If you would, turn to Matthew
27. Matthew 27 is where our text is going to be out of this morning. Now the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ was surrounded by many amazing and miraculous events. None more amazing or miraculous
than the fact that the God-man died. Now, what do I mean by
that? He was in absolute and utter
sovereign control when he died. No man took his life from him. He voluntarily and willingly
laid down his life for his people. Death could not touch him. until
he gave death the go-ahead, you can take me now. He was in absolute
sovereign control. But, a God-man died. And that's amazing. That's miraculous.
But the scripture tells us a few other things, a few other miracles,
miraculous events, that happened directly after the Lord's death.
And I want to take a moment to read those. Matthew 27, pick
up in verse 50. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent entwined 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 these are some amazing
things, are they not? The earth quaking in disgust,
at the murder of her creator. Rocks renting. You know what
that means? It means mountains were actually torn in half. Can you imagine
seeing that? Graves being opened. And these dead saints, these
people have been dead a long time, their bodies actually came back,
the flesh came back to the bones, and they arose. They came back
to life. And after the resurrection of the Lord, they actually came
out of those graves and appeared unto many people. Can you imagine
seeing that? That's amazing. And that's miraculous. But you
know what? Matthew, Mark, and Luke I'll only mention one of
these miracles, all three of them. That's the renting of the
temple veil from the top to the bottom into after the death of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And because of that, that should
draw our attention. We should pay special attention
to that miracle because that has something to teach us. And
if the Lord would allow, that's what I want to talk to you about
this morning, the renting of this temple veil. And I got two
questions, just two questions for this morning. Number one,
what and more importantly, who does this veil represent? And
two, what is the significance of this veil, renting in two,
upon the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? What can we learn from
that? What does that teach us? So we're going to answer those
two questions this morning. Do me a favor, turn to Exodus
26. While you're turning there, I
think what would be beneficial is we talk about the temple at this
time, because it says the temple veil was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom. So let's talk about the temple
for a moment. The dimensions for the tabernacle were given
to Moses back in the Exodus, and the temple would have been
of similar dimensions as the tabernacle. It wouldn't have
been an exact copy, but it would have been similar. And so the
tabernacle The tabernacle was a portable temple that the children
of Israel would take with them everywhere they go. So if they
set up camp somewhere, they would erect the tabernacle. It was
a compound. It had a fence that went all
the way around it. There was one gate on this fence, one way
into the compound, and that was the eastern gate, the rising
of the sun. There's one way to God, and that's Christ. As soon
as you go through that gate, you would come to the brazen
altar. This is the place of sacrifice. Past that, you'd come to the
brazen labor. This is the place of the washings. Past that, through
the courtyard, you would actually come to the building. The first
room in that building was the holy place. Inside there, you
would have had the golden candlestick, the table of showbread, the altar
of incense, all those things representing the Lord Jesus Christ
in some way. Past that, deeper into the temple, the second room
was the Holy of Holies. Inside the Holy of Holies was
the Ark of the Covenant. Inside the Ark was the pot of manna
that the children of Israel ate when they were in the wilderness.
The two broken tables of the law, Aaron's rod that budded.
Above that was the mercy seat, which was a lid, a golden lid.
Two cherubim sat on it, facing each other. And it was above
that mercy seat, the Lord said, that's where I meet with my people.
That's where I communed with Him. That's where the Spirit
of God actually dwelled with His people. Now, separating this
holy place, this room, and the Holy of Holies hung the veil. The veil. This is the same veil
we're talking about here in the temple. Now, in Exodus 26 and
verse 31, we are given a description of this veil. We're given its
attributes. Here's what I want you to do.
In your mind's eye right now, I want you to imagine you are
standing in the holy place, and you are looking up at that veil
as we read these attributes. I want you to consider first
that this veil hung suspended between heaven and earth, just
as the Lord Jesus Christ hung suspended between heaven and
earth on that cross. Because this veil, its number
one representation, its number one type, is the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we read this, you're looking
at that veil. You're also looking at Christ.
