Sermon: The Veil Was Torn

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If you would, turn in your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 27.

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Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 27. We're getting closer and closer to the end of this amazing record of the life, death, and resurrection of the

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Lord Jesus and His ascension. And so we have been in what is known as the passion of the

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Messiah. That is His death, His suffering, His being under the wrath of the

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Father on the cross. And so we are today going to start actually in verse 45.

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Matthew 27, 45. Hear now the word of the living and the true God. Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

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And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said, this man is calling

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Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

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But the other said, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.

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And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

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Now, let us pray together. Lord, this is Your holy, inspired

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Word. We bow before You, Lord. We thank You, God, for Your revelation to us that,

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Lord, You have, even in the midst of our rebellion, spoken. Lord Jesus, You demonstrate

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Your love for us. In the while we were yet sinners, You died for us. You condescended.

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Lord, endured all of these hardships, all of this suffering, all of the evil, even to this point that's before us on the cross.

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We know, Lord, as we approach this text, this moment, we're on holy ground. Lord, we're seeing and hearing of the truths of Your love, the truths of Your justice, the truths of Your holiness.

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And we just pray, God, today, that You would speak through the pastor to Your people by Your Spirit.

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That, Lord, You would allow us to remember what You've learned from Your Word, that it would transform us, that it would change us forever.

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We pray that everyone would forget me and remember You. In Jesus' name, amen. So this particular section is important.

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So the last time we were together and we talked about this section of Scripture, you remember the thing that I emphasized the very most was the dramatic and powerful symbolism that God had put in place that was there.

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It was laid down long before this moment took place. We highlighted the fact that if you know your

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Old Testament, if you know the revelation of God, if you've been singing the hymnal of the Jewish church, which was the

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Psalms, that's what they were singing, then as you read this particular moment, you can't help but remember those songs and that particular song that's actually being pointed to in this section of Scripture.

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It's Psalm 22, clearly. But what was powerful and I emphasized was that they should have known, they should have known at the foot of the cross, these

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Jewish people, what was taking place in front of them. Jesus quotes from Psalm 22. It's not hard to figure out where He's quoting from.

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It's the very first verse of Psalm 22. My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? It's the famous Psalm song about the dereliction of God's servants.

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That servant who feels abandoned by God. Now, I know that many of us have felt like that many times in our lives.

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You may feel like that in this very moment right now in this room. But that Psalm is a famous Psalm.

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They should have known in that moment that everything led up to, oh my goodness, we're watching what we've sang about for so long.

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We were singing that song and trying to find the connecting points to my own experience.

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But in reality, the Psalm, though it has connecting points to my own experience, is really about this one right now dying on the cross.

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It's a powerful moment, but I've tried to emphasize as we've gone through the Gospel according to Matthew that Matthew clearly knows his audience.

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It's primarily aimed at Jewish people who understand the Scriptures. And Matthew clearly knows the

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Old Testament Scriptures. He knows the Tanakh. He knows the Torah. So there's times where he quotes from it verbatim and he says, this was to fulfill what was spoken to the prophet

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Moses and he quotes from Isaiah and he quotes from Isaiah. And there's other not so obvious, more subtle but very clear if you know your

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Bible, attempts to point to that Old Testament revelation to show that this whole story is about Jesus in the first place.

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It's all about Jesus. But yet there's a moment here where something happens and if you don't know the

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Old Testament Scriptures, it's just meaningless to you, right? I mean, what's this thing about a veil being torn in a temple from top to bottom?

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Now, I don't know about your experience, but I was raised in the Christian church and so when

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I first heard the Gospel, a New Testament was sent to me. It wasn't even a complete New Testament. It was just the

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Gospel of John. And I remember I didn't know hardly anything at all.

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I knew there was a person named Jesus, claimed to be the Messiah, died and claims to have risen again.

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That's what I grew up with and there was a dusty Bible that always sat at my parents' stereo. That's where it went.

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No matter where we're at in the world, that's where it sat, collecting dust. I knew that that was his book. And so when

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I first had a profession of faith in Jesus, the very first Gospel that I'm reading is the Gospel according to John and it was so powerful to me because there were so many glorious and lovely promises in that Gospel for the people of God.

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Anyone who trusts in Christ, you've gone from death to life. He promises the gift of eternal life.

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It's all about his love for his people, his sheep that he lays his life down for. There was so much that connected to me even with really a lot of ignorance about the

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Bible. However, coming to it in that way, there was still so much that was rich and beautiful and there is in Matthew too.

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However, I want to say, if you start your walk with Christ, your experience with Christ in just the

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Gospel according to Matthew, you're going to miss so much of this. You're going to come to the ripping of the veil and think

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I don't really know what that's about and what's this thing with darkness on the face of the earth and why are all these quotations here about wagging heads and everything else.

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Some of it's just not going to connect because let's face it, we're ignorant when we come to the text if we haven't read the Old Testament.

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We don't understand the glory of this moment in front of us. This is divine revelation completely because there's so much packed in such a small section and yet it really happened.

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It's a historical event and yet there's so much of God's word packed here, so much symbolism.

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It's powerful. I mean you heard me say over and over again that the symbolism of the

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Old Testament, the rehearsals that they were walking through, they couldn't have possibly understood what they were doing.

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I mean just consider it. You've got people who are given the revelation of God and God takes them out of their slavery, brings them into the promised land and they're told, let's be honest, to do some very peculiar things.

