Good Friday 2016
Vern Peterman · Mar 25, 2016
Holidays
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492653114266

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

you Oh you you You. so I'm so so so Good evening and welcome to our very good Friday service. We are going to be looking at the cross and the veil as a special combination of subjects here this evening. And so let's begin by praying. Lord, we thank you that as we come together tonight and we remember the price that you paid that we could not We just thank you that as we come together, there's so much to look at and observe and to take in and to take to heart. And so we commit our time to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, let's begin by standing and we're going to sing the Holy Heart, three verses.

The holy heart is broken sent from the Father's side. The Son of God forsaken, the holy sacrifice. For me He was forsaken, for me He died alone. Was him forever taken, that I might be his own. Though the Holy Lamb was stricken, abandoned and unknown, He bore the world's affliction, he bore it as his own. For me he was forsaken, for me he died alone, my sin forever taken, that I might be His own. And when my heart is broken, torn by my sin and pride, the Son of God, now risen, will draw me to His side. For me He was forsaken, for me Thank you.

Please be seated. We will now have some special music. Meditation by Wanda, followed by I Will Sing of My Redeemer by Crystal and Kaylee. I forgot my music. I'm not nervous or anything. Well, I'm off to a good start. Ah Oh, oh, I'm so so Okay. See me?

I will sing of my Redeemer, and His wonders love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered, on the curse to set me free. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purges me on the cross He saved my life He redeemed me and made me free I will tell a wonder story How my lost is still to see In His boundless love and mercy He the Ransom freely came Seeing no sin of my return With His blood He purchased me I will praise my dear Redeemer, His triumphant power I'll tell, Oh, sing of my Redeemer, with His blood He purchased me, on the cross He sealed my pardon. I will sing of my Redeemer, and His perfect love to me. He from death to life has brought me, so I am glad with Him to be. Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me On the cross He sealed my pardon Paid the debt and made me free And now we'll have Luke read for us a couple of references, if you could just read the reference first. Thank you. Exodus 26, 31 through 35.

You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted lining. It shall be with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. You shall hang it on the four pillars of Acacia, overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold, on four sockets, four pillars of Acacia, overlaid with gold of silver you shall hang up the veil under the clasps and it shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place in the holy of holies you shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies you shall Set the table outside the veil and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle Toward the south and you shall put the table on the north side Hebrews 9, 2-14 For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand, and the table, and the sacred bread. This is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle, which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense, and the Ark of the Covenant, covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar, holding the manna. and Aaron's rod, which budded, and the tables of the covenant, and above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat.

But of these things we cannot now speak in detail. Now, when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. But until the second only, the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle was still standing. which is a symbol for the present time, accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience, since they related only to food and drink and various washing regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. Well, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with his hands, that is to say, not of his creation, and not through the blood of the goats and calves, but through his own blood he entered the holy place for one all having obtained internal redemption? For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defilled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the internal spirit offered himself with blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Thank you. We're looking at the veil as kind of the focus here.

And one of the things that we see is in the tabernacle, which was out in the wilderness and was used in Israel before the building of Solomon's Temple, the tabernacle did not have a very large veil because it was carried about in carts. And you had to take the thing apart and carry it in different places. So the veil was not large. The tabernacle structure itself was not itself all that substantial in size. When it came to Solomon's temple, however, they were able to go larger with the veil, but even then it still was not anywhere near as large as it would be later during the time of Christ. The second temple was built and then beginning 20 BC, Herod began an upgrade program. which wasn't completed until a few years before the entire temple was destroyed.

Isn't that something? So here we have looking towards the east, this is a view of Golgotha in the foreground and the temple there off in the background. And to give you some kind of an orientation here, where Golgotha was located was an area of an abandoned quarry. They used to get large stones out of there. Some of them that we saw that were in the wall surrounding the perimeter of the temple area, close to 600 tons in one large stone. So they got them out of this quarry area there, and in the middle of that quarry area was an area where the stone was not of good quality.

It broke up too much. And so they left that there, and that was Golgotha, and that's where the crucifixions would take place. And this is where Christ was taken to be crucified. And so After Pilate pronounced sentence, and Jesus was badly mistreated, they actually went through two whippings. The first one was just sort of a rough you up, and then the second one was really, really bad. They took him out to Golgotha. It was roughly nine o'clock in the morning, and they crucified him alongside two thieves.