Exodus 26, pick up in verse 31. And thou shalt make a veil of
blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen of cunning work
with cherubims shall be made. You're looking at the veil. Look
at the top of the veil. The first thing you're going
to see is the color blue. This is the color of heaven.
This is the color of God. And this is the first thing every
believer sees when he sees Jesus Christ hanging on that cross.
We see our God. Colossians 2, 9, for in him dwell
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete with
him. Jesus Christ is God. And that
point cannot be overstated. Everything that God is is Jesus
Christ, this one hanging on that cross. That one who hangs on
the cross is omnipotent. What that means is he has all
power. That means if he wants something
to come into existence, all he has to do is will it. He has
all power over you and me and everyone else on the face of
this earth. He's all-powerful. He's omniscient. You know what
that means? It means he knows everything. He's all-wise and he's never
learned a thing. He's so incredibly wise that he has devised a way
to be just and holy and justify sinful and evil people like you
and me. He is omnipresent. There he hangs on that cross,
and yet he is everywhere all at once. He's God. He's immutable. He never changes. I'm the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. He never changes. He's eternal,
he's never had a beginning, and he's never had an end. This is
God who hangs on the cross, and no one less. And there are three
of his attributes that I'd like to speak particularly of this
morning. Number one, hanging on that cross, I see a God who
is love. Not God whose character is that that fits the description
of love, no. This man is love. He is what love is. There he
hangs, willingly and voluntarily, dying for his people in their
stead. Remember, folks, who those people
are. They are not good people. They're not righteous people
in and of themselves. They are people who, by nature, hate him
and shouted, crucify him, crucify him. We know love like that. He does. He's love. The God of
absolute holiness and absolute justice. The Father, in all His
holiness, when He found sin on His only begotten Son, did He
sweep it under the carpet? Did He turn His head and not
notice it? When He found sin on His only
begotten Son, He did not spare Him. He forsook Him. He turned
His back on Him. He punished Him, and He killed Him because
He is absolutely holy and absolutely just, and He will not accept
sin. Now, that's an amazing thought. to think of the holiness of the
Father. Remember, when the Lord was speaking to Philip, I think
it was, he said, Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
I and my Father are one. This is God hanging on this cross.
Think of it this way. The Lord is so holy and so just
that when he found sin on himself, he would not spare himself. Now,
if there's anyone that I'm willing to make an exception for, Anyone
I'm willing to turn my head and sweep something under the carpet
for, it's me. And you're the exact same way. I'm always looking
to defend myself. This one, this holy, just God, when he found
sin on himself, he would not spare himself. Finally, I see a God of mercy.
From the cross, he prayed this, Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do. These people he was praying for,
For the same people who were shouting, crucify him, crucify
him, put him to death. Mercy for people who do not deserve
mercy. And he has such power with his
father that everyone he prayed for, they were shown mercy. Now, did he pray for everyone?
No. Because if he did, everyone would
be shown mercy. He didn't pray for everybody and he didn't die
for everybody. But for those he did, he's sovereign in showing
this mercy. For those he did, The Father
forgave him. He has that power with his Father.
The color blue, we see God. Now the second color, remember
you're looking at the veil. The second thing you come to
if your eyes travel down is the color purple. This is the color
of royalty. This is the color of the King.
And this is the second thing the believer sees when he sees
Jesus Christ hanging on the cross. I see my King. I see my sovereign. Now, here's the truth about his
character. He's the king. He's the sovereign. That means
he holds you and me in the palm of his hand and he can do whatever
he wants with us. He can save us or he can damn
us and it is right, just, and fair, whatever it is he does.
You believe that? He's the sovereign. He has that
power. Now, how does the natural man
react to that? The sovereignty of God. We don't have to look
any further than the cross. Turn to John 19 and look at verse
19. How does the natural man react
to the sovereignty of God? John 19, look at verse 19, and
Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing
was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then
read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified
was nigh to the city. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. Why was it written in those three
languages? Because those are the three predominant languages
of the day. Everybody around spoke one of those three languages.