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I mean the symbolism in the Old Testament and the rehearsals that they're walking through and all this stuff that's happening down to their clothing, not to mix particular fibers and to eat only certain foods, to be separate from all the nations, you have to be honest, some of that stuff seems downright strange and foreign.

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It's actually the thing that atheists and skeptics and critics of the Bible love to go after the most, the very strange rituals that they're told to do.

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I mean things with birds and bulls and goats and lambs and blood and they've got a temple order complex they're supposed to build a certain way and they've got a holy place but then they have the holiest place behind that and they've got this ginormous, massive veil.

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Intricate, beautiful, artistic but this veil that's thick and huge that goes all the way up and there's like a priest who goes in and once a year on the

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Day of Atonement he's got to go in, he has to do particular washings of himself, he's got to take a bull first to sacrifice for his own sins because he's also a sinner so not a really great high priest and representative but then he's got to go in after they take like one animal that dies and one's the scapegoat, one dies for the sins of the people, one has the sins of the people confessed onto it, this transfer of the guilt of the people onto the sacrifice and they lead this thing away.

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Let's be honest, strange, weird stuff, right? Foreign to most everybody but then the priest himself has to go in from the holy place to the most holy place where there's a veil.

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This is dangerous work for them. Dangerous, why? Because that priest is also a sinner.

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Not perfect, not completely righteous and just in every way. He probably has sins in his past day he has to contend with and yet the high priest on the day of atonement would go through that veil and would offer the blood of the sacrifice onto this mercy seat and this whole order and they're just watching all this take place and they're walking through it every year and why?

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It's not like they understand completely and vividly this portrayal of what

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Jesus is actually going to accomplish in history. God said do this and they did it.

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They don't understand every detail of it. I mean they're feeling some of the weight of this place here, this holiest place, that symbolizes the very presence of God.

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I mean the temple itself symbolized the presence of God with his people.

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But the problem was you have this temple complex they're told by God to do where it's going to symbolize so many beautiful things we can't even go into now.

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It symbolizes the very presence of God is in the holiest place and we don't have access.

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Can't go in. Like God says he loves his people he has covenant love for his people it's everlasting.

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He's the faithful God but the people of God are like outside and they've got to have this representative that goes into that place once a year and it's a deadly game to play.

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Why? Because he's a sinner and so tradition says they used to actually wrap a rope around this guy in case when he went into the holiest place from the holy place behind that veil if he died they could drag his body out because God is holy he is just and we're not.

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And there's this veil there he goes between that veil that veil is separating the people of God he's in there ministering he never sits down his work is not done it's happening every single year by repetition.

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It's just going on and on and on it's like there's no end to our sin and this thing that is stopping us from being able to have access to our

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God. I mean this is what the symbol means the temple is there to show the presence of God with his people and yet something is seriously wrong.

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Something's off and guess what? They're rehearsing it. They're rehearsing it and rehearsing it and rehearsing it and they're doing it and they're reminded every single year your sins are not fully dealt with.

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God is still holy you're still sinful there's a separation between you and the holiest place and it's the problem of your sin and every year is a graphic reminder there must be life for life you want life?

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this life has to be taken there must be a no spot no blemish sacrifice in your place oh yeah by the way you need your sins to go from you to the sacrifice there needs to be a transfer of guilt and they're rehearsing and they're rehearsing but the problem is and they understood this the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin why?

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because a bull is not a person a bull is not a human a goat is not a human so how are you going to have representation real representation with a goat and a bull and anything else?

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how are you going to do it? you can't so there's something wrong always wrong God is holy God is just I'm the sinner

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I'm guilty that's why these things are dying because I'm guilty and God is a holy God He can't just overlook sin and so yes confess it the entire temple order the sacrificial system all the things they were doing let's be honest seem downright strange and foreign but this is actually one of my very favorite things about the

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Bible the symbolism the rich symbolism the teaching tools that God gave to His people to have them rehearse the problem to have them remember the problem you see it seems foreign to us but it was shouting to them shouting to them the need for the

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Savior it was shouting to them the need for blood atonement the shouting to them the need for justice to actually be given and here we go this moment remember a couple things there's too much to even detail we've done like 10 years on this so I'll just do my best in this moment don't forget what's happening right here it's

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Passover this is Passover so it's not just the temple order it's not just the priesthood it's not just the sacrifices it's not just the veil it's not just the holiest place it's not just all those things about Abraham with Isaac and his three day journey

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Mariah and they have a ram no lamb and God says He'll provide the lamb on that place and then

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Jesus does that like 2 ,000 years later it's not just all those glorious things it's

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Passover and the Passover was such a holy day to them where they actually don't want

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Jesus' body left up on the cross because it's such a holy moment for them it's amazing it's your Passover what do you mean you don't want

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Him up on the cross that's who He is He is the true Passover I mean they they couldn't even possibly understand just think about how strange it is that like 1 ,500 years before this moment is the exodus where God tells them

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I'm gonna Passover your house I'm gonna take my judgment and Passover your house you'll miss my judgment on account of the blood of the lamb put the blood of the lamb over your door post put it like boom boom boom amazing and I'll Passover my wrath will

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Passover that house make sure you get a lamb with no spot and no blemish and by the way don't break its bones they don't know why

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He said don't break the bones don't break the bones spot blemish none got it okay blood over the door

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I got it God's judgment passed over us and now we're freed from our slavery and bondage to enter into this promised land with God it's like 1 ,500 years before Jesus it's glorious it's a whole story of what takes place with us and Jesus it's what

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He's doing in this moment but this veil this veil again meaningless to newcomers to the

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Bible what's the big deal there's a veil in the temple huge veil massive thing ripped from top to bottom when

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Jesus cries out Jesus says it's finished and then that veil is torn and there's this massive earthquake and there's darkness what's it all mean?