During the morning, various things were said, even Jesus saying things like, John, here's your mother, Mary, behold your son. And so, things were said like that. Also, Jesus said things like to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. In the afternoon, it appears that was the time when he paid the price for you and for me, and everything that was accomplished on that cross. And when he was all done, he said, it is finished.

And it is recorded in the Gospels that as Jesus died, that the temple veil, right there, just in view, the temple veil was torn from top to bottom. So here is the temple veil. The temple at the time of Christ was 15 stories tall. The veil of the temple was about 6 stories tall. So it is a very tall veil. and then it's about 30 feet wide. Now, the question everybody asks, how thick was the veil? Well, you will hear numbers like 12 inches, and some will say 4 inches. And you know what?

The Bible doesn't say. Sorry. There is a place in the Talmud, which is a Jewish writing, that says that the veil was about as thick as a man's hand. So not this foot thick, not four inches, but just about as thick as a man's hand. But this thing is six stories tall, about 60 feet tall, and 30 feet wide, and yea thick. So what you have is still a very heavy piece of material. It would be definitely more than I'd need for a pair of pants. So it's a very large linen rope-like material in a sheet form. Very heavy.

So, as you look at it, this might be kind of how it would appear as the priest would step into the front room in the holy place, and they would see this veil there. Nobody was to touch it, except once a year when the high priest would go behind it into the Holy of Holies, and he would bring with him blood to, as prescribed, splash upon the Ark of the Covenant. So the veil separated man from God. It was hung by gold hooks from four gold-covered acacia wood pillars that rested upon sockets of silver. The word veil means to separate.

The veil was made of finely spun white linen, blue and purple and scarlet. As a matter of fact, within those variations, there was a lot of room for different designs. So you'll see depictions of the veil will vary in some degree and that's why. There was room for creativity given the specifications. Placed within the richly ornamented figures of cherubim, it was called the curtain of the testimony or the veil.

The veil could never be touched except by the high priest. How thick was the veil? We talked about being as thick as a man's hand. It's probably best to think of this veil as this 60 foot by 30 foot, like a rope, one very thick, very heavy piece of linen. And it's best to think of it like that. Not super thick, like four inches or a foot or something like that.

Sometimes it gets around. So they would have this veil here, but just think of when you have a bunch of guys doing tug-of-war, what do they do? They pull on a rope and you have a bunch of guys pulling and you don't expect the rope to break, right? Well, this is a 30 by 60 sheet. that is a rope. And the whole thing is a rope. You're not humanly going to tear that thing.

So as Hebrews tells us, the earthly temple was to picture the heavenly temple. In the earthly temple only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies, and in doing so could touch the veil only then to sprinkle blood as prescribed behind the veil. Christ, our high priest, according to the order of Melchizedek, entered the heavenly temple, the holy place, once for all, unlike the earthly high priests. One more thing to point out.

These priests were there 24-7, all the time, and they were particularly there during this high feast time. It had just been through Passover, so there were lots of priests on hand for that, The Passover lambs were slaughtered starting at noon and they continued until about five o'clock. For five hours they slaughtered lambs, about 200,000 of them. So there are lots and lots of priests on duty for this event.

And so I think that's a good preface. We'll, at this point in time, have I Saw One Hang on a Tree by Tristan. so The grave in agony and blood Fixed His loving eyes on me And near His cross I stood And never till my dying breath Will I forget that look He seemed to charge me with his death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned the guilt, and plunged me in despair. I saw my blood instill. I saw my sins, His blood had spilled and made to nail Him there.

But with a second look He said, I freely all forgive. His blood is for your ransom paid, I died that you might live. He died, He died, He died, He died, He died. He died, he died, he died, he died, he died. Thus while his death my sins he pays For all the world to view, such is the miracle It seals my pardons too With pleasing grief and mournful joy My spirit now is filled That such a life should be destroyed Yet I lived by Him, was killed He died that I might live, might live, might live might live. He died that I might live, might live, might live.

Forever etched upon my mind, the Lamb was crucified. Now my life will sing the praise of pure atoning grace. And now my life will sing the praise of pure atoning grace. He died that I might live what grace, what grace, what grace, what grace. He died that I might live, what grace, what grace, what grace. He died that I might live, what grace, what grace, what grace. I'll be reading from the Gospels, three accounts of the veil being torn in two. First being Matthew 27, 49 through 51. But the rest of them said, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yelled up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. Mark 15, 37 and 38. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last, and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And the last one in Luke 23, 44 through 46.

It was now about the sixth hour. And darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last. Well, Verne's covered.