So everyone who saw that sign, it said the same thing to them.
This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king. The king. Now, he is the
king of the Jews in the sense that he is the king, the sovereign,
but in a saving and loving way to his particular people, typified
by the Jews. But he's the king over everyone. He's the sovereign. He rules
over everyone. Hebrew, which is the language
of the religious, the language of the Jews. They look up there,
this is your king. This is the one who's in whose
hands you sit. This is the one you are ultimately
accountable to, you religious folk. This is your king. This
is the sovereign. The Greeks, the language of the
Greeks was the language of the common man, the apathetic man,
the man who cares nothing for God. Look up at the sign. He's
your king, too. He rules and reigns over you.
You're in his hands. You're accountable to him. It's
written in Latin, which is the language of the Romans, the language
of the government, the language of the ruling class, the language
of those who would say that they rule and they were in control.
Look up at the sun. Jesus of Nazareth, the king. You're in his hands. You are
accountable to him. Everyone could see that he was
the sovereign. He was in absolute and utter
control. Now, how does the natural man react to that? Look at verse
21. Then said the chief priest of the Jews to Pilate, write
not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the
Jews. How does the natural man react to the sovereignty of God?
Rejection. Hatred. We will not have this
man to reign over us. Change that sign. We don't want
to see that. Rejection and hatred. That's
the natural man's reaction. But in all that kicking against
it and all that natural rejection and hatred, where does it get
him? Look at verse 22. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Kick and fight all you want against
the sovereignty of God. Rebel against it all you want.
Look at the sign. It says the exact same thing.
Jesus of Nazareth, the king. See, the natural man loves and
is absolutely comfortable with the God of his imagination. And
this is the God of his imagination. It's a pocket God. It's a good
luck charm. It's something small he can keep in his pocket. When
he gets in trouble, he can pull him out and says, OK, do your
job. Get me out of trouble. It's like a genie in a bottle.
He controls him. He tells him what to do. His God can't make
a move unless he gives him the go-ahead, unless he pulls him
out of his pocket and tells him what to do. They're comfortable. They
love that God. But this God of the Bible, this I am that I am,
Oh, they hate this God, and they'll kick against Him all day long,
and it doesn't change a thing. He's still the King. He can control
that, too. Now, the next color you come
to, remember, you're looking at the veil. Next color you come to is scarlet.
This is the color red. It's the color of blood, isn't
it? This is the next thing the believer sees when he sees Jesus
Christ hanging on that cross. I see the shed blood of Jesus
Christ, and in that, I see all my redemption. Every bit of it. Now, these people who call for
his crucifixion, they mention his blood. I want you to see
what they have to say. Turn to Matthew 27 and look at
verse 22. The references I give you this
morning won't predominantly come from the cross because the full
character of God and man and everything that can be seen in
this world is seen at the cross, very clearly. Matthew 27, pick up in verse
22. Pilate saith unto them, what
shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say
unto him, let him be crucified. And the governor said, what or
why? What evil hath he done? But they cried out the more,
saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Now listen to this. then answered all the people,
this is what they had to say, and said, his blood be on us
and on our children. What do they mean? Here's what
they meant. They meant this. Listen, we know
he's innocent, and we don't care. We hate him. We want him dead,
and we don't care about the consequences. Get him out of here. We will
not have this man to reign over us. You charge it to our account,
you charge it to our children's account. We don't care. We want
him gone. That's human nature right there. But this statement, his blood
be on us and our children, this statement is owned by the believer
in two respects. Number one, this is my confession
of guilt. What do I mean by that? Adam fell, he disobeyed God,
he lost his upright and innocent nature, and he took on a sinful
and evil nature that hates God, that wars against God, that can
do no good, that can do only evil. And he has passed that
nature down to all his children, right down to the generations
leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, on down to me,
and I've passed it on to my children. It's all the same wicked, evil,
fallen nature. And the full wicked potential
of that nature is seen at the cross. At the cross, the one
time man is left alone to do what he wants to do with God
and the restraints are removed, what do we do? We take holiness
and we nail him to a pole. We shove the spear in his side
and we mocked him as he bled and died. That's my nature. That's the nature of every man
born in this world. The full, sinful potential of
that nature is seen at the cross. Folks, it was you and me. His blood is on us and our children,
and that's why, folks, men deserve to go to hell. Because we murdered
the Son of God. That's our nature. But this statement,
His blood be on us and our children, this is all my hope. That His
blood would be on me. and it would be on my children.
