Matt Hagee - That Rips It
If you would, please, stand for the reading of God's word. If you brought your Bibles, turn them to Romans 5:19. This morning we discuss the topic "That rips it". When you read the Word of God, from the book of Genesis all the way to Revelation, we see God's deep desire to spend time with us. God wants to be with you. Don't ever confuse this and always remember it, God doesn't need you: God wants you. He is all-sufficient all by himself. He needs nothing from no one. But he has a longing, deep desire to spend time with you. In Genesis, we read how he wanted to walk in the cool of the day with Adam. Whenever he formed man in the dust of eden, he said, "Let us make them in our image," because he wanted us to relate to him.
David writes in Psalm 8 that we were created just a little lower than the angels so that we would be God's own unique and very special beings. So please understand this morning that God wants to be with you. He wants to be with you so badly that all the way in the Book of Revelation 21:3, we read that after sin and Satan and the serpent have been defeated, it says: behold the tabernacle of God is with men. That word "Tabernacle" means to dwell. God's longing desire from the very beginning all the way to the end is that you and he might spend time together because he wants to be with you. Jesus Christ said it this way to the woman who was at the well that day in the book of John. He said: the Lord is searching. And he said, he's searching for people who will worship him in spirit and in truth.
Think about that. God Almighty, the one who created heaven and earth, is looking for you. And what he wants you to do is not consider where you are, but he wants you to worship him in spirit and in truth. You see I believe that when you worship the Lord in spirit, you look through the eyes of faith, and you do not consider the circumstances that aren't like you want them in your current day. But you consider what God has the power to do in your future. And you begin to give him thanks and praise for what you believe is on the way. You say, "God, I thank you that you have a plan to prosper me. I thank you that you have a plan not to harm me: that you will not withhold any good thing from me". And when you worship the Lord in truth, you look back over your life and consider all of the wonderful things that God has done. And you know that because of what you're facing today, the same mountain-moving God that blessed you back then can move the mountain that's in your life right now.
When we come into the house of God, God is looking for us, not to come into his presence with a spirit of complaint, but to come in here with spirit and truth, and say, "God, thank you. Thank you for giving your angels charge over me. Thank you for blessing me with goodness and mercy. Thank you that the plans of the enemy that they had for me utterly failed. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you have promised I would be the head and not the tail. Thank you that you've given me the word that says everything I put my hand to would prosper. Thank you that you've poured out your spirit and given me a fresh vision and a new dream. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that I have victory through Jesus Christ".
When you worship God in spirit and truth like that, then you find out what the Bible means when it says: in his presence is the fullness of joy. Because you forget the things of this earth and you remember that you are called of God to a higher purpose. The thing about spending time in God's presence that gets to be difficult is sin. It became a problem for Adam in the Garden of Eden. I was a problem for the children of Israel in the wilderness. And it's a problem for you and I today. Sin has always been the barrier to entry when it comes to us spending time in the presence of God. And when I think about what sin does to the relationship that we have with God our Father in heaven, I'm thankful for the words that we read in the book of Romans 5:19, our text for the morning. If you're there, say, amen. Amen. Let's read it together. "For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. More over, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more".
Heavenly Father, I thank you today for your amazing grace. I thank you that it has given us the opportunity to spend time with you in this place today. And now I ask that your power and your Holy Spirit come abide in this sanctuary: that sin would be defeated once again: that the power of God would be loosed and lives would be touched and changed as we worship you in spirit and in truth. In your name, we pray. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.
You may be seated. That rips it. Go ahead and say it with me. It feels kind of good. That rips it. Everybody has a threshold. Everybody gets to that moment where they decide, I have had enough and I'm not going to take anymore. When the proverbial straw has broken the camel's back, when the limit has been reached, when the mercy bank is empty, and you get to that moment where you look at what irritates you, and you declare, that rips it. How many of you've ever said something in similar fashion to someone else at another time? How many of you've ever heard those words spoken to you? How many you know where your that-rips-it limit happens to be? How many of you know where your spouse's limit happens to be?