Excuse me. I'm a little bit shorter. Sorry. You know, this is really a neat topic before I start. It's really cool topic. Mike Doyle one day at the Elders meeting said, hey, what about the veil? Isn't there some neat stuff we could kind of glean from that? So we started talking about it in a month's pass. And finally, we're here. And it's kind of neat. I mean, I've enjoyed studying this. Hope you'll be appreciative of what we're sharing here.

So Vernon laid a really great foundation about the veil. And it separated the holy place from the holy of holies. So I have the privilege of talking about the veil being torn from the top to the bottom and what that means. And then Mike's going to kind of go a little bit beyond that and expand on the further meaning of that.

But it's really significant. And one thing to keep in mind here, we're actually talking about two different places two different we're talking about the earthly holy of holies and earthly veil and then we're going to then we're going to talk about a heavenly Heavenly copy of that or actually the true place because that's where God dwells in the Holy of Holies And we're going to talk about that so we're going to see that kind of transition as I go through the these verses here So Gary read for us. I'm just going to talk about kind of paraphrase a couple of those so Christ said Father into your hands I commit my spirit. He breathed his last and yield up his spirit and at that moment the text says behold I And literally, it's lo and behold, it's actually emphatic. It's emphatic saying, pay attention to what's coming next. What's coming next is, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

And then following that, it says, and the earth shook and the rocks were split. So if you look at the meaning of the word torn, it's the idea to split or divide violently. You know, you just don't take your little hammer and tap it and it splits like that.

This is kaboom! I was thinking about the priests hanging out there. I'm sure they were rocked to their socks, so to speak. I mean, it was something else when that six-story thing split in two. But what's really cool is, in this verse, The word for rock split, it says, when the veil of the temple was torn in two and the earth shook and the rocks were split, that's the same word. So God not only split the veil, he split the rocks. It's the same original word. I thought that was kind of a cool thing. So God did multiple things at that time. The darkness fell on the earth. It was a miraculous time. So what does it mean? So you look at the fact that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Well, first of all, as Vern alluded to, no man could do that. Man couldn't accomplish that. God accomplished that, and he accomplished that for a purpose. And I'm going to talk about that purpose and then talk about a verse that I think explains that.

And secondly, I think that the veil kind of pictures Christ's body. given for us. It was beaten. It was maligned. And it was torn into, if you will. So I think it pictures that. But I think probably the most important aspect that we see here is the access. So we no longer have a veil between the holy place and the holy of holies. That's been opened up. And I was just thinking about that.

In the earthly scene there, I'm sure the religious Jews They got their needle and thread out, so to speak, and they sewed that baby right back up, because they weren't having any of that, right? They crucified him. The religious leaders said, I'm having nothing of this split veil. I'm going to sew it back up.

So we see what scripture focuses on that changes from the earthly scene to the heavenly scene. We see the talk about this heavenly scene, the heavenly holy of holies, and our relationship to that. So the scene shifts. And in a way, the temple's destroyed shortly after that, in a way, That picture kind of goes away, and we now focus on our heavenly scene, which is what we're going to read about here.

In Hebrews 6, 19 and 20, it says, this hope we have as an anchor for our soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So I think this verse, you read through it and you think, well, I don't know. That's not going to tell me a whole lot. But I think if you look at it carefully, there's some really interesting things it's going to tell us. And it's going to talk about the heavenly tabernacle and the heavenly veil.

So first of all, it says, this hope we have as an anchor of our soul. So literally, it's in the present tense. So it's this idea we continually have this hope. We continually have this hope. So what is the hope? The hope really is the hope. The hope in the Lord Jesus, He has provided salvation and eternal life for us. So that hope is in what He's accomplished. He's maintaining it. We're not holding ourselves. He's holding on to us. He's maintaining that relationship. But there's two adjectives that talk about this idea of anchor of the soul. And the two adjectives are sure and steadfast. The word sure is the idea of something that cannot be made to teeter or totter. It stays in its place. And then secondly, steadfast is the idea that it does not break down under the weight of pressure. So to kind of summarize that, people have kind of said, this hope, which a believer has in the Lord Jesus, is an anchor of the soul which cannot be made to totter nor break down when put under stress or strain.

So this is Anchor It speaking of. So this Anchor It says, and this hope, enter within the veil. That's the last part of the verse says, and one, I believe that's hope, which enters within the veil. So this, and it's actually entering inside the veil, and that's kind of another continual present tense kind of thing. It continually enters within the veil. And there's so many verses that talk about how our Lord is continually making intercession for us. So this fits in well with this. This is kind of a different view of that from the veil perspective.