Why? Because of what is expressed at the Passover. The Lord said,
I'm coming through Egypt. I'm going to pass over Egypt,
and I'm going to kill the firstborn in every house, except when I
see the blood. If I see the blood over the doorposts
and all the sides of the post, I'll pass over you. I will pass
over that house, and I will not kill the firstborn. All God was
looking for was the blood to pass over. Now, imagine for a
second you're looking inside one of those Hebrew houses, and
they've got the blood over the doorposts and on the side, you're
going to see probably two different types of people inside there.
Here's the first different type of person you're going to see.
They're huddled in the corner. They're shaking. They're terrified. They're
worried. Is he going to pass over? I know
he said all he needs is the blood. Is he going to pass over? Oh,
I'm terrified. Someone of weak faith. There's
another person you're going to see inside that house, someone
who is sitting very quietly, someone who is absolutely at
ease. Lord said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Blood's
over the door. I'm inside the house. Everything's
going to be fine. I believe what God said. A person of strong
faith. Let me ask you this. Who is more secure? None more than the other. The
Lord didn't say, when I see the strength of your faith, I'll
pass over you. He was looking for one thing. He was looking
for blood. When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'll have
to ask this question too. Imagine this for a second. You're
inside the house with the blood over the door. Those people inside
the house, they couldn't see the blood. They believed it was
there, but the blood was on the outside of the doorpost. They
were on the inside. They couldn't see it. Here's my point in saying
that. I cannot see, through my experience, that the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ has washed away my sin. My experience of
my sin is that it is ever before me. My experience of myself is
that I am nothing but a sinner. That's it. I've got enough of
good works to bring to the table. I've got no good experiences.
I've got nothing. I'm a sinner. That's my experience.
I can't see that the shed blood of Jesus Christ has washed away
my sin. I can't see that I have his righteousness. I can't see
that by experience. I'm a sinner. That's what I know
about myself. I know all that by faith. But the Lord didn't
say, when you see the blood, I'll pass over you. He said,
when I see the blood. All he was looking for was the
blood of the Lamb. Would his blood be on me and
my children? That's my prayer. All right. Go back to Exodus
26. Go back to verse 31. I want to
reread it so we can get the picture, Jim. And thou shalt make a veil
of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen of cunning
work, which sure of them shall it be made." Now, the next description
we have is this fine twine linen, fine linen, clean and white.
And this speaks of the purity and the perfect holiness and
the absolutely perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, like
fine linen, clean and white. Notice that this linen is twined. And what that's talking about
is the fibers were interlaced very tightly, and this exemplifies
its strength and its durability. Now, there is a fabric that's
made in our day that's made in a similar fashion, and I'll share
it with you. You guys probably know what it is. It's called
Kevlar. Kevlar, they make it into fabric. And what they'll
do with it is actually take those Kevlar fibers and they will twine
them. They'll interlace them very tightly. And you know what
it does after that? It stops bullets. That's what
they used to make. vests for cops and soldiers and
stuff like that. What's my point in saying all
that? This fine twined linen, this perfect righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, it's strong, it's durable, it's so incredibly
strong that it could withstand the scrutiny of the law. The
law could look him over from birth all the way to death and
say, this is a righteous man. I can't shoot any holes in him.