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you see I think to listen I think to capture the glory of this moment right here and to see what it what it means for that veil to tear in half so that the people of God now can access the holiest place

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God Himself His presence you don't need a rope around your waist do you think about that?

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you don't need a rope around your waist because of Christ you live you stand you can enter into this place where there is true holiness and justice and righteousness and not die but live live because of Jesus God's presence is no longer blocked off because of our sin we have access to God but the problem is what?

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in this section that we're seeing where that veil is there what's the problem? your sin my sin has broken the relationship that we have with God we're estranged from God outside of Jesus we're not righteous we're not just we're not holy we're not good and yet God is and so God's presence is over there and we're over here the relationship is broken and I think many of us understand in this fallen world what this looks like how many of you guys have had disrupted and broken relationships in your life?

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maybe you've had abusive parents or abusive family members maybe you've been physically or sexually abused maybe you guys have been victims of a crime whatever the case may be you know what it feels like to be violated to be the person who's the victim and you have somebody who's the perpetrator of the crime and so things are not well and that's why we have courts today we have a court system because every image bearer of God understands and demands justice it's not to say they have a comprehensive understanding of what real justice is that's in this revelation but every image bearer of God cannot help cannot help but deal with the issue of justice so every day tomorrow it'll start again

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Monday through Friday is gonna be a day and night dealing in the court with a judge because somebody was offended things are not okay you may want to give forgiveness you may want to let people go but let's be honest there are victims there are perpetrators there is offense you talk about all the horrible things that are heard every single day in our courts theft rape murder all these things you watch these trials where you get the family at the last part where the sentencing is gonna happen the family that are the victims to this person's murder and they get to go up and speak directly to the murderer while the judge is there ready to actually execute the sentence and you listen to their stories you know even stories like you know

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I remember there was I was like you know when I was a kid growing up one of the most terrifying moments

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I ever had was remember that show Unsolved Mysteries remember that show was that the creepiest show like the way he talked and the music it used to freak me out and for some reason my mom and my aunt before he went to DC sorry

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Japan I was living in Vegas for like three months for some reason my mom and my aunt thought it would be appropriate for me to watch

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Unsolved Mysteries at eight years old and it was about the Green River Killer they hadn't found him and so it was the creepiest scariest thing

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I didn't sleep the entire night I watched it I remember the night vividly I remember the night laying in a top bunk of a bunk bed and I stayed awake the entire night until school in the morning

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I was terrified well they finally caught Gary Ridgeway they found out who he was and they caught the man and of course they brought him to trial he confessed to the murder of all these women and all kinds of heinous things that had been done but in that trial interestingly in that trial one of the fathers of the women that he did unspeakable things to and that he murdered the rest of the families came up and they were letting him have it they were letting him have it and this old man with all white hair and a white beard speaks to Gary Ridgeway and Gary Ridgeway had stone face through all those testimonies and all those family members talking to him and this father comes up and he was a believer he was a believer and he told

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Gary Ridgeway that everybody there hated him but he didn't hate him he said because of Christ he wanted to forgive him and so he said you're forgiven and it was the first moment where this stone faced dark evil murderous man who again he did unspeakable things that we're not even saying in church it was the first moment where he broke and started sobbing while he was getting just haymakers verbally from all these family members for all the things that he'd done to all of these women so many women just disregarded them like garbage this man walks up and says you're forgiven and it broke the man but you know what's amazing is even after this person who said you're forgiven the judge was still on the bench and the judge had to do what?

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give a sentence even with the forgiveness this man wanted to give Gary Ridgeway in his heart the judge had a duty to make sure that justice was established he could not simply say because he forgives you

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I will let him go it didn't work that way justice needed to be done for Gary Ridgeway and that's listen that's the problem here in this text that is so gloriously solved for the people of God is this is that God is the one we've offended he's the one we've offended we are the perpetrators of all the crimes we are the ones who have hated him who rebelled against his goodness and his blessings and his love we're the ones who are made in his image to know him and to glorify him and to enjoy him forever and we hate him we've gone the other way and so the problem of the veil being ripped it's an amazing thing because this is watch

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God himself as the just judge as the holy one as the one who demands justice solving the problem of our estrangement and our sin himself that's what's glorious about this moment that broken relationship between us and God is being solved by God it's

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God pursuing the rebel it's God making sure that that veil is done away with and the people of God have permanent eternal access to their father not temporarily not for but a moment but eternally done finished and it's

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Jesus who passes through that veil and he doesn't offer the blood of a goat or a bull he offers his own blood and he makes the way you know it's amazing you know the verse do you know this?

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John 14 6 do you know it by heart? I hope you do I am the way and the truth and the life no man comes to the father but through me and we typically think about that in the right way that your only access to the father is through Jesus and his work but what's amazing is there's so much in scripture about Christ and his own body being torn and us going through him he's the temple and we are entering into God's presence through his body it's a glorious thing people have said

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I want to just address this quickly people have tried to say and Moeller brings up this point in his discussion on this text as well people have said this seems like cosmic child abuse right?

