Pastor Loran Livingston 🔥The Church Is Running Out of Time—Judgment Begins at God’s House

[applause] >> Altogether, we bless the name of Jesus. We lift up holy hands. We come in full assurance of faith.

We come worshipping. We come thanking you, Lord. Oh God, teach us this very day a little bit more of the gift you have given us.

Father, unless you open our eyes and ears, we can't really comprehend it. Today, we have decided again to receive your supper >> [music] >> to commemorate what you did on Calvary's cross. Lord, don't let me or us do this with a light heart.

May this move us deeply. Father, my heart is touched. >> [music] >> My spirit seems on fire.

This music has ushered me into a level where I now hunger for your word. I'm praying, oh God, that you would open our eyes that we can behold wondrous things out of your law. And again, pray I pray, Lord.

I pray it from my heart. Don't let us be wandering in our minds, looking around. This is the most important thing happening in our lives right now.

This is an eternal moment. I pray that we will feel uh uh sober in our spirit and [music] alert in our hearts, reverent in our souls. Dear God, let a holy fear catch us this morning as we remember your body and your blood.

And I ask it in the name of Jesus. And everybody [music] said, "Amen." Amen. Thank you.

You can be seated. >> [music] [snorts] >> You have your elements with you. And I prayed a very sincere prayer to the Lord.

I guess in all the years that I've uh pastored this church and the hundreds of times that we have taken the Lord's Supper, I don't know that I've ever prayed about one as much as I have this one. Because I realize, as I prayed earlier, sometimes we do things out of habit. It doesn't really register.

And of all things in the world, I don't want to take what God has done lightly. I don't want to pass it by quickly. I want to be moved in my soul.

So, I prayed this week about this message. >> [clears throat] >> And I asked the Lord to let me be emotional. Let me be moved.

Folks, brothers, sisters, church, we've been saved from eternal damnation. We have been given eternal life. And nothing can take that from us.

There is no enemy, no power, no devil, no darkness that is greater than the work that has done inside of you and me. >> [applause] >> So, I pondered those words, "It is finished." And I'm sorry to say that in the American church, we really talk about the crucifixion and the resurrection at a certain time of year. And the birth of Christ at a certain time of year.

I don't know how we got into that horrible habit. This is not seasonal stuff. This is eternal.

So, as I pondered those words from the mouth of our Lord hanging on a cross in agony, the Bible says he gave up his spirit and cried, "It is finished." Wow. It is finished. And I guess to a nominal churchgoer who is familiar with that, they would think that it is finished means, "I'm about to die." Well, he was and he did, but "It is finished" encompassed a whole lot more than that.

When he said, "It is finished," he actually meant a new dispensation was about to begin. An old covenant was about to be obsolete and fulfilled in him. Old agreements, old testaments, old laws, old requirements, old obligations, over.

And a new covenant would begin at the cross of Jesus Christ. A new covenant not keeping rules and regulations, and living in annual condemnation because your sins are brought before you every year at the temple. But a new dispensation when one would lean back and with tears and joy say, "MY SINS ARE GONE.

I am forgiven." Not this just this year, but forever. It is finished. It meant that all of the rigors of the Mosaic requirements for Israel over.

It meant that all of the pain of trying to keep so many rules and being so religious is over. Obligation was replaced by privilege. Rules replaced by grace.

It is finished. And so I found four really interesting scriptures. If I tell you I'm going to preach on four scriptures, some people panic, but it's really short.

You know that Jesus met with his disciples on that night and he told them to take the bread. And the Bible says he broke the bread. That the word broke also can mean tear, rend.

He took it and he said, "Take this and eat it. This is my body, which is given for you for the remission of sins." So that night a tearing took place. It was bread and it represented the body of Jesus.

And whether we realize it or not, we call it the last supper. It was really the last Passover. It really was the last one.

The last time that people would sit and eat the bread and drink the cup under the Old Testament requirements. That was the last time that Jesus would take the cup and eat the bread on this earth under Moses requirements. He said, "I will not drink this cup or eat this bread again until I eat it and drink it with you in my father's kingdom." So, the Lord hasn't had a cup of wine in 2,000 years.

Or a bite of bread. I'm not trying to be silly. I'm telling you that Jesus instituted a brand new economy.

That was the last one under the legal obligations of the Old Testament. Today, we do this in freedom. We do it in forgiveness, and we do it with joy.

And we eat the bread, and we drink the cup, and we rejoice in what he did for us. There's another verse of scripture. It's in Matthew 26.