I can't find any flaws in him. He's absolutely perfect. He never
sinned. He never once sinned. He never
had a sinful thought. He never took part in a sinful action.
Absolutely perfect all his life, yet he became our sin. Now, we're
going to talk about that more here in just a second in the
next descriptor, which is he is made of a cunning work. A
cunning work. Now, this word cunning, it certainly
speaks of the wise and the purposeful work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But I look at this word cunning in the concordance and this same
root Hebrew word is directly translated four times in the
Old Testament to impute. Impute. And no doubt the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is a work of imputation. Now I'm going
to speak for just a moment about something that I don't truly
understand. I'm going to give you what I know about it. This
thing of imputation. It's a great mystery. A great
mystery. This is an ability that only the Lord has. He has the
ability to take my sins off of me and off every member of the
elect, take them off of me, and put them in Christ so that they
actually became his sins, so much that he actually became
guilty of those sins. Somebody says, how guilty? How
real was that? So incredibly real that his father pursued
him, turned his back on him, and put him to death. That's
how real that transference of sin was, this imputation. But just in the same hand, as
my sins became his sins, his perfect righteousness. That righteousness,
which is indestructible, that the wall looks him over and he
can't shoot any holes in him, that's our righteousness. That's
how we actually stand before God, with absolutely no sin,
because Jesus Christ has taken that sin and put it away, and
his righteousness really is our righteousness. The illustration
we're given of this in the scripture is a scapegoat. Y'all remember
the scapegoat? The high priest would lay his
hands on the head of that scapegoat. He would confess the sins of
the iniquities of the people over that scapegoat. That scapegoat
would be taken by the hand of a fit man. That fit man is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It would be taken off to a land
that is uninhabited, never to be seen again. Our sins and iniquities
transferred to Christ. He carried them off and they
are gone. gone so much so that the Father
doesn't even remember them. Why? Because there's nothing
there to remember. They're actually put away in
the person of Jesus Christ. That's a cunning work. That's
a cunning work. Now the last descriptor says
with cherubims it should be made. Cherubims. Now this is where
the type actually changes. If you were standing in the holy
place and you were staring at that veil, you'd have a cherubim
staring you right back in the face. It was embroidered with
cherubims. Now, the first time we read of cherubims is actually
in Genesis right after Adam's fall. Adam fell and he was expelled
from the garden and the Lord took cherubims and he guarded
the entrance to the Garden of Eden with those cherubims. So
Adam looked back, and he looked at that garden, and he saw a
cherubim staring him right back in the face. The constant reminder,
your sins have separated you from God. Now this veil is first
and foremost a picture and a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
is also a type of the separation between God and man because of
man's sin. Adam looked back, and there's
a cherubim standing there with a flaming sword, twisted every
direction, keeping the way of the tree of life. You're not
allowed in here. your sins have separated you from the Holy God. That's what this veil represents.
Now, I spent too much time on that, but I want to talk briefly
about what does it mean that this veil was rented to? What
can we learn from that? Here's the first thing the renting
of this veil meant. It meant that the Old Testament economy
of worship, which is the priesthood, the sacrifices, the washings,
all that, the ceremonial law was done away with. It was all
over because all those things were just pictures and types
and shadows of the genuine oracle, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would
come, who would take on the sins of his people, who would bleed
and die and put those sins away. And because the genuine oracle
had come and fulfilled that ceremonial law, all that stuff, that priesthood,
those sacrifices had all been done away with. It was gone.
Now, that being said, here's the next thing the renting of
this veil represents. It represents that man's natural
religion is an absolute sham. It's all phoniness. Now, how
did we get there from here? What was the religion of the
Jews at this time? You know what it was? It was salvation by works.