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cosmic child abuse here you have God the father having Jesus the son the eternal son executed on a cross murdered on a tree isn't this some form of child abuse?

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I mean do you really want to worship a God who would offer up his son in this grotesque and bloody way?

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isn't this sort of a father abusing his own son? because the text is clear he made him

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Jesus the father made Jesus who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him that the

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Lord was pleased to crush him that says that God the father was pleased to crush

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Jesus for you that he actually don't miss it that the father took pleasure in crushing

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Jesus for you this is an infinite holy and incomprehensible mind of God why?

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because listen don't we remember something from this gospel? you know this I'm not teaching you this you already know this it's a famous thing about Jesus everyone knows it it's in the beginning of this gospel

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Matthew chapter 3 Matthew chapter 3 verse 17 we go from the beginning of Matthew 3 in Jesus' baptism in that moment with John the

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Baptist the forerunner what does the father say from heaven about Jesus?

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what's he saying? he says this is my beloved son this is the son of my love in whom

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I am well pleased the father delights in the son he takes pleasure in the son he loves the son they have an eternal relationship pre -incarnation forever and ever and ever ago the father and son were in glorious delighting relationship for all eternity and now here the father says in the baptism of Jesus this is my beloved son in whom

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I am well pleased and yet here in Matthew 27 the cry of dereliction my

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God, my God why have you forsaken me? where the father says you're the son of my love

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I am pleased in you and now in this moment he takes pleasure in crushing the son for you if you know him if you love him for you and for me is this just a form of cosmic child abuse?

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far from it this is the just and the holy

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God and Jesus says no one takes my life from me

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I lay it down of my own accord this is the glorious harmony of the

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Trinity where the father the just and holy God Jesus is too but the father the just and holy

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God is actually giving his son and the son agrees willingly to lay down his life for the joy set before him that's for you to give himself voluntarily for the sins of God's people this is not one person abusing the other this is the harmony the glory of the

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Triune God I want you to hear something this I think needs to connect here because you have to get a sense of this relationship between the father and the son to understand this moment and what it means go to John 17

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John John 17 this is Jesus' high priestly prayer he's our high priest and this is his prayer listen to what it says verse 1 of 17

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John when Jesus had spoken these words he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said father the hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him and this is eternal life that they may know you the only true

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God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do and now father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed

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I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word now they know that everything that you have given me is from you for I have given them the words that you gave me and they have received them have come to know in truth that I came from you and they have believed that you sent me wow the father gave a people to Jesus Christ Jesus says in John 6

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I've come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me listen that of all that you have given to me

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I should lose nothing and what kind of life does

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Jesus give to his sheep what kind of life say it now eternal life you see this is a mission that Jesus will never fail when

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Jesus says that the father will never forsake you that you're in his hand and nothing is at you from his hand

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I will never forsake you you're in my hand nothing is at you from my hand it's because there is a harmony in the triune

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God where the father says save these people they're mine and Jesus says yes father

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I will lay my life down for the sheep and he gives them he says eternal life and this is what's wrong with Rome and every other man made religious tradition system they don't give you the eternal life that Jesus promises they don't give you the glorious gospel that Jesus is giving us here this is truly good news because it is a work done by Jesus where he accomplishes our salvation not just makes it possible it's a work that actually rips apart the veil and Jesus passes through before us and he makes the way of our intimacy and fellowship and right relationship with God to be possible not just temporarily but forever that veil is gone you understand?

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pause for a moment where does it meet you now? because you can talk about all these high theological things you can bring up all these concepts of temple and veil and all the rest but can

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I just be straight with you? if this doesn't change you in terms of how you approach God on a moment by moment basis you haven't understood it yet don't leave this text until you do do you understand what it means that that veil is gone?

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that he offered himself once for all that his sacrifice and offering perfects forever those who draw near to God through him do you understand that that veil is gone?

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so at times as a Christian doesn't it feel at times sort of twisted where like you know you're forgiven you know you have eternal life but you also know you sin and you blow it everyday you blow it in your heart you blow it in your mind you blow it with your mouth you blow it constantly you sin and so there's times where like well yeah

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God's my father but I think he's kind of mad at me right now right? like I can't really talk to him because he knows what

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I did this morning or thought this morning he knows how hateful I was how jealous I was he knows about this he knows about that and so like maybe

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I gotta sort of like put that veil back up again that veil's back no!

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it's ripped it's gone you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places the fact that the veil was torn means this there is nothing left do you understand that?

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there's nothing left it is finished means the transaction is complete there's not another one coming there's not another one necessary it's done does that meet you where you're at?

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as a believer or do you still walk with God pretending like that veil has been sort of like put up again right?

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like it's up on Monday and now I had a good day so now the veil is gone right?

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it's up on Wednesday he loves me he loves me not he loves me he loves me not this is a matter of history the veil was ripped it's finished it should change everything it really should change everything now one thing that has to be understood if you understand the glory if you want to understand the glory of the veil is just something theological that the apostle

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Paul explains about this moment because listen here's what's important for us you understand that this is history it's divine revelation but this is history you understand that Jesus was in this dirt he was in our atmosphere he breathed our air

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Pontius Pilate's a real person in history this really took place it was real blood it was a real cross this actually happens and here's the thing it was public it was public it was before all creation it was before the

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Jewish people it was before the Romans this was public God displayed him publicly why?