And the idea, it's an anchor within the veil, within the Holy of Holies that's holding us. So the anchor of the believer is therefore fastened within the veil, the holy of holies in heaven, and salvation is now made possible by our high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the heavenly holy of holies.

So the last part of that verse talks about the fact that Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a priest according to the order of Melchizedek. So basically what's happened here is that Jesus, he's a forerunner. And so what's a forerunner? Just like the word kind of said, it's a person that goes in advance. He goes ahead. You send out scouts, like in the military sense, scouts to scout out things. And he clears away.

So our Savior has gone before us. And he's provided a way for us into this relationship, into the Holy of Holies, as pictured here. And at a point in time, He will take us to be with Himself, the rapture. He will take us and we'll be with Him. But right now, our focus, and I think Mike's going to cover this more, our focus is to be seated, we're going to focus ourselves on that Christ is seated in the heavenlies, and we're seated there with Him in our position. So that's our focus until he takes us physically to be there.

But one kind of contrast, if you look at the contrast in the Old Testament under the priesthood of Aaron, that priesthood, just like Vern talked about, he went in only once a year by himself. He took in the blood for sacrifice. And he sacrificed for himself and for the people. He wasn't a forerunner. He was a representative. Well, Christ changed the game plan entirely. He's our forerunner. He wants us to be there with him. Totally different picture. A totally different picture that we were going to be in the very holy of holies with our Lord and Savior. You know, mind-boggling stuff.

So to kind of summarize that little idea, but now Jesus is our hope, is the one who has gone before, that he might lead us as his sheep into God's very presence. The Aaronic priesthood was only a representative priesthood. It could never measure up to Christ's high priestly ministry. So just one last thought. I was just thinking, you know, maybe some folks here today that really don't feel comfortable with the Lord Jesus, you know, they don't feel comfortable.

And so what is God saying? What is God saying to man? What does he, you know, there's just so many verses that God has provided for us, but a couple that kind of come to mind. Jesus said to him, said to him, he's speaking to here in, uh, in John 14, I am the way I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the father, but through me. So Jesus said, I'm the singular way, the singular life. I'm the way in, just like this picture of the veil. I'm the way into this relationship with God.

And so what's the information you need to know to start that relationship? The information you need to know is the gospel, the good news. And the good news is basically in 1 Corinthians 15, for I delivered to you of first importance what I also received. This is Paul talking, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, And he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. And he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve, and then to many others.

So that's the information you need to know to start a relationship with our Lord and Savior, and the wonderful things he's accomplished. And I hope that this has been exciting for you today. So we have some more special music. Ingrid and Debbie are going to play for us. Oh, . . the the .

. you Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new living way which he interrogated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and since we have great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with an sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from evil consistence and our bodies washed with pure water. First Corinthians 3 16.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Or did you not know that you are That you are a body Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God that you are are not your own. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling in God the Spirit. Aren't they great?

So I want to talk about a couple of things based on the verses we talked about. One is that we as believers now have access into where the Lord is now. And the second thing I want to talk about is the temple or the Holy of Holies and where is it now. So as they read in Hebrews 10, 19 says, the author of Hebrews says, therefore, brethren, since we have confidence or boldness, let us enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus. And down in verse 22 it says, and let us draw near. A couple of comments from some old brethren writers that I like. Witherby said, our dwelling place is now in the light in the holiest of all.

Not by reason of our subjective condition of soul, but because the Lord Jesus has made the position ours by putting away our sins. and bringing us to the Father. J.B. Stoney said, instead of the priest coming out to bless, as in Judaism, we go in for the blessing. There's no barriers now, not a single one. The Father has removed every hindrance, and now it is for me to go in and just abide there.

The rent or torn veil in the Gospels is the Father coming out. but the rent veil in Hebrews is the believer going in. Andrew Murray comments that there is no way to a full abiding fellowship with our Father but through the rent veil of the flesh of the Lord Jesus. Through a life with the old man crucified in Christ, God be praised that the Holy Spirit ever dwells in us to keep the old man in the place of crucifixion and condemnation and to give us progressive liberty from all of the old. And Faraday comments, to us heaven is open and faith can say we see Jesus. Now the veil is rent, heaven Not the sanctuary on the earth that Roger talked about. Heaven is open. The way into the holiest of all is made visible.