The whole nation had deported from simple faith in the Messiah,
which was to come, and they found their hope, their hope of acceptance
with God, based on what they did. It said, listen, God accepts
me. I have favor with God because
I abstain from eating unclean things. Because I'm on the Sabbath
day and I don't even work on that day. And I keep it holy.
Because I make sure I attend all the feasts. Because of what
I do, God is pleased with me. The whole religion was nothing
but salvation by works. Now, keep that in mind as I give
you this visual picture. Let's say you were a priest and
you were standing in the holy place the day the Lord was crucified.
You're attending your priestly duties. All of a sudden, this
very large veil, this 60-foot veil, just rips in the center
from the top to the bottom and just rips open. What do you think
they did? They ducked for cover, didn't they? They ran on out
of there. They knew no one's allowed to
go back there. There's only one man who's allowed
to go back there, and that's the high priest. And he can only
go back there one day out of the year. And he has to bring
blood with him the Day of Atonement, or he'll be killed. No man can
look upon God and live. We've got to duck. We've got
to cover. No one's allowed back there. We're going to die. But
you know somebody, right? Somebody's ducked over in the
corner, and they sit there for a few minutes covering their
eyes. And they're like, OK, I haven't died yet. So he gets up, and
the curiosity gets the best of him, and he starts making his
way over to the Holy of Holies. And so he peers through that
veil, in the rip of that veil. You know what he saw in that
other room? Nothing. He saw an empty room. See, the
Ark and the Mercy Seat had been gone for centuries. It wasn't
in the temple. They had all just been going
through the motions. They didn't have the presence of God. They
didn't have the favor of God. They didn't have real communion
with God. That orc was gone, and they were staring at an empty
room. Now, what do I mean by that? What do we learn by that?
Man's religion, salvation by works, is a sham. It's a phony,
and it leads to an empty room. No communion with God, no favor,
just punishment, nothing. If you're seeking salvation,
seeking favor with God based on what you do in any way, shape,
or form, it leads to an empty room. While we're on the topic of false
religion, let's talk about this veil being rent from the top
to the bottom. That's so significant. What that
shows is that the removal of the separation between God and
his people, salvation, if you will, is 100% the work of the
Lord, from the top to the bottom, all the way down to the bottom,
meeting his people where they're at down the bottom in the pit,
all the work of God. Now, false religion is going
to tell you this in some way, shape, or form. They're going
to say, that veil in a, typical sense, in a metaphor sense, is
still there, right? And you have to, in some way,
shape, or form, at least help in the renting of that land.
Now I'll give you some examples. What about the preaching of free
will? Somebody says, listen, here's what you have to do. You
have to make the appropriate decision for God. You have to
allow Jesus Christ to be your personal Savior. He can't do
anything for you unless you make the appropriate decision. You
have to enact your free will. And by making the right decision,
you'll put the first little tear in the bottom of that veil. And
then the work of Jesus Christ will rip it up from there. And
it'll be a joint effort, right? Mixing grace and works. It's
all works. And what's on the other end of
the curtain? An empty room. It's all sham. No God, no favor,
no communion. Somebody says, listen, you need
the shed blood of Jesus Christ. That puts the first little tear
in the veil at the bottom. And that tear is going to continue
up, but that tear won't completely rip unless you sprinkle in some
good works along there. You've got to bring something
to the table. You've got to bring something of your own to make
his work effectual for you, or that tear won't continue on and
that veil won't be completely ripped. It's a mixing of grace
and works. That's all works. What does it
lead to? Empty room. No God. No favor. Somebody says this, listen, you
need to shed blood in Jesus Christ. That tear continues all the way
up to the top and it almost rents the whole thing. But listen,
you've got to keep yourself. You've got to preserve yourself
all the way to the end. That's on you. You've got to have that
power. Folks, if I'm responsible for
preserving myself, I will fall away. We know that about ourselves,
don't we? Where does that lead, that preaching?
Empty room. No God, no favor. It's all a sham. All a sham,
but that's not the gospel. Here's the gospel. The veil,
the separation between God and his people, has been removed.
