as
long as the first tabernacle stands, this high priest must
continue to do this year after year, which only reminds the
people of their sins. It never takes away their sins,
but it reminds the people of their sins, and God has set this in order, and it's a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me look at this just
a little bit more with you. It says in verse 9, which was
a figure of the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. This offering did not make him
that did the service perfect. It did not, as the blood of Jesus
Christ, we're told that there was one offering, and by one
offering, he hath perfected forever those that are set apart by God. But this offering could not make
him that offered it perfect. But Christ, in verse 11, being
come an high priest of good things to come by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? Now beloved, we don't have time
to go through all the verses in this ninth chapter, but the
gist of it all is that the offerings that were offered, that they
had to be offered by the high priest going in under the veil
and the offering made by the Lord Jesus Christ whirled and
went back to heaven. And you and I, we would have
had a good example on how to live, a perfect example on how
to live, but we'd all went to hell. Now you think about that
a little bit. He had to die. Blood had to be
shed. There is no interest into the
Holy of Holies apart from the shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Our sins cannot be paid for,
put away, washed away, remitted apart from Jesus shedding His
life's blood. Christ, when He died on that
cross, shed His blood, and the Father rent the veil, and said,
The way is open. Now look into the 10th chapter
of the book of Hebrews here. And I want to read a few verses
here. In verse 14 he says, By one offering, that is, the offering
that Jesus made, He hath perfected forever them that are set apart
in the covenant of election. They're set apart unto God and
they've been perfected forever through the shed blood, the offering,
the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, and
there's three or four or five things here that we have because
the veil was rent in twain and the Lord Jesus shed His blood.
Number one is verse 17. I want you to look at that. Their
sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now the Lord says that
the sins of His people because of the shed blood and the offering
that Jesus made that he would no longer remember their sins,
their sins and iniquities. Now this is a remarkable statement,
and for you that are young believers, you need to listen very carefully
to this verse of scripture, the mouth of the Holy Spirit, telling
you what God's attitude is to your sins and your iniquities. You need to listen very careful,
because the veil was rent in twain, the one offering accepted
that Jesus made, God said, I will never remember beings that He's
been propitiated, satisfied, God is satisfied, and He will
not remember the sins of His people anymore. No more, He says, I will not
remember them. Now, David in the Psalms, Psalm
51, said, My sin is ever before me. They were before him, but
they are not before God. They are not before God. And
it is important to see that. You say, well, now God said He
wasn't going to remember my sin, but my Relatives remember my
sins. You say, well, there are many
people around me that remembers my sins and my iniquities. Well,
they may very well do that. They may very well, because we
as mortals don't have the ability to forgive and forget. like God
does. We just don't have that ability
by nature. We don't have it. We remember
things. But God said, I don't remember
your sins or your iniquities anymore. I'm completely pacified
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and your sins have been
covered as with a thick cloud and I don't remember them anymore
against you. Never remember them again. Now,
our sins have been cast behind the Lord's back as far as the
east is from the west. Never to be remembered against
us anymore. But I ought to encourage you
to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and give Him thanks every
day He doesn't remember your sins. He doesn't remember your
sins and your iniquities. Now beloved, He either is telling
the truth here, or He's not. Can we believe that He's telling
the truth? Well, I believe He is. I believe
He is. Now notice the next thing. Now,
He says, Now where remission of these
is, are sins and iniquities he's talking about. Remission means
forgiveness. It means canceling out. It means
blotting out. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Now beloved, what that
means to me is, and I believe what this is teaching, is that
once God has forgiven sin through the shed blood of His Son, that there will never be any
other offering, never will be any more. And so we must have
an interest in this atonement Now the father rent the veil
in two and said the way is open. Under the law, the spirit of
the law is the law of separation. You can't come near. When the
law was given, Moses was sent down to tell the people not to
come near the mount. And the people feared. But now
the law of the gospel is the way is open. The one offering
has been made. God has accepted it forever. All sins have been put away,
all the sins of His people. And there's no more offering
ever going to be presented again. God is not looking for any more
offering. He's not looking for it. He's
satisfied with the one Jesus made. Satisfied with it completely
and entirely. And there's going to be no more.
You say, well, When I make a mistake, I make up my mind that I'm not
going to make it again and that I'm going to do something to
make up for it. Well, what's that all about? There's been
one offering made for sin, and God isn't accepting any others.
You say, well, I believe I should acknowledge that I have made
a mistake. Well, that's perfectly well and
good. But there's no more offering.
The offering has been made once. Jesus made it 2,000 years ago. That offering was made and accepted. And we're forgiven through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, I need to pray.
Well, sure you need to pray, but forgiveness don't come through
praying. If forgiveness would come through
praying, then Christ need not die. He could have come into
the world, lived a good life, and left out of it, and leave
you in your place, and your little place where you could pray, and
that would be it. But that's not it. Forgiveness
comes through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through
this one offering. And there's not going to be any
more of it. So if you're going to get in on God's salvation,
you've got to have an interest in this offering. And God said
it's so effectual, His offering, His sin offering, that He just
rent that veil in two and said, it's open. All believers now
can come right into the presence of God, into the holiest of all. So, the Apostle Paul said, having
therefore brethren boldness, seeing that there's been a sin
offering made that God accepted and said, I'll never remember
your sins and iniquities anymore, now that gives us some boldness.
Now, hey, as we explained, nobody could go into that holy place
except the high priest. Nobody else could go in. But
now the way is open and we can go in. And we can do it with
boldness. You say, well, I'm pretty weak. Well, you're pretty weak, but
that don't have anything to do with this. The veil has been
written in twain, and God said, come on in. You can come into
the very holy place of God through Jesus Christ. So brethren, and
he says brethren, brethren, nowhere in the New Testament do you find
any officer of the New Testament church referred to as a priest.
