Would you turn back to Matthew
27? We're going to have the Vacation Bible School this week, and I
want to exhort everyone to pray that the Lord would be pleased
to bless it and speak in power to our hearts and to the hearts
of the young people and give the teachers everything involved
in it that the Lord will bless it. Also, tonight, we're going
to have a baptism. Sharon Fugate is going to confess
Christ and believers baptism. And let me remind you what baptism
is. Baptism is the believers public confession of Christ. I'm confessing that my only hope
of salvation is that when he lived, I was in him, that when
he died, I was in him and my sins were paid for. When he was
raised from the dead, I was in him. All my hope of salvation
is in him and him alone. And I'm confessing that publicly
in baptism. So if anyone else wants to be
baptized tonight, let me know after the service. Also, Dwayne
Kerr texted me this morning. Dwayne had some chest pains and
he went to the hospital and the electrocardiogram was okay, but
he was going through some other tests. So everybody remember
him. I've entitled this message, The Rent Veil. The Rent Veil. Let's look at
Matthew 27 once again. Verse 50, Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, And we know what that loud voice
was. It is finished. And after that,
he said, Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit. And then
he yielded up the ghost. Do you know he's the only one
to ever do that? He gave death permission to come and take it. You know, when he said, Father,
into thy hands, I commend, I place my spirit. No one else could
say that. You know, Stephen, when he was
dying, being stoned to death, he said, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. But the Lord in majestic, sovereign
power said, Father, into thy hands, I commend, I place my
spirit. Oh, the authority and the power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he died, we read of
four miracles that took place. And the first miracle is that
he died in the first place. He who is life died. The eternal son of God died. Understand? No. Understand why
he died. He died because sin was found
on him. We know that, but to think of
this glorious being dying, I stand amazed at even thinking about
that. And then we read of during his death the rocks being rent
and the earth quaking. Now this was to tell us something
about the creation's view of its creator dying and the supernatural
power that was involved in his death. The moment he died there
was an earthquake and the rocks rent. I'm sure people were scared
to death. What is going on? They'd already experienced the
darkness covering the earth that we considered last week. And
now they're feeling an earthquake and they're thinking, what in
the world is going on? And then we read the moment he
died, that the graves of the saints were opened and many walked
out of their graves. Now, what do I know about that? Very little, but I do know this. It's the death of Christ that
gives life. It's the death of Christ that
opens our graves and causes us to come out. That's what the
death of Christ does. And then we read of the veil
in the temple being rent in the midst from the top to the bottom
by unseen, omnipotent hands. That veil that was in the temple,
the veil of separation, It was rent into from the top to the
bottom. Now, this veil is not the original
veil that was in the tabernacle in the wilderness. And it was
not the veil of Solomon's temple that he had built where the veil
was. But that temple had been destroyed.
And this is that temple that was constructed under the direction
of Herod. And it's the one where the Pharisees
were so proud of. And they said, you know, when
the Lord said, destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it
up. And they said, 40 and six years was this in the making.
And you're going to raise it up in three days. And they didn't
understand the Lord was talking about the temple of his body.
But this temple was their pride and joy. And it had a huge, hundred
foot high veil. And according to, it's not recorded
in the scriptures, but according to non-biblical Jewish writings,
it was about the width of one's hand. And you think three or
four inches wide, 100 feet high, how heavy would a piece of material
like that be? I read where it took 300 men
to hang it. That's how heavy this veil was. And when the Lord
died, it was torn in half from the top to the bottom. And you know what that signifies?
