Max Lucado Channel | Pastor and Bestselling Author | Oak Hills Church – San Antonio, TX

all the very best to you today my friend and if no one has told you so far today let me be the first to do so that god loves you god loves you i want to talk to you about what god did to win your heart now i think i’ll need six minutes maybe six minutes and 31 seconds if you can’t stay around please post your prayer needs before you leave and we’ll be praying for you i want to share with you about god’s promise from jesus’s torn flesh and that promise is simply this you have access to god you have access to god he wants to hear from you he invites you to come into his presence once separated you from him has been removed the scripture says in ephesians 2 13 now in through christ jesus you who were far away from god are brought near see nothing remains between you and god but an open door now how could this be how could this be well someone opened the curtain someone tore down the fail something happened something happened in the death of christ that opened the door for you and me and that something is described by the writer of hebrews the writer of hebrews wrote so brothers and sisters we are completely free to enter the most holy place without fear why because of the blood of jesus’s death we can enter through a new and living way that jesus opened for us it leads through the curtain christ’s body that’s in hebrews chapter 10. to the original readers i bet those last four words well i bet they were explosive the curtain christ’s body according to the writer the curtain equals the body of christ hence whatever happened to the body of christ to the flesh of jesus happened to the curtain now what happened to his flesh well you know it was torn it was it was torn by the whips it was torn by the thorns it was torn by the weight of the cross it was torn by the point of the nails but in the horror of his torn flesh we find the splendor of the open door the scripture tells us through matthew 27 that jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died and then the curtain of the temple was torn into two pieces from the top to the bottom you see friend this curtain is nothing short of the than the curtain of the temple the veil that hung before the holy of holies the holy of holies you’ll remember was the part of the temple that no one could enter no one but the high priest entered the holy of holies no one no one went there to do so meant death in no uncertain turns the curtain declared this far and no farther what did 1500 years of a curtain draped holy of holies communicate well it communicated simply this that god is holy and he is separate from us and he is unapproachable god is holy and we are sinners and there is a distance a chasm a gap between us isn’t this our problem we know god is good we know we are not and we as a result feel far from god the ancient words of job or the ancient words of job are our words if only there was a mediator who could bring us together job 9 oh but there is jesus hasn’t left us with an unapproachable god yes god is holy yes we are sinners yes yes yes however god is our mediator first timothy 2 and verse 5. for there is one god and one mediator between god and men and that is the man jesus it’s not a mediator one who goes between wasn’t jesus the curtain between us and god and wasn’t his flesh torn and what did the torn curtain in the temple mean well for the jews it meant no more barrier no more separation no more distance between them and the holy of holies no more priests to go between them and god no more animal sacrifices to atone for their sins and for us what did the torn curtains signify for us well it means that we are welcome we are welcomed into god’s presence any day any time god has removed the barrier that separates us from him the barrier of sin it is down he has removed the curtain but we have a tendency do we not a tendency to put the barrier back up though there is no curtain in the temple there is certainly a curtain in the heart oftentimes we allow our mistakes to be a curtain that keeps us from god our guilty conscience becomes a curtain that separates us from god perhaps you’ve done this perhaps you’ve allowed a veil of guilt to come between you and your father you wonder if you could ever feel close to god again the message of the torn flesh is you can god welcomes you god is not avoiding you god is not resisting you the curtain is down the door is open and god invites you in the blood has been spilt the veil has been split you are welcome in the presence of god in my heart i think somebody is hearing this message for the very first time and the spirit of god is telling you and urging you to come into the presence of god would you do that so much has been taken from you from us over the last weeks and months so much so much freedom so much peace for some of you some many relationships but you know what has not been taken from you the presence of god the presence of god step into his presence today tell him what’s on your heart do not pillow your head tonight without having a good long talk from the father who tore the curtain through the tearing of the flesh of his son so that you would have that privilege all the best to you my friend