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because God is that just judge who cannot simply let the perpetrator go he can't if you want to see this explanation to understand the glory of the veil go to Romans chapter 3

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Romans chapter 3 is God's revelation about what took place in this moment

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Romans chapter 3 start in verse 23 I'll read as you get there it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

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God God giving us redemption because of Jesus whom

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God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith this was to show

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God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus you guys remember the scene that I was just talking about the scene of the

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Passover what took place in the Passover what took place God says I'm going to come the firstborn and blood of the lamb and I'll pass over that house pass over that concept of passing over in judgment so that this person is redeemed redemption they're redeemed from their slavery their bondage they're passed over and they're coming out of bondage and slavery into the promised land all of that's here in propitiation propitiation someone's like I don't even know what the word means propitiation is a diversion of wrath it should land here and yet it's diverted and lands here propitiation gives the idea of the full exhaustion of the wrath of God and yet it didn't fall on you and it should if you know your heart if you know your mind if you know your life and your past and your history you know that that should fall on you the court is in session you're the perpetrator

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God is the judge justice must be satisfied and so God offers

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Christ publicly He's holding court before creation that's why the lights go out

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He's holding court before creation publicly and He puts forward

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Jesus as a propitiation a diversion of the wrath that we should have gotten and it's fully exhausted in Jesus Paul says

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God did it to be just because He cannot merely let your sins go there must be punishment sacrifice because He's the true

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God this is in mythology not like the false gods of mankind who pretend to be righteous you can see their sin on the page but they also simply have a system that says if I like you

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I'll let you go if you make up for it with a good life I'll let you go I hope you're good enough to get to heaven and everyone's like I don't know if I have peace with God we do we do why?

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because my God is just He didn't just look at my sins and say I really love you

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I'm going to let you go that's not even possible with justice it can't take place in our human courts human courts don't do that Jesus is the propitiation because God is just and the justifier the one who has faith in Jesus that's what's taking place in this moment with Jesus He cries out with a loud voice there is it is finished

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He dies for the sins of His people that temple veil is rent but what's taking place is actually also happening in a much deeper level that's very personal this is where I want you to catch this it's not just the collective it's not just this body of Christ the body of Christ contains individuals that make it up and what makes this moment so glorious is that it is so intensely personal your name we sang that song right?

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my name is written where? on His hands He's dying for His sheep

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His sheep have names He knows who they are it's intensely personal when

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He goes through that veil when that veil is ripped and He offers Himself it's intensely personal it's not for some nebulous group of people

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He knows His sheep and they know Him and they hear His voice and they come and He gives them eternal life that's what

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He says but I want you to see how personal this is look what it says in 4 move down past propitiation

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Romans 4 when Paul's connecting the story of faith to Abraham here's what he says in verse 3 for what does the scripture say

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Abraham believed God and it was credited counted to him as righteousness now to the one who works his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due and to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted credited as righteousness just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one of the one of the one of the one it's personal to whom

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God counts righteousness apart from works blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven whose sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the

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Lord will not count his sin see what's taking place here according to Paul did you catch it? did you catch it?

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propitiation diversion of wrath God is just and the justifier the one who has faith in Jesus and then he says and then he says about our sin that God does not count you guilty and he counts you righteous it's because of the great exchange in this moment before that veil is torn when

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Jesus is dying on the cross it says in Isaiah 53 the

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Lord was pleased to crush him Jesus is bearing himself the full weight of your guilty life the full weight of your guilty life past present future sins you don't even know about yet he was taking on himself

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God was counting him Isaiah 53 among the rebels as though he were one

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God counted him as the guilty one and he counts you through faith as the righteous one you're hiding in his righteousness yeah you're a liar yeah you're an adulterer yeah you're a murderer yes you are a covetous person yes you are a failure in your ability to love

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God with heart and soul and mind and strength yeah you're an unjust person yes you're a gossip yes you're a slanderer but no more not in God's eyes because of this moment because that veil is ripped and the offering was given and it's a once for all so that he's counted as the rebel he's counted as the liar the adulterer the thief the murderer the rapist you name it he's counted as it and you are counted as righteous your sin's not held against you you have peace with God that thing that stopped you from being able to access the presence of God it's gone and it's gone forever it'll never be reconstructed this is the glory of the gospel there is no greater story than this there is no fictitious mythological display of the creative mind of mankind and religion that can touch this

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God nothing this is the true God and it is truly glorious how much time do

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I have? I'm good I just wanted to point something when we talk about the veil here

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I want to give you what the word of God says about it but it's interesting because we have this history this is history the word of God it's the revelation of God but it's actual history and there is also connections to all of this to history in the world so biblical archaeology is a fascinating fascinating field as a matter of fact biblical archaeology is a really hard thing to engage in in terms of really trying to get the mass of it all because it is so vast and so huge and goes so far it's hard to know like where to start and then it doesn't stop we're constantly unearthing new things and seeing more connections from history to the

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Bible it is just this ongoing constant perpetual thing it's honestly overwhelming biblical archaeology is fascinating but it's overwhelming and the connection between the biblical record and revelation to history is just fascinating it's amazing you could talk about Tacitus and Suetonius you could talk about you could talk about Josephus and then you go further back into the

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BC era and it just gets deeper and deeper and deeper but this moment people have wondered at times we know when

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Pontius Pilate was the procurator procurator of this area we know like you know 26

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AD to this time so like this moment I mean think about it when it talks about when the earth went dark is it noon?