This is the Lord's work. This is God's work. Man didn't
have anything to do with this. It wasn't torn from the bottom
where we crawl in, but where we tore it. No, it's torn from
the top. God's work ripped in half. The separation, the reason
for the separation is taken away. The instant Christ died. Now,
what was this veil? What did it represent? The veil,
was the separation between the holy place and the holy of holies
in the tabernacle. The tabernacle in the wilderness
in the book of Exodus is given to picture to us the Lord Jesus
Christ and his gospel. A portrait is painted of Jesus
Christ in this tabernacle. Now in the tabernacle, there
was a courtyard and a portable building, a tent. And in that
courtyard, before you could get into this portable building,
there was an altar and there was a basin of water that the
priest had to have a blood sacrifice and he had to be washed in this
water before he could get in to the Holy of Holies. The only
way God can be approached is through the blood of Christ at
all times. Oh, the blood of Christ, the
altar of sacrifice, the water. What does that sacrifice do? It washes away our sins and makes
us holy in God's sight. It's sanctification. Remember
when Christ died, both water and blood came when his side
was pierced. Christ our justification, Christ
our sanctification. And in this portable building,
there were two rooms. The one called the holy place,
and the other called the Holy of Holies. And this veil separated
those two rooms. Now in the first room, you had
the golden candlesticks. Christ our light. He is the light as to how God
can have something to do with somebody as evil as me and yet
justify me. And then you had the table of
showbread with the cakes upon them. Christ our food. We live off of him. And then
you had the golden pot with the incense, which represented the
intercession of Christ. And the priests came into that
holy place every single day after he would offer sacrifice, put
it on the altar, wash himself, come into the holy place, and
he would make sure those candles were always lit. He would make sure the food was
always there. He would make sure the incense
was always burning. It was always like that. And
what a beautiful picture we have of Christ. But then there's the
Holy of Holies. And this veil, this thick veil,
was a veil of separation into this Holy of Holies. And you
couldn't be waltzing in there all the time. Now the priest
came daily into the holy place. But into the Holy of Holies,
once a year. Once a year. And you came with
blood. You can read the details about
this in Leviticus chapter 16. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. The one day. And when that chapter
is introduced, God says, to Moses and says, say this to Aaron,
make sure he comes only this one day that he die not. If you came into the holy of
holies any other day, but the day of atonement, you would have
been put to death. Now meticulous instructions were
given as to when and what was to be done. Oh, I think of God's
word, speak unto Aaron. He said to Moses, speak unto
Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy
place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon
the ark, that he die not. This veil signified separation. Turn with me for a moment to
Hebrews chapter nine. Verse six, now when these things were thus
ordained, talking about the holy place
and the holy of holies, you can read about them in the first
five verses. The priest went always into the first tabernacle,
the holy place, accomplishing the service of God. But into
the second, when the high priest alone, once, every year, not
without blood, which he offered for himself and for the errors
of the people. The Holy Ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. Now, the holiest of all was where
the presence of God was. It's where the Ark of the Covenant
was, with the mercy seat, where the priest would put the blood
on. And God said, there, the mercy
seat, the Ark of the Covenant, there will I meet with you and
have communion with you. But here the high priest could
only come in once a year with the blood. And this was telling
us that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure.
That's all it was, a figure for 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. Would it satisfy
your conscience that a lamb was slain? No. Not just that an animal was
slain. It wouldn't give you any peace
of conscience because you would know intuitively that God could
not be satisfied with the blood of an animal. You'd know that.
Your conscience wouldn't find any satisfaction in that. Your
conscience can't find any satisfaction that God would be satisfied with
you because of anything you've done. Now you can say, I think
God's satisfied, but deep down you know He's not satisfied by
anything you've done. Your conscience will remain accusing
you. Verse 9, which was a figure for
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, which stood only in meats and drinks and
diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them into the time
of reformation. Now, the exact second that Christ
died, that veil, was rent in half, torn apart from the top
to the bottom to let us know that this is God's work only
and that he has made the way into his presence known. That's
what is signified by the rending of the veil. And I wonder if
someone was in that room when it took place, can you imagine
how terrified they would be when all of a sudden they saw 100
feet up at the top that Veil being ripped in power and omnipotence,
ripped in half from the top to the bottom, destroyed, ripped
up, not folded to be brought back at a later date, but destroyed. Now, what does this signify? This is very important. This
rent veil. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10, verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new
and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. He was ripped in half on the cross that I may come
into the very presence of God. There is no other reason why
I can come in, but I don't want another reason. The death of Christ completely
abolished the separation between me and God. Now, what is the
separation between me and God? What is the separation between
you and God? Why is it that we just can't
come into God's presence? Like the high priest was not
allowed to come in except that one day on the day of atonement.
Why is it that I can't come into his presence? I mean, he's God.