That veil has been rent in two from the top to the bottom. It's all the work of Christ.
The tear in that veil began on the top in the eternity's past.
with the Father's love for His people in Christ when He chose
those people and elected those particular people in Christ unto
salvation and predestinated them to be conformed to the image
of Jesus Christ. The tarot continued now. It continued on with a calling
to those people, a call of irresistible, invincible grace, a call from
death unto life. When the Spirit calls, sinner
go. I've got no other choice. I want no other choice. You come
to Christ. You come just as you are. Just a wretched, evil sinner
needing his righteousness. Needing his sin payment. It continues
on with the justification of those people. It continues down,
making them not guilty. Not just symbolically not guilty,
but really not guilty. Because Jesus Christ has taken
on their sins and put them away. And they are no more. Just like
that scapegoat. They're gone. They're gone. The tear continues
on down to the bottom with the glorification of those people,
making them just like Christ, and the preservation of those
people all the way to the end. And that veil rents in two. No more
separation between the Lord's people and their God. I tell
you what, folks, we had nothing to do with it. We don't deserve
it. And we have not earned it. You
know what that's called? That's called grace. Now, finally, I'll leave you with this. This
is the last thing I see about this veil being written, too.
That for the believer, there is no separation between you
and your God. I say for the believer. Anyone
right now who is looking to Jesus Christ alone. I'm talking alone. You've got nothing to bring to
the table. No good works. You can't trust any feelings.
You can't trust any experiences. You don't know if they're real.
You've got nothing to bring to the table. All you've got is
Christ. For you, believer, elect of God,
there's no more separation between you and your God. Now, what am
I to do? What am I to do? Turn to Hebrews
10, and we'll show you something. Hebrews 10, I'm looking at verse
19. Having therefore, brethren, what's
that word? Boldness to enter into the holiest. How? 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. What are you to do? You come
boldly, boldly into the holiest. by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm going to leave you with this. I looked at this word,
boldness. I want to know what this word means, right? Maybe
it doesn't mean what I think it means. Boldness. I'm supposed
to come boldly. How should I come? I looked in the concordance.
They gave three phrases to describe this word, and I loved them.
I want to share them with you. First, boldness. It means a fearless
confidence. A fearless confidence. You come
with a fearless confidence. Why can you be fearless? Because
the reason for fear has been removed. Because Jesus Christ
is an effectual Savior. That His work actually did put
away the sin of His people. And they are no more. Hebrews
10 says, And every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices which could never take away sins.
But this man, when he had offered one sacrifice, forever sat down
at the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." His is an effectual work. His
work really did put away the sins of his people. And now he
just sits. He sits because his work is finished.
And we sit down, too, in him because there's no more reason
for fear. Second way this word boldness is described is a cheerful
courage. A cheerful courage. Why should you be cheerful? Because
this one you're coming to is your father. And you are his
beloved child. And when you come into his presence,
all he sees is his firstborn, Jesus Christ, in him where all
his love and all his favor dwells. You believe that? We don't know
that by experience, do we? We know that by faith. You come
with a cheerful courage. And lastly, you come with full
assurance. That's what that word means. Full assurance. What's
not to be assured of? You got nothing to bring to the
table? You got no good works? You mean you're really a sinner?
All the imaginations and the thoughts of your heart are only
evil and that continually? Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Come with boldness. You come
with full assurance. You have the very love of God.
Folks, it's been a pleasure to be with you here this morning.
I'm going to leave you there. Let's close in prayer real quick. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
come to you this day in the high and holy name of your son, Jesus
Christ. Lord, we're so thankful that that veil has been rent,
that there is no separation between you and us because of the work
of your son, Jesus Christ. May we only be found in him. Lord, bless our services. Pray,
Lord, for any man who would stand in your gap this morning and
preach your gospel, that you would send your word out in an
unusual way this day. Lord, we ask these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, Peter. Yes, sir. Good job. Thank you.