Sometimes it's important that you know other's as well as you know yourself. Everyone has that moment in time where they decide enough is enough. That rips it. Even pastor Hagee, believe it or not, as mild and timid as he can be. As a child, I recall on one occasion where I actually got to the that-rips-it limit. I would get close from time to time. But on this particular occasion, in fine fashion, I stepped way over the line. Here's the story verified by the witnesses that were in the car that day. We were on our way to Houston, Texas to visit my grandparents. We were somewhere between Schulenburg and Katie, that stretch of I-10 where you've played all the games you can play, you've sung all the songs you can sing. And now it's time to irritate your sisters. And I was capable of this. Dad would say things like, don't touch them.
And so I wouldn't. I'd just put my finger this close to their eye. Don't bother them. And I wouldn't. I'd just stare at them as hard as I could. This was before DVD's dropped out of the screen. This was before you had the opportunity to listen to 365,000 channels and listen to iPod ear buds. This was back when kids got beat going down the road. How many of you remember the good ole days? And yes, back in the good ole days, we used to spank children in America. Don't worry. Moving on. On this particular stretch of road, having done my best to bring as much disruption into the journey as possible, pastor driving down I-10 at 78 miles an hour, he looks back into the backseat and he says what all dads, who are trying to keep their kids calm on a car trip, say, whenever they've had all they can take from their kids. He said, don't make me come back there. You've heard that, too.
And the way that my brain works is sometimes faster than my mouth. It will think and have words out before my teeth say, no. And being so pleased with what I had done to irritate everyone in the car, when he said, don't make me come back there, I heard myself say, why don't you? That ripped it. In a station wagon with five kids and lots of luggage, he didn't hit the big brake. He hit the emergency brake. That car that was going 78 miles an hour stuck on its nose and slid into the median. I came flying from the backseat, because back then, we didn't believe in restraining children in cars. And like a calf roper catching one out of the air at the rodeo, dad just snatched me, threw me into the median and began to bless me from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, as I recognized there in the median of I-10 that every good and patient man gets to a moment where his mercy bank is empty and finally that rips it.
Now before you write me letters of sympathy, I didn't decide to drop out of school and become nobody. I got a spanking, I got better, and I'm still a good guy. The only time I got on the therapist' couch was when we got to grandma's house, and I'd say, he did this. And she said, you deserved it. Eighteen-wheeler drivers literally honk their horns in support. Honk! Give him what he's got coming. Go ahead. They offered to pull over and help. It's okay to have that threshold. It's okay to have that moment when enough is enough. And when you read the Word of God, you discover that even God has that place where enough is enough. Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations, remarks how wonderful, and faithful, and merciful God is. He said: it's by God's mercies that we are not consumed. His compassion, it fails not. Great is thy faithfulness.
God is so faithful in his mercy that he told us: I'll renew it every morning. But as faithful as God is to mercy, he has a threshold. And that threshold is always pushed by sin. Whenever sin enters the equation of your relationship with God: God, who is holy: God, who cannot be in the presence of sin, decides that rips it. We see this in his relationship with Adam. He created the garden. He placed Adam there. He enjoyed his relationship with this guy as he walked in the cool of the day. He came and spent time with him on a daily basis. But when Adam allowed sin into the relationship, God said, Adam, that rips it. You can't stay in eden anymore.
In Genesis 3:24, it says: he drove them out and he placed cherubim at the east side of the garden to guard it. Why? Because sin separates man from their relationship with God. Just a few chapters later, Noah, in his generation, sees the wickedness of mankind. And God puts grace in Noah's life, and he places Noah on an ark. And in Genesis 7, God looks at mankind, and knowing that their heart was growing wicked, he decides, that rips it. He tells Noah, get on the ark, you and your family. And the Bible says that God shut the door. It's a very real demonstration that there comes a time when God's grace is not extended any longer. Those who were saved inside the ark did not have to face the judgment that was outside. But those who were outside had no choice. Judgment was theirs.
Just a few chapters later, we see the descendants of Noah. They're in the plains of Shinar, and they're building the Tower of Babel. Now here's just a question to consider. If you were a descendant of someone who survived on an ark while God flood the earth, don't you think you'd want to get along with this God? Instead, here was the purpose of the Tower of Babel. It was a monument to men. They built it from the ground up with the intention of building it so high that they would literally be able to go into heaven and take God off of his throne. God comes and he looks at their work and he decides that this needs to be demolished. He says, that rips it. He destroys the tower. He scatters the nations. He confuses their language. He goes into covenant with a man by the name of Abraham.