Why can't I come? Isaiah 59, verse two says your
iniquities. have separated you from your
God and your sins have hid his face from you. That's the problem. My sins. My iniquities. That's what separates me from
God. That's the problem. And you know,
there's nothing I can do about that. I can't make those sins
go away. I can't make them less than they
are. I do not have the right to come into a holy God's presence
because of my sin. Amen. You believe that about
yourself? You forfeited any rights to come
into God's presence. I forfeited any rights to come
into God's presence Because of my sin, my sin against God. Not a thing I can do about it. But somebody did do something
about it. The Lord Jesus Christ. And the moment he died, that
veil was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And now I,
can come into God's very presence in the holy place, welcomed by
God himself. And I'm at home there. If Christ
is there, I'm there. If Christ is worthy, I'm worthy. If Christ is at home there, I'm
at home there. in the very presence of a holy
God. I'm at home. Because that veil
was rent. Now, when you go into somebody
else's house, if you're thinking rightly, you know that you don't
have boldness in that house. You don't have the right to go
into the owner's home and go in there and start opening up the
drawers and see what's in there and opening up their closets and
looking in their medicine cabinets. Some of you probably do that.
But you shouldn't. You shouldn't. I remember reading
one time of a guy that put a bunch of marbles in his medicine cabinet. And he just wanted to, because
he knew what these people were going to do when they go into his bathroom.
So they open it up and out, crash it. I thought, that's awesome.
But I'd like to do that to somebody one of these days. No, I wouldn't.
I'm not that mean. But where did I start getting
off? I'm sorry. The point is, when you're in
somebody's house, You're not at home. It's not your place.
But when you're in your own house, you've got a right to go anywhere
you want to in there, don't you? You have a right to open every
drawer, open up every medicine cabinet, look in every closet,
do anything you want because it's your house. You're at home. Now in Christ, this holy, unapproachable
God, and I would never want to be anything but have reverence
for him, but in Christ, The veil of separation has been taken
away. And I have a right to be in my
own home with comfort and joy and peace. You see 1 John 3,
verse 5 says, He was manifested to take away. Now listen to that
word. You think of the last sin that's
on your heart. that you committed. And there's been a bunch more
since then that probably you don't even know about. But I'm talking about
the one that's fresh on your conscience. Christ was manifested to take
away that sin. Did he do it? When he said it is finished,
it was taken away. long time ago, it was taken away. The moment he died, all the sins
of all the elect of God were blotted out, made to be no more,
put away. There is no sin to separate us. The reason for separation has
been taken away. And now comes and welcome into
the very Holy of Holies. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans 8. We're going to come back to Hebrews in a minute, but turn
to Romans 8. Verse 31, what shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? What is there to fear? What is
there to be intimidated by? If God be for us. You see, the
veil was rent and God was the one who tore it up. The reason
for separation has been taken away and you have nothing to
fear. Verse 32, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Can your sin prevent him from
freely giving you all things? What sin? What sin? It's gone. Nothing can prevent God from
freely giving you all things, because the veil has been rent. Look in verse 33. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? No accusations, because the veil has been rent. Who is he that condemneth? Verse
34. There's nothing to condemn you for because the veil has
been rent. Verse 35, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Nothing can separate us because
the veil has been rent. And don't you love the way it's
rent from the top to the bottom? The Lord's going to make us to
know that this is his work. Our hand had nothing to do with
this. This is his work and his work alone. We, every believer,
has boldness to enter the holiest. Boldness! Think of the fearfulness
of the high priest when he went on the Great Day of Atonement.
You reckon he was nervous? One misstep and he knew he'd
be killed. He didn't come in there with boldness. He came
in there with fear and trembling. You see, the way, I don't know
that he really understood what was going on, but he knew if
he made a misstep, if he offered the wrong sacrifice, if he came
in the wrong way, he would be killed. But every believer can
come into the very presence of God, the Holy of Holies with
boldness. Now, how is that? Well, turn
with me to Hebrews chapter six first, then we'll get back to
Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 19, which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul. Now, let me say something about
an anchor. Everybody here knows what an anchor's for. You're
in the water with a boat, you don't want to move, you drop
the anchor into the water, it sinks, and you're secure. Now,
an anchor that you can see Won't do you much good, will it? An anchor that's still in the
boat, it won't do you any good. An anchor you can see. Now, I'll
tell you when an anchor does you good, when it's not seen,
and it's secured, and keeps you secure. An anchor that is Not
seeing that. Let's go on. Which hope we have
as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which
entereth into that within the veil, the very presence of God,
the Holy of Holies, whether the forerunner is for us entered. He's my anchor. And he's my forerunner. And he's already entered into
the holy place, the Holy of Holies. And if he's there, I am too. He's one with the Father. I'm
one with Him. The Father's pleased with me.