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6th hour to the 9th hour is noon that's how they calculated time so I want you to imagine that it's 12

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PM it's noon you're getting ready for lunch and then all of a sudden the lights go out in the world not like an eclipse for like 60 seconds like everyone's waiting for it like get special glasses on bunch of nerds out there staring up at the sun right like but it only lasts like you know like 60 seconds 2 minutes or whatever and then it's passed and it's over and it's not even like that dark right?

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it ends up not being that dark this moment noon the lights go out at noon for 3 hours 3 hours 3 hours of darkness when this is happening 3 hours it's a long time for all of a sudden at noon the lights to go out in the world and you'd be able to view the stars at noon that is something spectacular and supernatural and then it says that there was a great earthquake and the rocks split so there was some damage from this earthquake so we have darkness and rock splitting people have examined this moment of history and there's a lot of debate over this subject there's actually a lot of evidence for this subject

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I just want to just present this to you just as something to maybe whet your appetites to study even more

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Matthew, Mark and Luke all mentioned the darkness they all mentioned this moment they all mentioned the veil from top to bottom but in history this is from creation .com

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there's some good studies about the darkness of this day and the earthquake as a matter of historic record

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Thallus wrote a history of the eastern Mediterranean world since the Trojan War Thallus wrote his regional history in about AD 52 and although his original writings have been lost he is specifically quoted by Julius Africanus a renowned third century historian

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Africanus states quote Thallus in the third book of his histories explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun unreasonably as it seems to me apparently

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Thallus attempted to ascribe a naturalistic explanation to the darkness during the crucifixion people do that all the time right well yeah there's record of it being dark at noon in the day maybe it was a eclipse well that doesn't really work though does it because eclipses don't last three hours and so that's what's being engaged with here

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Phlegon was a Greek historian who wrote an extensive chronology around AD 137 he says this quote in the fourth year of the 202nd

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Olympiad AD 33 there was quote the greatest eclipse of the sun and that it became night in the sixth hour of the day there's not a

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Christian writing this so that stars even appeared in the heavens there was a great earthquake in Bithynia and many things were overturned in Nicaea it's not

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Christian just people recording history oh yeah by the way it went dark from noon to three one day and there was a massive earthquake you read about that from outside the

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Bible Phlegon provides powerful confirmation of the gospel accounts he identifies the year and exact time of day in addition he writes of an earthquake accompanying the darkness which is specifically recorded in Matthew's gospel 27 where we're at now he fallaciously attempts to interpret the darkness as a direct effect of a solar eclipse

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Africanus composed a five volume history of the world around AD 221 he was also a pagan convert to Christianity his historical scholarship so impressed

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Roman emperor Alexander Severus that Africanus was entrusted with the official responsibility of building the emperor's library at the

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Pantheon in Rome Africanus writes on the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness and the rocks were rent by an earthquake and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down the darkness

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Thallus in the third book of his history calls as appears to me without reason an eclipse of the sun for the

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Hebrews celebrate the Passover on the 14th day according to the moon and the passion of our savior falls on the day before the

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Passover but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun and it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last day of the old that is at their junction how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun let opinion pass however let it carry the majority with it and let this importance of the world be deemed an eclipse of the sun like others important only to the eye so this moment in history turn the lights out darkness

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God this whole time we've been studying this whole time God is constantly leading us not with just not with just the revelation of God this was to fulfill that but he's constantly leading everybody to see that he's in full control of this and this story belongs to him right remember the three robes of Christ I mean they're trying to mock

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Jesus give him a beating so they put a white robe on him to mock him but he is the righteous one they put the scarlet robe on Jesus but he was carrying our sin they put the purple robe on Jesus to mock him but he is the true king right they put the crown of thorns on his head to mock him as this low king this weak king but that crown was his glory because it was the very symbol itself of the fall thorns every moment of this every moment even to Golgotha the place where his crucifix is going through this skull where Jesus is actually defeating death itself every moment every single moment is

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God shouting to the world what he's doing in Mashiach and in this moment this moment of judgment creation is displaying the moment how dark it is how devastating it is because all goes dark can you imagine at noon walking outside and seeing the stars bright at noon it had to be shocking and then this great earthquake taking place with Jesus' death that temple veil was torn think about the rehearsals of the

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Old Testament think about what the temple meant with God's presence think about the veil as the people of God being separated from the very presence of God because something was in the way the relationship was disrupted think about the high priest duties in Leviticus 16 going in offering the blood think about the holy place versus the most holy place with it being blocked

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I want you to see the text so that you have it maybe write it in your Bible if you're comfortable with that Exodus chapter 26 we'll just go there to take a peek at it

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Exodus chapter 26 so you can see an example of it being talked about Exodus 26 verses 31 through 33 26, 31 through 33 here's where God gives him instructions he says and you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine and linen it shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it and you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold with hooks of gold on four bases of silver and you shall hang the veil from the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil and the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy right?