Listen to these words. The high priest arose and said to Jesus, now he has been arrested, and he is in front of Caiaphas, the high priest, who is a wicked, crooked, religious politician. That's what the priesthood had demised into.

And the high priest arose and said, "Do you answer nothing? What is it What is it these men testify against you?" But Jesus kept silent, and the high priest answered and said to him, "I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." Jesus said to him, "It is as you said.

Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Next verse. Then the high priest tore his clothes saying, "He has spoken blasphemy." Now the the verse the phrase I want you to see is the high priest tore his clothes. I just told you Jesus tore the bread.

Now I'm telling you that the high priest tore his clothes. What is the significance of that? The high priest was never to tear his clothing.

In Leviticus chapter 21, you can read it for yourself, verse 10, God said, "The priest must never tear his clothes." If you remember when two sons of Aaron offered up strange fire and God sent fire out of heaven like lightning bolts and killed them. If you remember, Aaron was a mourning father. His heart was broken.

He just saw his two sons cooked right in front of him. And God said to Moses, "Tell him don't tear your clothes." What is the significance of all of that? Here it is.

In the old economy, the high priest represented somebody between you and God. God established that. God meant for that to be maintained.

God is the one that appointed Levi's children and Aaron's offspring to represent him to the people and the people to him. That was a necessary part of worship to have a priest. So, Caiaphas didn't even know what he was doing.

When he tore his clothes, he thought he was just being melodramatic. But it was God saying, "That's finished, too." No longer do you need a man to get between you and me. No longer will you go to a priest and confess your sins.

No longer will you sit in a booth and tell some stranger, some sinner just like you, the sins you've committed. Oh, no. The priesthood is now away from man.

I've removed it. I tore it away. I ripped it apart.

And now, I am the great high priest. And if you approach me by faith, YOU CAN COME WITH BOLDNESS AND ASSURANCE WITH EVERY NEED YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE. >> [applause] >> THAT'S FINISHED, TOO.

Here's another verse. And Matthew 27:51, I love this. Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn. We got a whole lot of tearing going on here this morning. In two from top to bottom and the earth quaked.

That means the rocks were torn. And the rocks were split and the graves were opened. That means they were split open, torn open.

And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the graves after the resurrection, they went into the holy city and APPEARED TO MANY. WHAT A SCENE.

Jesus gives up the ghost. A Roman soldier walks up with a spear and pierces his side. And blood and water gush out.

AND AT THE SAME TIME, holy God reached down into the temple and tore the veil in two. Got to get a picture of this. That veil, according to Jewish historians, was 60 ft [snorts] tall.

That's about the height of this building here. You got it? It was about 22 ft wide.

Close to this width of this stage. But here's here's the one that gets me. It was 4 in thick.

It was that thick. Did you get that? The historian said, "Two yoke of oxen could not have torn that veil." Other historians said it took 300 priests to maintain and manage the veil, to keep it clean, to put it up and take it down.

300. Brothers and sisters, do you see what has just happened in Holy Scripture? What two yoke of oxen could not do, two fingers of God did.

60 ft tall all the way up and all the way down. Open. Let me tell you something else.

That veil consisted of three colors. Blue, red, and purple. There's a reason for that.

Most of my ministry I've studied the Old Testament Tabernacle and the temple and the colors and the construction of it. And God is the one that gave Moses instructions and everything had to be precise and he had to follow every instruction from heaven because everything about the temple and everything about THE TABERNACLE WAS ABOUT JESUS. EVERYTHING IN IT that went on, all the furniture, all the tapestries, all the construction, IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS.

THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF A TABERNACLE AND a temple to start with. God was teaching his PEOPLE THAT THERE MUST BE SOMEONE HIGHER THAN THEY. SOMEONE ABLE to do what they cannot do.

And so this particular piece of uh of the furniture of the Tabernacle, the veil, consisted of three colors. Blue, red, and purple. Blue.

Throughout Scripture, blue represents heaven. God. The heavenlies.

Son of God. Red. You You know something, this fascinates me.

In Hebrew, the word red or Adam, the word Adam means red. Go ahead and write it down. You'll check it later.

Adam in Hebrew is red. Isn't that amazing? Blue, Son of God, holy, righteous, powerful, almighty.

Son of man, sinful, weak, wicked, lowly. And he became both because the third color, you know how you get purple, don't you? You mix red with blue and you get purple.