He's my forerunner. He's my anchor of the soul. Now,
turn to Hebrews 10. Verse one. For the law, tabernacle, Sabbath,
Ten Commandments, the feast days, everything about the law, for
the law having a shadow of good things to come. No substance to a shadow, it's
just a shadow, an outline of good things to come. Actually
being enabled to enter into the holy place with boldness through
the blood of Christ. That's the good things to come,
but not the very image of the things can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year, continually, make
the comers therein too perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? If they did anything, one would
do. You wouldn't have to repeat it. But they were done over and
over and over again. because the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sins. They would have been
satisfied. But in those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made
of sins every year, for it's not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins. And we know that,
don't we? It's not possible. Under any scenario, it's not
possible. Wherefore, verse five, When he
cometh into the world, this is talking about the incarnation
of Christ. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me to do thy will, O God. Now above, when he said
sacrifices and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin,
thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered
by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God, he taketh away the first. All those Old Testament sacrifices,
feast days, Sabbath days, the law he takes away. He honored God's law. He kept
God's law perfectly. And he comes to take away the
first that he may establish the second. By the which will? Your free
will? You know better than that, don't
you? He said, I come to do thy will, O God. By the which will? By God's will, this is how supreme
his will is, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Sanctification, holy, we are,
and that's in the perfect tense. I can't get any more holy than
I am right now. now through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ by the will of God, we are sanctified. And that's every believer. We
are sanctified. I want to be holy. I don't want
to sin. I am holy. Both of those things are true.
I want to be holy. I want to be like Christ. I want to be obedient, I want
to sin not, but my sin's always staring me in the face. But according
to this passage of scripture, we are holy, we are sanctified,
once for all, perfectly completed, never to be repeated, through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Verse 11. And every priest standeth, he
never sits down, There were no chairs in the tabernacle because
the priest's work was never done. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, the word man here, is not the
word anthropos, the Greek word man. It's a word where you can
put anything in it, this God, this priest, this king, this
savior, this Christ. It's almost like the word can't
even be used to describe this one. I love it when the angel
said that holy, thing which shall be born of thee is of the Holy
Ghost. The angels couldn't even come
up with a word to properly describe this one, the Lord Jesus Christ. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God Why did he sit down? Because the work was finished. Completed. There was nothing
left undone. Nothing left for him to do. He
came to save his people from their sins and that's what he
did. And he sat down because the work
was completed. Now let's go on reading. This
man after he'd offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool for by one offering. What? What did he do by that one offering?
What did he do? Read this with me aloud, please.
I know we don't usually do that, but I want us to get what is
being said. Let's read verse 14 together. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's what he did. You know
what that means? Everybody he died for perfected
forever. Nothing you can do to mess this
up. Nothing you can do to de-perfect yourself. You are perfected forever. Verse 15, Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. Now this is what the Holy Spirit
testifies to. That by one offering, Christ
perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now if you can find
rest in this, you know what? The Holy Spirit's testified this
to you. That's why. This is the witness of the Spirit
that John speaks of. This is God the Holy Spirit testifying
to you, Him condescending to testify to you of the perfection
of Jesus Christ and those He saved. Do you find rest in that? Wherefore he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Well, that's what the Holy Ghost
bears witness to. This is his work. Somebody says, well, I'm
really convicted of my sin. Well, I'm glad you are, but this
is what the Holy Ghost bears witness to. The perfect work
of Christ to put away sin. Verse 16. This is the covenant that I'll
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my
laws into their hearts. Now he's not talking about the
Ten Commandments. You were born with the Ten Commandments written
on your heart. You always have known it's a sin to lie. You've
always known that any sort of sexual sin is sin in God's sight. You've always known that you
ought not kill anybody. These things come natural. Everybody knows that. And that's
why it kills me when people say, you need to teach us to live.
You already know. Everybody knows how to live.
We need to be taught to live. No, you need to be taught to
die. You need to be taught how to be accepted before God. But
as far as when he's talking about laws, he's not talking about
the Ten Commandments. He's talking about the laws of
the new nature. that God puts in your heart.