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there's a particular place where the people are then there's this special holy place then there's this veil and the most holy place symbolizing

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God's presence God's telling him this is what you're to do here's how you rehearse it this thing was massive by the way massive look online at some good pictures of the second

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Jewish temple the temple complex look at the holy place versus the most holy place and that veil was it was big and beautiful and beautiful but here's where it's talked about quickly though what's it mean?

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that's gotta be where we get hit what's it mean? well rather than me trying to describe to you in my own words what it means

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I want you to see it in God's word go to Hebrews 6 starting at verse 13 this is the revelation of God you want

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God to speak to you on this? you want God to speak to you on what that veil being torn from top to bottom means for the people of God for you specifically if you trust in Christ Hebrews 6 verse 13 here's what it says

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God's word for when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater to whom to swear he swore by himself saying surely

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I will bless you and multiply you and thus Abraham having patiently waited obtained the promise for people swear by something greater than themselves and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation so when

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God desires to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise that's you the unchangeable character of his purpose he guaranteed it with an oath in other words

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God swore by himself that's how you know what's gonna happen that's how you know it's true so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us we have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek you want a surety of faith you want guaranteed hope you want that well here's what you have heirs heirs of God's promise that's you if you trust in Christ here it is

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God swore by himself okay what's that mean well here's what's different about God and you ready and everybody you know he cannot lie so he swore by himself he can't lie this promise can't be broken and he wants to give you those who fled for refuge strong encouragement don't you love it isn't it a strange thing and it's so strange it's so strange typically when you have an enemy or someone you're enemy with you're at war with this person you don't typically flee to them for refuge right isn't it weird it's the wrong direction if somebody you've offended you're guilty this is the enemy you typically flee somewhere else for refuge but why because we're enemies

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I'm not okay with you and so I'm looking for a place to hide that's not you but what's strange about this is here's the

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God we've offended he's the one making the promises he'll never break his promise and you and I are fleeing to him for the refuge none of this makes any human sense let's be honest it doesn't that's why it's divine and that's why it's good news we flee to him but here you have this hope set before you here you have assurance steadfast anchor it says of the soul a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain that's where your hope is it's behind that curtain and guess what that curtain that veil now is out of the way and Jesus watch this don't be afraid to go in there don't be afraid to access that he's the one that already went before you he went charging through that curtain before you to represent you to offer himself next

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Hebrews chapter 9 it says more explanation on the veil now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness for a tent was prepared the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence it is called the holy place so if you guys can picture in your minds now you have in the temple complex in this particular section you have the holy place that's being described here with the lampstand the table the bread of the presence that's the holy place then there's the veil and the most holy place it says behind it behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was the golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat of these things we cannot now speak in detail these preparations having thus been made the priests go regularly get this the priests go regularly into the first section performing the ritual duties but only the but into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people by this the holy spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing which is symbolic for the present age according to this arrangement gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper but deal only with food and drink and various washings regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation but when

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Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands that is not of this creation he entered don't miss this once for all into the holy places not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption for if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of the heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh how much more will the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living

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God therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance what kind of inheritance do you have?

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say it louder guys it doesn't end that's what you have in Jesus eternal life eternal inheritance swearing

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God himself secure anchor fleeing to him for refuge therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant for where a will is involved the death of the one who made it must be established for a will takes effect only at death since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive we don't have time to talk about all that right now it says therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood for when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you and in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship indeed under the law almost everything is purified with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins thus it was necessary here it is for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these for Christ has entered into the holy places made without hands which are copies of the true things but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God ready on our behalf for you nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world but as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and just as it is appointed for man to die once and after that comes the judgment so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him he's coming again there's the full resurrection eternal life once for all no more repeated take it in and let it change you because here's again this is the challenge

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I think with the word of God and Christian sanctification and hearing the word coming to a message like this is there's there's an aspect this is what

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I talk about a lot in my counseling with many of you you know you've heard me say this to you many times we have to go from a place where we acknowledge mark we check the right box we have all the right theological answers

01:03:51

I can answer what the veil means I can answer what the rehearsal meant I can answer what the temple meant I can answer what

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Jesus' atonement does like we have to go from that place of theological accuracy please be accurate theologically don't get me wrong here but you have to go from the place where you can get all the right answers to where it's actually transformed your intimacy your fellowship your walk with God because this says eternal life so are you trusting in Christ?

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you can answer are you trusting in Christ? then God's word to you says this if you're truly trusting in Christ if it's real faith if it's not a mere professed faith false faith if it's a true faith if you have repented and turned to Christ God says you have eternal life and God can't lie and God says that this sacrifice was once for all that it secures you forever that it's an eternal promise

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God swears by himself it doesn't need to be repeated so your sins are done away with do you understand that?