The Son of God, the Son of man, came in the body of Jesus, the incarnation of the holy one, was a perfect union of man and God, and for that reason he became worthy to take your sins and my sins, and hear your prayers and my prayers. And I think it's interesting that when Caiaphas, or I should say Pilate, delivered Jesus over to uh the Romans and they began to torture him and beat him, the Bible says they put a crown of thorns on his head. They put a stick in his hand to represent his kingship.

They mocked him and made fun of him. And then they threw a purple robe on his back. Isn't that amazing?

>> Amen. The Son of almighty God who could have called 10,000 angels and wiped that miserable bunch off the planet. But he sat there and he stood there and he knelt there and he fell there and he bled there and he prayed there.

The son of God who took on Adam's sins. He let them mock him. He allowed it because the scripture said this has to be done.

And God spoke and said just to show you that I mean business about redeeming mankind, he let some Roman soldier throw a purple cloak >> Amen. >> over his back. There you have the payment for the sins >> Thank you.

>> of the world. >> Thank you. >> Let me tell you something else about this veil.

It represented Jesus Christ. How so? The veil kept men away from God.

Watch this now. The veil was a barrier. It was a limit.

You could not go behind that veil and meet God. No human being could ever do that because of their sinfulness, their unworthiness. And yet there was Jesus who stood between us and the father and the father looked at Jesus and said, "My son, my holy, righteous, sinless son.

AND NOBODY CAN GET IN HERE UNLESS you're just like him." >> All right. >> Oh. What a dilemma.

What a judgment. Nobody can come to heaven unless you're just like Jesus. I tell people a a lot when I'm trying to witness to them, "You can't go to heaven unless you're perfect.

>> Amen. And they say, "Well, then how can anybody go?" Thank you for asking me that question. We can go because he has opened the door.

We can go because the veil, his flesh, was rent from the top to the bottom. The Father didn't remove the veil, HE SPLIT THE VEIL. Jesus said, "You can come through me." The Father looks right through Jesus and sees you, the one Jesus loves, and says, "You are welcome to come into my presence.

You are privileged to call me Father." Oh, church, I don't know if we will ever grasp this. I DON'T KNOW THAT SOME OF YOU ARE GRASPING IT RIGHT NOW. YOU COULDN'T GET TO HEAVEN in the condition you were in.

THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE, YOU WERE DAMNED FOR HELL. EVERY GOOD DEED YOU'VE EVER DONE OR WILL EVER DO WILL NOT GET YOU 1 mm closer TO GOD, BUT THERE IS A VEIL THAT HAS BEEN RENT. THERE IS A SAVIOR THAT HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED.

THERE IS ONE WHO SAID, "YOU CAN GO IN MY RIGHTEOUSNESS. YOU CAN HAVE MY HOLINESS. YOU CAN GO TO MY FATHER." AND ANYBODY WHO CALLS ON JESUS AND TRUSTS IN WHAT HE DID CAN WALK BOLDLY RIGHT INTO THE HOLY OF HOLIES AND TOUCH GOD [screaming] AT ANY TIME FOR ANYTHING.

>> [applause] >> CAN YOU IMAGINE? IN THOSE old days, I've read the Old Testament enough that that that this is just beyond me. Can you imagine a A high priest after all the preparation he's been through.

He's They had to go through cleansing and rituals. And that great high priest shook and trembled before he went behind that veil. Because if he had one sinful thing in his life, God would kill him on the spot.

There is a tradition that says they used to tie little bells around the ankles of the great high priest and a rope. And as long as the little bells were tinkling, they knew he was still alive and God was accepting the sacrifice. But when they stopped, they said, "God's killed him." And they drug him right out of there.

What a fearful way to live. Can you imagine a great high priest in those days walking out from behind the CURTAIN SAYING, "HEY, ANYBODY ELSE WANT TO COME IN?" COME ON. HEY, COME ON EVERYBODY.

DOESN'T MATTER, JUST COME on in. No. It was fearful, shaking, sacred, holy stuff going on.

You know, if uh uh non-Jew >> [snorts] >> had walked by that temple and came to the gatekeeper and he could look in and say, "Uh uh can I go in? I understand there's worship in there. May I go in?" That gatekeeper would say, "Nope, this is for special people.

This is for Israelites. The Jews, they're God's people. This is their worship.

He's their God. You mean I can't go in and worship? Oh, no.

This is just for Israelites." He said, "Well, I'm just peeping in here and and I see what is that I see there?" He said, "Well, what you see is a brazen laver full of water. And that water represents the washing away of our sins by God's word. And he said, "I see another thing." What's that?