There's a new man there that was not there before. And it's
described by the law of love, the law of liberty, the law of
sin. You can't see yourself as anything but a sinner in and
of yourself. The law of righteousness, you can't be satisfied with anything
but perfect righteousness. The law of faith, you can't not
believe. I mean, this is the work of God
the Holy Spirit in you. And what happens? He says, verse
17, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. And the reason he doesn't remember
them is because there's nothing there to remember. Christ put
them away. They're made to not be. Now, verse 18. Where remission of these is,
there is no more offering for sin. Where remission of these
is, you know, there is a place where
they really are. The remission, the complete putting away of
sin is. Now, where the remission of sin
is, no more offerings needed. Priest doesn't have to offer
up another sacrifice. And I'm not going to come into
God's presence and offer him something. Oh, here's my faith. Here's my tears. Here's my sincerity. Here's my sorrow. Here's my shame.
Here's my fill in the blank. There's no offering for sin.
Don't try to bring one. It's an insult to the offering of
Christ for me or you to try to bring something into God's presence.
We look to Christ only. There's no more offering for
sin. Verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
liberty, confidence to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. You see,
the veil has been torn in half. There's no separation. And I
can come right now with boldness and confidence by the blood of Jesus. What a gospel. Verse 20, by a new and living
way. The word new means freshly slaughtered. Now, what do I get out of that?
The blood of Christ is always new. It's always powerful. It's always poignant to the Father. It's not something that happened
a long time ago. I like what Martin Luther said.
Martin Luther said, I preach as though Christ died yesterday,
rose today, and is coming again tomorrow. Well, the blood of
Christ is such that it just happened. And it's always powerful. It's
always fresh. It's always new. It's always
my way into the Father's presence. But notice he says, by a new
and a living way. He's not a dead sacrifice. He's
a living sacrifice. He's alive before the Father,
making intercession for his people. By a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated or inaugurated for us through the veil. That
is to say his flesh being torn so we can come in and yet he's
alive and his blood is always new and having an high priest
over the house of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, let us
draw near to him. with a true heart, not the phony
heart of religion, but a true heart, in full assurance of faith,
being fully assured that all God requires of you, you have
in Christ. Everything he's looking for you
to, he looks to Christ for. That's what assurance is. Assurance
is not, well, I know I'm saved. You know, as soon as you say
that, if you're honest, you think maybe you're not. Assurance is
being fully assured that Christ is all that's needed and that
Christ is salvation. I'm fully assured of that. And
I'm fully assured that everything God requires of me, he looks
Christ for. I'm not looking to a thing out of myself. Let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. The only thing
that'll satisfy your conscience is the blood of Christ. That's
the only thing. and our bodies washed with pure
water. Now, a couple of closing statements. I am not sure of this, but I'm
pretty sure. I believe that the Ark of the
Covenant was not behind that veil at that time. I don't think
it had been there for centuries. And when that veil was rent,
man's phony religion was exposed. There was nothing behind the
veil. Oh, they acted like there was. They went back through all
the motions of religion, but it was nothing. It was nothing. Ad Hoc had been gone a long time,
and this was all a facade. And the Lord was exposing that.
He was exposing the nothingness of man's religion. And here's
another speculation. I bet there were people who tried
to sew that veil back together. Why would you want to do that? Why would you want to do, why
would you want to bring that back? You know, I love the scripture
in Romans chapter six, verse 14, where it says, you sin shall
not have dominion over you. How come? For you're not under
law, but under grace. Now, as soon as you try to place
yourself back under the law, remember the strength of sin
is the law. And the law was not made for
a righteous man, but for the sinners and disobedient, for
the ungodly, for the murderers and the profane. You can read
about that in 1 Timothy 1. Don't try to sew the veil back. Rejoice that it's split. not to be brought back at a later
date, but destroyed and discarded. The rending of the veil means
the complete dismantling of the Mosaic economy and the covenant
of works, and the way into the holiest is ours, right now, completely,
through Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
rending of the veil and how we thank you for the precious blood
of Christ that enables us to come into your presence, your
very presence with boldness in thy blessed son. Lord, we know
that in him we have access and boldness with confidence by the
faith of him. Lord, we come only in his name,
but Lord, with boldness, with confidence in the power of his
precious blood and the prevailing plea of his intercession. We
can come into your presence and be accepted, and there's nothing
to separate us because you've removed the reason for separation
by the blood of your son. Now, Lord, I ask in Christ's
name that you would bless this message and cause us to come
boldly into your presence through the blood of our son. In his
name we pray. Amen.