They are always referred to as elders, deacons, pastors, evangelists, bishops, but never a priest. You don't need any representative.
You don't need one. Come on in. Come on in. Now we do know that our Lord
Jesus Christ is the high priest over his house. And we know that
he makes intercession for us. But the way is open for all believers
to come into the presence of God. And I do hope we experience
today, I need to experience the presence of God. And I need to
have bones. Many, many times we are so defeated,
we just feel so overwhelmed with our weaknesses, our frailties,
and we just feel like that we just got no right to come to
God, come into His presence. We've got to look at the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ has made provision, the veil has
been rent, and we're welcome. Listen to what he says. Therefore,
brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest, into
that holy place, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then in verse 20, he says, by a new and living way. Don't go
back to that old types and shadows of the law. Don't go back and
hang up that veil again and say I can't come. Nobody can come
into the presence of God but the priest. Don't go back to
that again. He said this is a new way. A
new and a living way. This is a living way. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the way to God. Scripture teaches that He's the
way, the truth, and the life. And Jesus Christ made this new
and living way where believers are priests unto God themselves. And all believers are priests
unto God. And they can come in to the very
presence and fellowship of the Lord, which He hath consecrated,
which He's worked out for us through the veil. That is to
say, His flesh. Through the sacrifice that He
made, the veil was rent in twain. And the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
becomes our mercy seat and our sacrifice. And He has made this
way, that is, through His flesh, through the suffering of His
flesh. And then in verse 22, let us
draw near. Let us draw near. Let us draw
near. Us. Now, can you accept that
language? Let us draw near. We'll be brethren
and we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins are put away and God
has accepted His life for our life. His perfect life has been
imputed to my account. And so let me draw near. Time
to draw near. Come into the presence of God. Let us draw near with a true
heart. A heart that's honest. A heart
that's not coming and saying, Lord, you know that this is not
as bad as it appears it is. Lord, you know that I'm really
a good person at heart. Lord, you know that I've tried
my best. I've just been as faithful as
I possibly could be and all that. That's a lying heart, is what
that is. He said, a true heart. The Lord
is seeking such to worship Him. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and truth. Come with a true heart. Lord,
I'm a sinner. Lord, I'm not worthy to come.
But Lord, I do come because I believe that the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ washed me. And I believe that if you wash
a man, he's clean ever wet. And he's clean and he can come
before you. And Lord, I thank you that you
don't remember many of the things I remember. And I come as one
who is clean before you. clean, perfect before you I come. Come with an honest heart. Lord,
if it hadn't been for this atonement you made, it's curtains for me. I can come because of what you've
done. It's all through grace and I
come through that grace. Now beloved, a true heart. Do
we have one? Are we still pretending that
we're something we're not? I'm telling you there is no body
going to heaven except those who are washed in the blood.
Those who are washed in the blood, those whose sins have been canceled
out by the blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus. Call it what
you want to, slaughterhouse religion, bloody religion, call it what
you want, but beloved, Apart from the blood, there's no entrance
into the holy place. Come with a true heart. With
a true heart in full assurance of faith. Come believing God. Believing what the scriptures
teach about this sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Come believing
what the Word of God says. Come believing it. with a heart
full assurance, full assurance. Now the only way you can have
full assurance of faith is that you believe it's just like God
said it was. It's the only way. And you know,
this really bothers me, is that we run into a whole lot of people
who claim to believe, who claim to be believers. They don't hold fast to what
they used to say they believed. There was a time when they would
say, well, I believe that The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleansed us from all sin. I believe that. But you find
them and they don't believe that. But they're all cast down and
they're disturbed about their sin and about their weaknesses
and their frailties as if something didn't work out like they thought
it would. Well, why don't you just come
with a true heart, full assurance of faith? And then let us hold
fast the profession of our faith. Hold it fast. Don't let it go. Don't give it up. Don't say,
well, I believed this last year. I believed this four or five
years ago. Hold fast. Hold fast. Now beloved, there
isn't anything here that I see that's dependent on you to the
point where that you just can't hold fast with a full assurance
of faith. You can do that because look
here what it says. For he is faithful that promise.
Last part of verse 23. For he is faithful that promise.
Now what more do you need? Now if you rent that veil in
two and make the way open, told you to come, told you your sins
were never going to be remembered anymore, said that I have accepted
you in my Son and His righteousness is yours, then what is it that
you yet require? God is faithful and promised. He is faithful and promised.
And I know people, and God knows, I have some that are very near
me, that claim to be believers, but are struggling hard all the
time with yesterday and last year and ten years ago and thirty
years ago and forty years ago, struggling with it. What am I
going to do with all of my past failures? Well, beloved, God
has told us plainly here about what we are to do about that.
We are to commit it to the blood. And it's under the blood. And
if it's under the blood, then God says, I don't remember it
anymore. And so you rest in the Lord and
leave it with Him. You leave it with Him. Every
day you hold fast your profession. Your profession was Christ died
for me. And he shed his blood to wash me and
cleanse me. And like the old priest, he'd
wash before he went in, put on clean clothes, that high priest
would. And our bodies, our conscience
has been sprinkled by the blood of Christ, and our bodies washed
with pure water." That's the water of the Word. Our bodies
have been washed with that. Now, beloved, there's so much
more that could be said, but I've run out of time because
I want to be able for us to take the Lord's Supper and celebrate
the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I hope that maybe we can
come back to this some other time. But I said the most significant
thing that happened at the death of our Lord was the renting of
the veil, and tried to show you a little of the significance
of it. May God bless you with these thoughts.