And just a few chapters later in Genesis, Genesis 18:20, God comes and has a conversation with Abraham. He said: the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah have been rising up in the heavens. And they're very grievous. You see God on his throne listens to all of the injustice of this world. And the injustice of those two cities had finally filled his ears, and he had come for a day of reckoning. He tells Abraham that he's going to have to judge these cities for their behavior. And Abraham asks an important question. He says: would God kill the righteous with the wicked? And Abraham says: God if you found 50 people in that city, would you spare it? And God said, I'd do it if there were 45. And Abraham says, if you found twenty, would you spare it? He said, I'd do it for 15. He said, if you found ten, would you spare it? He said, Abraham, I'd do it for five, because God doesn't want to pour out his judgment.
But there comes a time when enough sin has been poured into the cup that God says, that rips it. He sent his angels into Sodom and Gomorrah. And finding only Lot's family willing, he led them out. And then the heavens opened up with fire and brimstone to once again establish that a pure and holy God cannot have any part in a relationship with sin. The children of Israel leave Egypt. They're taken across the Red Sea. They're on their way to the Promised Land. Moses is called upon top of mount Sinai to receive the Word of God. And the children of Israel take all of the gold, and they melt it down, and they make a calf. Once again, God seeing that their hearts were turned to sin, he says to Moses, Moses, that rips it. Get out of the way. I'm going to kill them all and I'm going to start over with you.
How many of you know God's had enough when he starts talking that way to your preacher? Moses convinces God to show mercy, because he says: what would it look like to the wicked if you did all of this to get them out of slavery, and then you just wiped them out a few days later? And God said, they have it coming. Why? Sin. Sin. Sin has always been the barrier of entry to your relationship with God. It comes between you and him. And because he is holy, he cannot abide near it, not because he can't handle it, but because you can't handle him. In your sinfulness, if you walked up to his holiness, his holiness would consume you. So separation is one of God's ways of protecting you. I'll demonstrate that by the curtain that you see behind me.
In the book of Exodus, God told Moses that he wanted to dwell with his people. He wanted to tabernacle with them. He said, but there's a difficult issue that we must address, Moses, and that issue is sin. Because I am a holy God and they are a sinful people, there has to be a separation. So I want you to build me a curtain. And I'll dwell in the holy of holies behind that curtain. And the priest and the people will be on the other side of the curtain. Because if they come near me in their sin, I'll consume them. Sin was always the issue. And it's a tremendous issue for people today. Sin is something that you should work on purging out of your life every day.
This is why David, the man after God's own heart, said: search me and know me, and see if there be any sinful or wicked way in me. David knew that every time that he committed sin, it separated him further from God. And the one thing that he wanted was to be close. I know many people who want to be close to God. I know many people who want God to move in their life. I know many people who want God's blessings to be poured out. But here's what the Bible says: without holiness, no man shall see God. If you want to see God's hand move, if you want to see his blessings upon your life, if you want to see the Word of God become real to you, then you need to live in holiness, which means that you need to live separated from sin. It's easier said than done.
Sin has always been a problem, a major problem, such an issue that God told Moses in Leviticus 16: you tell your brother Aaron, not just to come behind the veil on any day, lest he die. That's serious. Consider it in the equation of my earthly father. When I was young man, and I grew up, I got married. He told me as I left the house, son, this is your house. You're welcome here anytime. Come when you can. Why? Because he loved me and he wanted to be with me. So I left the house, knowing that I was always welcomed to go back to my house where I knew where the food was, and I knew where the remote was, and the couch still fit me good.
Now how do you think I would have felt if on the day I left my house, my dad would have said, now son, don't just come on any day, lest you die? Why did God have this issue of separation? Not because he wanted an excuse to kill the priest. God wanted to bless his children more than they wanted to be blessed. But God, in his holiness, cannot dwell with sin, lest the sinner should surely die. Before you ask God to move in your life, you need to consider the words of king David: search me and know me. If there's sin or there's wickedness in me, then remove it. These kinds of prayers are how you access the heavens to move. Because make no mistake about it, the Bible says: I am the Lord and I change not. God's presence could not be in the midst of sin in Genesis. It could not be in the midst of sin in Exodus, and it cannot be in the midst of sin now.