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the sins you're going to commit tomorrow in Christ as a believer that yes you'll repent of and confess as you walk with your father yes those sins are covered you're not watch this is the false religion of Rome and the false religion of every man kind okay

01:05:15

I'm at peace with God today but now I've sinned again and so now stains appear and now

01:05:22

God is farther away again like well we were good but not anymore now you get the back that's mankind's religion

01:05:30

I don't care what Christian terminology you put on it it's man made religion it denies the atonement of Christ his work him being the forerunner and that veil being torn from top to bottom he gives one kind of life eternal life eternal life once for all man's religion gives you well maybe we're at peace okay now we're not now

01:05:59

I have to be cleansed again I have to be forgiven again I've got to sort of find a way back to peace with God again and it's just this life long struggle of out of life into life out of life into life out of life into life that's why

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I despise Rome's gospel because they take Christian terminology they distort and disrupt the glory of the atonement in this gospel this is why

01:06:25

I despise all man made religion this is why I want to reach the Mormons at the

01:06:30

Easter pageant because their gospel is no gospel this is gospel this is hope this is eternal life if you're in Christ do you understand you have eternal life do you know that you're called a child of God do you know that God adopted you into his family do you know that before the world began your name was written in the book of life do you know that Jesus said that it is the will of the

01:06:57

Father for Jesus God incarnate that he lose none of you ever can

01:07:06

Jesus who is God fail ever can he then you will never be lost and how will you never be lost because he's accomplished eternal redemption it's done that's why

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I keep emphasizing as we're doing this the it is finished it's done it's over there's nothing left yes you and I brothers and sisters we're gonna walk with God we're gonna do face plants our

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Father's gonna pick us up he's gonna grow us he's gonna sanctify us all of that healing and healing and healing our whole life but God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world

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Jesus voluntarily submitted himself to be in your place and then he took what you deserved and then he defeated that death and when he returns your enemy of sin has already been dealt with and then your final enemy death will be dealt with he is the victorious one that veil being ripped in half that's everything because you know what it wasn't like it wasn't like this secret this secret moment that only the people who had special knowledge got to hear about and they really knew what was going on like yeah we really know what's going on but you know we'll explain it later no one else really does watch this moment public this moment

01:08:34

God turns the lights out this moment God shakes the earth and in this moment

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God shouts to the Jewish people that whole system I told you to put up for my glory that was gonna tell my story watch this veil go away it wasn't just something that took place in the spiritual realm yes that temple and that veil all of that were copies of the heavenly things and the heavenly truths yes but what took place here in this moment didn't just take place in some sort of spiritual gassy realm that no one can see the physical world displayed

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God's glory in this moment darkness stars earthquake veil physically torn can you imagine how disruptive that must have felt to every person who was like around the temple like what in God's name literally is happening there's there's so many stories too oh

01:09:45

I wish we could go on forever but I'll stop there's yeah please don't okay no

01:09:53

I mean yes you know there's so many studies that you can do and things you can talk about like after this moment in history where the veil was torn the

01:10:02

Jews talked to they're talking about the fact that like the stuff in the temple wasn't working anymore the tongue of sepulchre didn't turn white anymore like they're struggling like you know

01:10:15

I guess God doesn't accept our sacrifices anymore yeah he doesn't he doesn't and that's why it was so offensive every single year until the destruction of Jerusalem God destroyed that temple system within 40 years of Jesus' promise that it would take place no

01:10:33

God no longer accepted those sacrifices they're wondering why isn't this working anymore how come how come it's like God doesn't accept us anymore

01:10:39

I don't know maybe think about the veil maybe think about what happened with the veil

01:10:45

I mean there's stories in the first century amazing stories scary stories of like a sword hanging over the city for like a year over Jerusalem this massive comet that like hung over the city like a sword they all took it like as an omen like there's judgment coming yeah like Jesus told you and like the

01:11:06

Christians were telling you that a whole generation Jesus is about to come back to destroy this place yeah the doors of the temple blowing open one night and this loud voice coming out of the temple let us remove hence like there are some crazy things that happened in the first century in the physical world in the real world and you don't need the

01:11:26

Bible to testify to you about it they did this really happened took place and the truths you have today is you have access to God can you start acting like it?

01:11:44

I'm lonely I'm depressed I feel guilt

01:11:49

I feel shame I feel like God is far off I feel like he doesn't care about me you ever have those thoughts?

01:11:58

as a Christian? lies lies

01:12:04

I'm not giving you a motivational speech I'm not a motivational speaker lies that veil being ripped in half

01:12:12

Jesus saying it's finished means it's a lie you are never ever alone not ever your guilt and shame was actually given to somebody else you have peace with God you'll never be lost you'll never be abandoned and he's your father forever you think he's absentee?

01:12:32

you think he's gone? you think he's a bad dad like your dad? you know your dad's a bad dad because you have the true reference point of what a good father is that's how you can call your dad a bad dad he's not like your father he's not a failure like your dad or mine he's not a liar like your dad or mine he's not someone that abandons like our dads do he's the father who holds you in his grip he holds you and he'll never leave you he'll never betray you and he can't lie

01:13:07

Jesus says that he's the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but through him we enter through Christ and we have access to God it's a once for all sacrifice it's finished it's over there's nothing left we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places we're called sons we are heirs we are adopted by God we've already been declared righteous through faith and God says this final word he'll remember your sins no more he'll remember your sins no more and I know

01:13:42

I know because I feel it too humanly speaking I feel it I'll remember your sins no more I know that seems impossible to believe

01:13:50

I know it feels like it's too grand of a promise because honestly we don't have the ability to do that right to actually just forget and just I will not remember them just mark it down God cannot lie amen yes so when he says he doesn't remember your sins any more he means it they're not coming up again he's not he's not holding it in his pocket for when you blow it again to bring it right back up into your face that's not what the atonement accomplishes it is over and if you feel like that story is too powerful it's too big it's too incomprehensible it just seems impossible to be true welcome to the gospel welcome to the gospel and that is why it's good news let's pray father thank you for your word thank you for the hope that we have in Christ thank you that we get to call you father