A Veil Now Torn

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Acts 2:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Matthew 27:50–54 KJV 1900

50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

TITLE: “A VEIL NOW TORN”

Introduction

Chasing After the Elusive

There have been a great many mythological sort of chases that have went on over the years. People pouring money into finding things like the supposed “fountain of youth” or the “lost city of Atlantis” or ...

I remember when there for awhile, they were all looking for Pokemon! Grown men, too!

They’ve even made quite a chase out of trying to find the Ark of the Covenant.

But I’m not worried about where the Ark of the Covenant is at right now… Because something happened that gave me access to the same atmosphere that was in the Holy of Holies, where the Ark was found in the Tabernacle!

And now, while some are on a wild goose chase… WE HAVE ACCESS!

YOU HAVE ACCESS!!! Say that with me: “I HAVE ACCESS!!!”

I need to inform you of this today… SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED.

A DOOR HAS OPENED UP.

A VEIL WAS TORN.

To some, it’s merely elusive… they have settled for religion and they do not take advantage of that ripped veil.

2 Timothy 3:5 KJV 1900

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

But I want to make sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt before you leave on Pentecost Sunday, that you are aware of JUST WHAT SORT OF A FIND YOU HAVE STUMBLED ACROSS IN LIFE!

YOU HAVE HIT THE BIG ONE!!!

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A Veil Now Torn

What Happened that Day

Jesus has just been murdered. Crucified.

You have a yelling, boisterous, angry mob that has gotten their way today. Scattered through all of them are some others who are in total despair. In their minds: “The savior is now lost.”

And for some people it got even worse. Because mostly, people only talk about Jesus’s death in this chapter. But there was this other event that took place at the exact same time. And it was MASSIVELY significant.

Away from the cross, perhaps where far fewer people were paying as close attention…

Perhaps some man or woman heard this happen… someone might have been standing there when it happened. But inside the tabernacle - very quickly and very suddenly - there was a loud RIP! And the veil of the temple was torn in two - from top to bottom.

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There were two temple curtains, one dividing the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place and the other separating the Holy Place from the court.

Tearing the first one would be more public, but tearing the inner veil could hardly be hushed up. Destruction of the outer veil would primarily symbolize the forthcoming destruction of the temple, while destruction of the inner veil would primarily symbolize open access to God; but destruction of either veil could point in both directions.

If the death of Jesus opened up a fresh access to God that made the OT sacrificial system obsolete, then an entire change in the Mosaic covenant must follow. Jesus himself is the New Temple, the meeting place of God and man (see on 26:61); the old is obsolete. That rent veil does serve as a sign of the temple’s impending destruction—a destruction that’s not just some horrible fact but as a necessity for what God wanted to do!

Speaking of “new Jerusalem,” John heard a voice say this in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 21:3 KJV 1900

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

God’s goal in tearing that veil was to ultimately make His tabernacle with men and women everywhere!

Receiving the Spirit Requires Faith and Involves a Sign

Jesus told Nicodemus (who found it hard to believe) that you have to be born again of water and of Spirit. And He told him

Now, of course, today we have a great advantage over Nicodemus. He had never heard of someone being baptized with the Spirit. But we have such a testimony about it that we can say that millions and millions of people have experienced it today!

And we know they have because, as Jesus instructed, we have heard the sound.

John 3:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

There is a sound associated with the infilling of the Spirit that is unique to it and completely confirms it.

When you take a look at the various times in the Book of Acts when someone was born again of the Spirit, you can observe that there was a consistent sign from Heaven showing the Spirit had filled them. Just like in Acts 2, every person will speak in an unknown tongue when they are first filled with the Holy Ghost.

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I Must Receive the Spirit to Be Born Again

What was true for Nicodemus is true for each of us also. There is only one way to be born again: we must be filled with the Spirit of God through a miraculous Spirit baptism!

And anything less does not bring us into obedience to the teaching of Jesus! Jesus says, “You must be born again, of water and of Spirit.” And the Christian world is going to have to come face-to-face with this. We ALL are!

It is upon each of us to make this desire personal. More than just accepting this teaching as a church body (that we have to be born of the Spirit), salvation is PERSONAL.

“What do you mean, Bro. LaRue?” Well, I will not automatically be filled with he Spirit simply because I attend a church that believes this way.

There are many who are a part of a local church that believes this. They go to church on Sunday, they feel goosebumps, and assume they have the Spirit. You don’t have to assume - THERE’S A SIGN!

I don’t receive the Spirit baptism just by being part of a family that has this heritage.

I could claim all kind of things because of my dad and his dad and my mother and her mother. NO - I have to carry my own cross! And seek out MY OWN salvation (notice, that’s not that I can find some OTHER salvation - it’s that I have to receive it on MY OWN).

I have to desire and pursue this experience for myself! YOU must desire and pursue this experience for YOURSELF!!!

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Where We Are Now

Today, MANY, MANY, MANY more people are receiving the Holy Ghost. Some are in other sorts of churches.

“When I was 64 on a July morning, as I was praying, I began praying in tongues,” Lucado shared with host Ed Stetzer and co-host Daniel Yang. “I had not done anything different, except I came across the passage where the Apostle Paul said, ‘Eagerly desire the spiritual gifts’…I prayed that every morning for two or three weeks. And then one morning, early in the morning, I began praying in a heavenly language.”

- Max Lucado, Sept. of 2022

Popular Christian music talks about “Pentecostal Fire”.

And we wonder… why can’t they get the rest of truth? Oneness… holiness?

I want to make an important point today: there are a couple of important words (Pentecostal and Apostolic). Sometimes, we don’t fully understand them. Pentecost is an experience. And we are Pentecostal by experience, but we are Apostolic in determination, in decision, and how we live.

And in this, we are Apostolic Pentecostal!

A lot has changed over the years for Apostolic Pentecostals.

60 years ago, Pentecostals were not accepted as we are today. Eggs were thrown. Tomatoes were thrown. Threats were made.

If there had ever been a time when it would be easy to shut down your worship and be more like the other “churches” of the day, it would have been so convenient to do it then! But they didn’t do that! They went ahead and lived for God

But today, now that Pentecostals are no longer known as that “church on the other side of the tracks,” …for some reason… there are some Pentecostals out there who have decided to tone things down. To make things a little more intellectual and laid back. Be calm and offer up a tame and controlled praise to the one who paid it all.

Can I just say today that I have determined that that is NOT going to be me!

NO SIR!

I need about five or ten people who would come into agreement with me this morning: THE SALT IS NOT GOING TO LOSE ITS SAVOR! THE CHURCH IS NOT GOING TO BECOME LUKEWARM! THE FIRE IS GOING TO BE EVER-BURNING!

What Your God Did For You

He took a place (the holy of holies) that should only be accessible to the greatest, the purest, and the most righteous… and instead of making it exclusive to only those people… He looked at you and me and said, “I want them to go in, too!”

But instead of just opening the door for us to walk in… He went ahead and ripped the veil wide open!

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Conclusion

A Child’s Thoughts on the Holy Ghost

When I was just about 8 years old (21 years ago), I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost on this very property. I’ll never forget it.

But, I guess, after that service… at some point, my 8-year-old self sat down and wrote about what happened. And this note, that I’ve read before, was found in the last couple of years.

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I just feel like pulling some of this apart and feeling the truth that’s in this note about receiving the Holy Ghost!