Just because our culture has become comfortable with sin does not mean that God has. He still has a zero tolerance policy for sin. Which is why, in the tabernacle, there was a veil. This is no ordinary veil. This was the veil that God gave Moses specific instructions to design. This veil hung between the holy of holies where God's presence was and the holy place where all of the sacraments and the things that the priest needed to abide in ministry were. This veil kept God on one side and man on the other. It was no ordinary curtain. It didn't just blow in the breeze. Bible scholars say that the veil was 50-feet long and it was 30-feet wide. It was six-inches thick and it was so heavy that it literally took 300 priests, 150 on the right and 150 on the left, to pull it back so that the high priest could walk through in the middle.
The high priest would enter the holy of holies with bells around his skirt and a rope around his ankle. If the bells quit ringing, they'd drag his carcass out, and look at the associate pastor, and say, you're up. The veil was so heavy that to take it up and to take it down, 150 oxen were hitched to it, 75 a piece, pulling opposite directions to raise it and to lower it. Two hundred embroidered squares when put together, showed two cherubim on either side. And these cherubim, guardian angels, reminded mankind, don't come in here. This is where the holiness of God is, and you're sinful. In the Old Testament, forgiveness was a process. It wasn't just a simple matter of confession.
There had to be a significant amount of effort involved. In the Old Testament, you had to come with a sacrifice and not just any sacrifice. You had to come with the right type of sacrifice. It couldn't be just any lamb. It needed to be a spotless lamb. And it had to be a male lamb. And it had to be a male lamb that was one year old. It couldn't be offered just on any day. It had to be offered on the right day. It couldn't be offered at any time: it had to be offered at the perfect time. When you read Exodus, you find in Exodus 12:5 and 6, it says: and the lamb without blemish, the male lamb, the whole congregation shall kill this lamb at twilight. Just as the sun is going down and the evening is about to begin, that's when you kill the sacrificial lamb. Why? Why was God so exact about what to do, when to do it, and how to do it? Because what he was establishing in Exodus was an exact pattern of what would happen the day that his son Jesus Christ went to the cross.
Every detail of the Passover, every detail of the sinful sacrifice that brought the remission of sins, was the same as Jesus Christ giving his life for you and I that day at Calvary. We read in Matthew 27:45 and 46: and it was about the ninth hour, nine hours after sunup. It was about the ninth hour. It was at twilight that Jesus Christ lifted his voice, and he cried aloud, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? At that moment, God Almighty in heaven had, for the first time since eternity, turned his back to Jesus Christ on earth. Those who were together before time began were now separated. And the thing that separate God the Father and God the son was sin. The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. I know that we like to believe he likes others more than he likes us or that he likes us more than he likes others. But the same way that God treated Adam in his sin and separated himself is the same way that he treated Jesus Christ in his sin: he forsook him, because the holiness of God cannot dwell with sin.
Here on earth, it was twilight. The Lamb of God was being sacrificed on the altar of Calvary. The symbol of what God had instructed the children of Israel to do since Exodus was being revealed for all of the world to see. Every detail was played out to precision. Why? Because God Almighty in heaven wanted everyone on the earth to know that's not just another man on a cross: that's my boy. He wanted the cynic and the doubter to know that's him. That's the one who formed the dust of Eden and breathed the breath of life into it. That's the one who flung the stars against the velvet of the night. He was saying to all of those who were standing at the foot of the cross that day, that's not just another criminal: that's the son of the living God.
That's the one who was there when the mountains were formed and the seas were fashioned. He was telling all of those who ignored him on the day of his birth in Bethlehem, the baby that Mary wrapped in swaddling clothes while angels shouted, an innkeeper slept, that is no ordinary baby. That is the only begotten Lamb of God. The one she laid in the manger that night is dying for all sinners today. At Calvary, the earth trembled, because the rocks were giving a salute to the rock of ages. At Calvary, the dead arose out of the grave because the conqueror of death, hell and the grave was fixing to go into the bowels of the earth. At Calvary, those who were sick began to be healed, because he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes, we have been healed.