The epistle to the Hebrews throughout maintains this, for our position is shown as worshippers in the presence of the Father, the true tabernacle which the Lord set up and man didn't. It's a wondrous privilege that we have. to gaze by faith upon Him there in the glory. As a result, we do become like Him. We are changed into the same image. So you have to ask yourself, is there a truer or a better way for His life to be visible in our mortal bodies? Mere acquaintance with the doctrine of our heavenly position will not have the same transforming effect, but occupation of heart with the heavenly man cannot fail to influence the soul and to detach us from all that's here.

It is occupation with the Lord Jesus. It is feeding upon him. It is contemplating him. that we are brought by the Holy Spirit into fellowship with our Father, enabled to enter into His own thoughts concerning and even to share in His own affections for that Blessed One who is now seated at His right hand. Surely here, then, is the source of all growth and strength and blessing.

It's important for us to understand and to rest in the fact that we are accepted within that veil. We are accepted in there because everything that is in there is precious to us. Such as our proper and really our only place in the holiest by the blood of Christ. In that place, we are shut out from everything that would keep us from Christ. And we would come to realize that we are pilgrims and sojourners and strangers in this wilderness world that we live in.

Three things that Hebrews tells us here that are really important to us. One is the boldness to enter in the holiest of holies by the blood of Jesus. Two is that we enter in by what Hebrew says is a freshly slain and living way through the veil, which is his flesh. And the third thing is that we have a great high priest over the house of God.

So boldness, what does boldness mean? You could say it denotes a confidence, which is in faith and communion with God, holding fast our hope. and acts which entail the exercise of faith." Let me put it another way. We enter in our Father's presence when we believe that He has already positioned us there in His Son. That's what our faith does. Verse 20 said, a new and living way.

Why is the veil said to be His flesh? The veil represents the barrier between a holy God and sinful man. The sacrificial death of Christ tore the veil, which allowed God to come out to man and also regenerated man, who would believe, to enter into the presence of God in the heavenlies. Man had to be changed, had to be reborn.

And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Drawing near is a really interesting phrase. It is into the presence of the Father that believers are called to come with boldness. Draw near. Don't stand out there and look in. Come in. Get close.

Ever dawn on you that the reason God set the temple up the way he did with the veil was so that he could get as close as he possibly could to the people that he has created and loved, but because they weren't holy, they couldn't go past that veil because he was holy and they were sinners. Well, now the sin problem has been resolved, and so he invites you to come in and to sit with him. So what does a full assurance of faith affect for me? If you believe that you belong there, you will say, I will approach him.

That's one thing. The next thing is, is that his love is so great. We find he delights to have our company. What a surprise. We will not feel out of place there at all. We will be there in all the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father delights in having us with himself. Love yearns to satisfy itself about me. My Father in all his majesty and all of his glory can come out. All is equiposed.

Not only have I entree, but I am shaped into the grandeur of the scene, conformed to the glory of God, not admitted like a stranger, but changed into the same image, not to equality, but to similarity, and transferred into what the brethren used to call moral correspondence. What a great term that is. So, in Ephesians 2, Paul says, in whom the whole building being fitted together as growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Through him, we both have immediate access by the Holy Spirit, who is given unto us at Pentecost.

We have access by one Spirit unto the Father, and that's a marvelous thing for us as a believer. Think about this. If you're not a believer, as Roger talked about, look what you're missing. If you are a believer and you don't rest in these facts, look what you're missing.

What a wonderful thing it is not only to have our sins forgiven, but to have been brought into the family of God and to have been made a fellow member with all the other believers in the body of Christ. Not only that, but we are accepted of God and to be near to the heart of God as his own beloved son is near. And not only that, but to have immediate access at any moment into his own blessed presence within the holiest, in the power of the Holy Spirit. And all this rests on the infinite value of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, made near by the blood of Christ.

So the second part is Where am I now? What am I now? The temple, the Holy of Holies, where is it now? The Holy Spirit tells us that we have been constituted of residence in which God by the Holy Spirit dwells during the time of our sojourn on the earth.

The Spirit of God is in us and in which he will dwell throughout all the ages to come. Ephesians says, in whom all the building fully fit together, that is, every single believer, you and I, are fitted by the Holy Spirit into his or her exact place as a living stone, in whom all the building is framed together and is growing a holy temple of the Lord. And when it is all completed, what a dwelling place for God. and the land it will be. What a wonderful sanctuary. Through all the ages to come, when you think of being a living stone in that glorious building, does it not bring to your soul a sense of importance and devotedness to God and to Christ?

1 Corinthians 3.16 says, Do you, and this you is plural, not know that you, plural, all of you, are a temple, and a temple is singular, of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in all of you. The temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. What's a temple?