He said, "That's an altar." That's where sacrifices are made and blood is spilled so that the sins of the people for one more year could be washed away. He said, "But I I'm looking farther and I see a room in there." A room and what's in there? He said, "Well, there's another altar in there." Because before you get any closer to God, you've always got to kneel at the altar.

And there's a a table with some fresh bread on it representing the God who feeds his people from heaven. And there's a lampstand which represents the God of light who lights up the whole world with his wisdom. You mean I can't go in there?

Something in my heart just draws me. You You mean I am not WORTHY TO GO IN THERE? NOPE, just for special people.

He said, "What's behind that big thick curtain there?" He said, "You don't want to talk about that." He said, "I can tell you what's back there." Said, "It's really quiet." And there's no candle, there's no bread. There's just the glory of God. It's like Shekinah.

It just lights up the place. And right there in the middle of the room behind the veil is a golden box. And in that box are three things.

Aaron's rod that budded, I'll explain that someday. The commandments that God gave Moses and some manna that stays fresh right in that box. Oh, really?

Wow, that's interesting. He said, "No, the interesting thing is on top of that box are two golden seraphim. Angelic, holy, heavenly creatures.

And their wings are extended to each other, and they almost touch, but they don't. And in the middle of that space is where the presence of God dwells. Are you kidding me?

I want God. Why can't I have God? Because you're not a special person.

You've not been called. You're not a Jew. You're not an Israelite.

Oh, but brothers and sisters, Jesus tore the veil. And Jesus >> [applause] >> Jesus makes nobody sit outside. Jesus says nobody is unworthy.

I'm telling somebody here today whatever you've done in your life, don't you ever think again you've got to stand outside and peep in because you're not special, and you're not called. Oh, let me tell you how to be special. Let me tell you how to be called.

You call on the name of the Lord. You call on the name of Jesus. You ask him to apply that precious blood to your life and wash away your sins.

And suddenly all doors open, and everything LIGHTS UP. AND WHOSOEVER CAN WALK IT NOT LIKE JUST INTO THE FIRST ROOM, NOT JUST TO AN ALTAR, but can boldly walk into the HOLY OF HOLIES WHERE GOD ALMIGHTY, GOD THE FATHER SITS THERE, AND HE SAYS, "WELCOME, MY SON. WELCOME, MY DAUGHTER.

YOU CAN CALL ME FATHER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. >> [applause] >> PRAISE GOD. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT HEBREWS CHAPTER 10 says about that.

When Jesus offered up himself Therefore, BRETHREN HAVING BOLDNESS BOLDNESS YOU KNOW WHEN WE PRAY, WE'RE SUPPOSED to pray WITH BOLDNESS. GOD NOBODY EVER BACKED IN TO THE holy place. Nobody ever crawled in.

They walked in with boldness. To enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. CAN I PREACH JUST A MINUTE HERE?

IT IS FINISHED. ALL THAT'S OLD. ALL THAT'S DEAD.

We now live in a new living WALK WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. In a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is, look at it, his flesh. His flesh, his body became the torn veil that allows us access into the holy of holies and having a high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance.

Who's hearing me this morning? Boldness. You walk in with boldness.

You come in with a true heart in full assurance of faith. You don't come in saying, "I hope I'm saved. I hope I did all right, sir.

I hope the Lord's forgiven me." No. If you've asked Jesus to forgive you, IF YOU'VE CONFESSED YOUR SINS, THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST CLEANSES YOU FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. SO, I SAY IT AGAIN, YOU DON'T WALK IN UNAPOLOGETICALLY, YOU DON'T BACK IN, YOU WALK IN WITH BOLDNESS AND FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH BECAUSE THE BLOOD OF JESUS HAS CLEANSED YOU FROM everything that has separated you from almighty God.

Amen. Watch this. >> [applause] >> Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

What a gift. Let me mention one more thing. It's in Matthew 28 and verse number one.

Jesus has been resurrected now. The ladies, the faithful followers of Jesus have headed to the garden to anoint his feet. Or I should say anoint his body.

And well, let me just read it. Now, after the Sabbath, I'm going to stop right there. The old King James says, in the end of the Sabbath.

Get it? As the Sabbath was drawing to an end. Folks, he's not just talking about a 24-hour period there.

Not just talking about a day of the week. He's talking about a new dispensation. He was saying that was the last Sabbath that the believers in God will ever celebrate again.

Because the Sabbath is no longer a day. It is a person. His name is Jesus.

The old Sabbath commemorated the rest of God after he created everything. But this, the first day of the week, represents a risen Jesus who never rests, but prays for us day and night, walks with us, guides us, grows us, comforts us. There's no rest in Jesus.