Well, it's a sanctuary, it's a shrine. We're not talking about a believer's body here. We're talking about every believer is in Christ. One temple is made up of lots of believers, the body of Christ. The Spirit of God dwells individually in each one of us, but also corporately as in the body of Christ. So when you think about it, as Roger was talking about our salvation, the essence of our salvation is union with Christ. That's really what it is.

So if you look back at 1 Corinthians 6.19, We will find that he changes the figure to the individual. Know what?

Know you not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you and that you have God, which you have of God and you are not your own. So your body is singular there and dwelt by the Holy Spirit. The individual is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in him. Believers collectively form the temple of God, but each one individual believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So, he starts verse 19 with the word or. And it's kind of interesting, the word or can mean, well, if I haven't convinced you by now, maybe this will. The dignity of the temple is derived from the one who resides in it. The beauty of the believer's body is not his own beauty, but the resident in the body is what makes him beautiful. We as believers know that. The thing that's beautiful about each one of us, to each one of us, is Christ in you.

You're not your own, you're bought with a price. So, back in Ephesians we said, "...in whom also is built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." That is a finished product right here on the earth. This is the picture that is used here.

We, as a company of believers, are built together for an inhabitation of God through the Spirit. We should realize this. Any group of believers, or a body of believers, or a church of the living God, is the habitation of God through the Spirit. So I would close with a couple of comments. One is, union with Christ places us in the Holy of Holies. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes us a temple of the Holy Spirit.

So now, we're going to have a couple of special musics. The first one will be a verm. a vocal and a guitar, and the second one will be Randy and Tristan and Crystal to entertain. Now after this I'm expected to sing. I haven't ever sung live. Okay, now.

We are the holy of holies. Don't bail the door. Don't bail the door. We have his spirit controlling Don't hide the source Don't hide the source God wants to do a work in our lives And to share his glory and fame If we try to do it ourselves We must wear veils of shame Keep on beholding His glory Don't bail the door, don't bail the door Rolling from glory to glory Don't hide the source, don't hide the source God wants to do a work in our lives to share His glory and fame. If we try to do it ourselves, we must bear veils of shame.

I didn't realize that there weren't going to be words for you guys, so... But it's a song we've sung before, so if the words are familiar, just go ahead and sing along, so we'll... Take my body Drink my suffering, pour out my sin Condemn it in me, pray for me In the end, I'm stuck on my own sinful path Take my body, broken for you. Offer freely, if you will choose. Drink my suffering, poured out for sin. Come living in me, take forgiveness. In remembrance of you, I lift this cup. Deeply grateful to you, I lift it up and worship you. For you saved my body, broken for you.

Offer freely if you will choose Drink my suffering pour out for sin Come believing in me Take forgiveness Take forgiveness Take forgiveness As we look forward to taking the horse cables, one of the things that is really neat about this little passage that we have up here is that it says what happened on that thing. Forward as well. A Passover is a looking forward to Christ as the Passover Lamb. And here is Christ, the Passover Lamb, saying, OK, now, we're going to have another looking back and looking forward.

And the looking back is, do this in remembrance of Me and what He did for us. And what's the looking forward? Until He comes. Until He comes. So it has an anticipation of the Lord's coming. I hope we don't get to finish this Lord's table tonight. I hope it's tonight, until He comes.

So, let's have you stand and give thanks. Let's pray. Dear Father, how we thank You for the work of your Son, the Lord Jesus on the cross. We recognize that he died to satisfy you about the sin issue, but he also died that we might be able to be with him and be with you for all eternity. And so, Father, we are eternally grateful, and yes, if you would come and take us tonight, we'd be happy about that. We thank you, we pray in your Son's precious name.

Amen. I received from the Lord that which I also delivered you that the Lord Jesus in the night which he was betrayed took breath and when he had given thanks he broke and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your Your death on our behalf, Lord, thank you for the wonderful things we've learned this evening about the Holy of Holies and how that relationship that you established on our behalf. Thank you for your blood that was shed to establish that relationship.

In Christ's name, Amen. In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Let's stand now and sing Here is Love, two verses. so so so you As we close in prayer, you're invited to join us together for refreshments and to stop for a while here. Lord, we do thank you as we take this time to look at what you have done and accomplished there on the cross. And as we see with this torn veil, it is your accomplishment, not that of a man. And Florida was the opening of a relationship, previously open, which we're inviting. And more so, even in the headwinds. Great. Please join us in the lobby. the the