He's busy getting his his church ready. He's coming to get us people. He's a very busy Jesus, but the Sabbath is over.

That Sabbath where you could get killed if you did the wrong thing. You know, Jesus walked through the uh corn fields or the grains, and they tried to take some grain off to feed themselves, and the Pharisees came and said, "YOU JUST BROKE THE SABBATH. THAT'S WORTHY OF DEATH." Jesus said, "You don't get it, do you?

Hey, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man. God gave you a day to rest, but now God gives you a savior, and you rest in him throughout all eternity. Somebody praise the Lord this morning.

>> [applause] >> And I close with this. Just 37 years after that happened, the Romans came into Jerusalem and tore down the entire city. The temple was gone.

It is finished. >> [laughter] >> The last supper. The priest garments were torn.

The veil was torn. The temple is destroyed. Judaism is a dead, obsolete religion of works.

Just like any other religion. That does not believe in the full pardon of sin through the grace of God. And here we sit.

You just have to bear with me for a moment. Here we sit. We don't even realize how privileged we are.

We didn't have to get up and kill an animal this morning. We're not having to check the calendar, which day is it? What worship day is it?

What am I dressed in? How What am I supposed to eat today? Where can I go today?

Where can I not go today? No. We just got up and said, "This is the day the Lord has made." Hallelujah.

This is the first day of the week. This is Sunday. This is the day the Lord rose from the dead.

And I get to get up and get dressed and go to the house of God without fear, without shame, without condemnation, without guilt. I've been set free by the blood of Jesus. I can shout hallelujah.

I'M NOT AFRAID. GOD IS NOT ANGRY. I AM A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD.

>> [cheering] >> PRAISE THE LORD. >> [applause] >> YOU HAVE YOUR ELEMENTS THERE. >> [snorts] >> Thank you.

>> [snorts] >> I I repented to the Lord for all the times I just I just did this. You know? Those of you that went to liturgical churches, whether it's Lutheran or Catholic or well, on and on and you just did it.

I don't ever want to do that. I want to look at this and say, "This represents a body that was torn for me. And this represents blood that was spilled for me." Let me be very careful and gentle when I say this.

I'll try to say it with a smile cuz people have said I'm mean. >> [clears throat] >> Somebody told me the other day they went to a place of business and they got to talking about church and our guy said, "Yeah, I go to Central Church." And that guy said, "Oh, that's where that mean preacher is." So, I'm going to smile when I say this. What What This is only for believers.

If you don't know Jesus, don't do this. It's an insult to God. If you're still living in sin, practicing sin, walking in sin, don't do this.

This can be done only after you have repented and been washed clean from your sins. This is not a way to get saved. This is a symbol you are saved.

And the Bible says judgment comes upon people who do this thoughtlessly and unworthily. So, I'm just trying to be nice and keep you from some trouble. But for those of us that know Christ, it wouldn't hurt right now for us to stop for a moment and meditate and repent.

Lord, if there is anything in my heart that grieves the Holy Spirit, I ask for forgiveness in Jesus' [music] name. Lord, if there's a thought in my mind that is displeasing to heaven, I ask you in the name of Jesus to forgive me. Lord, if my lifestyle has suddenly not [music] glorified you, I ask in the name of Jesus that you forgive me from all my sins.

>> [music] >> Father, we love [singing] you. >> [music] [singing] [music] >> On the night that our Lord was betrayed, he took bread, and he broke it, [music] And he gave it to the disciples. And he said, "Take, eat.

This is my body, which was broken for you." >> [music] >> After the [music] After supper, he took the cup. >> [snorts] >> And he said, "Take this. >> [music] >> This is the new testament, the new covenant in my blood.

Drink all of it. For as often as you eat this bread and drink [music] this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes." Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus.

Glorify your name. >> [music] >> Together. >> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] >> Once again.

Sing it to him. >> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] [singing] >> I think before we leave we ought to give the Lord the greatest praise [music] we can give him for everything he's done for us. Would you praise him with me right now?

>> [applause] >> HALLELUJAH. >> [applause] >> GREAT IS THE LORD AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED. HALLELUJAH TO JESUS.

GLORY TO GOD. FATHER, SON, HOLY SPIRIT, WE BLESS YOU TODAY. >> [music] >> When we never dismiss, we just take a break till the next time.

Walk out in the power of a risen Jesus. Walk in the glory of a victorious Jesus. And we'll see you next time.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. Love you, church.

>> [music]