At Calvary, the darkness of the earth surrounded the light of the world. The one who made the lame leap, had his feet nailed to the cross. The one who made the deaf hear could not get his father to listen. The one who made the dead live again was about to die for all of mankind. That's what happened at a place called Calvary! "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" "My Son, because you have taken the sin of all mankind upon you, and I can't look upon that sin". God turned his back from earth for a moment just to gather his angels behind the veil.
He said, "Angels, angels, come and see. Come and see what's happening at Calvary. Today, the blood of that Lamb will go farther than any other lamb that has ever been sacrificed. The blood of the lamb that was sacrificed in Exodus only cleansed for a little while. But the blood of My Lamb, My only begotten, it will go to the highest heavens, and it will go to the lowest hell. What could only reach so far, now has no limit to how far it can go. No ordinary sacrifice is being lifted up. On that cross, My Son is being lifted up. His blood is not just any blood. His blood is precious blood. His blood washes every stain. His blood breaks every chain. His blood makes all men acceptable to Me, because those who were slaves have now become sons because My Son has become the slave. The sinless one has set the sinner free. And now that sinner can draw near to Me. He can come where grace abounds. He can come where mercy is poured out. Oh, angels, do you know what this means? Do you know what you're seeing? Right now, his hands are being nailed to a cross. But soon his hands will be raised in victory. Right now, he is there before earthly men. But soon he's going to die and set all of men free. Right now the chains of sin have all men bound. But soon, whom the Son sets free, will be free indeed. His eyes may be filled with agony. But soon they'll be filled with fire as the Lion of the tribe of Judah walks through the gates of glory. The alpha, who was there in Genesis, is preparing to become the Omega of Revelation. The bright in the morning star is going to shine brighter than he's ever shined before. He is heaven's hope! He is hell's dread! He is the great I am! He is the conqueror of death, hell and the grave! He is the king of glory"!
Jesus hung on that cross, and he cried these words, "It is finished". And suddenly God in heaven said, "Angels, did you hear what he said? The separation is over. No longer will they have to be apart from me. What I've wanted since Genesis has now become reality". Jesus Christ, the sinless one, has died so that men could be set free! Angels, that rips it! They don't need a priest. They don't need a day. They don't need to come any certain way. Any day that they want to come, any moment that they want to talk, anything that they want to say, I'll be here. I'll listen. I'll move. I'll shake heaven and earth. When hell harasses them, if they'll just speak his name, I'll defeat hell and all of its principalities. When sickness comes against them, if they'll just speak his name, I'll cure that sickness, in Jesus' name.
Whenever they need a powerful move of God, all they have to do is lift their hands and raise their voice, and declare, Jesus is Lord! And all of heaven is theirs! Because God has ripped this veil, you no longer need a priest. Because God has ripped this veil, sin and its confession is no longer a process. Because God has ripped this veil, all you have to do is say, "In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name," and all of heaven is at your beckoned call. You say: in Jesus' name, leave my family alone, because they belong to the property of the King of kings. In Jesus' name, leave my marriage alone, because what God has brought together, let no man put asunder. In Jesus' name, leave my body alone, because he was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for my iniquities, and by his stripes, I have been set free! You're free today.
The veil has been ripped. Not only are you free to live but you're free to abide in his presence. Where you used to not be able to go and live, you now can dwell, because the Lamb of God has shed his blood. And because of that blood, you're set free, saved by the blood of the lamb, saved so that you can live the best of life, saved so that the stain of sin has been washed off of you. What the law demanded was satisfied when Jesus shed his blood. And now because he has died, I have become a son. A slave has been set free. I don't have a debt to pay. I don't have a past to drag around. I don't have a burden to carry. I don't have a yoke to wear. I don't have a chain that has me bound, because whom the son sets free is free indeed.
What does that mean? You see on this earth, we think that God looks at us when we come before his throne, and they say, oh, here comes that sinner from San Antonio. No. God said: if you'll confess and forsake, I'll forgive and cleanse of all unrighteousness. Why? Because of what the lamb did. When you go before God's throne tomorrow, he doesn't say, here comes that guy who started sinning in 1962. He's not a carnal judge who pulls up your record, and says, all of this is stacked against you. When you go see him tomorrow morning, he says, my mercy has been renewed and you are just as righteous as you've ever been before.
What do you need? I'm here for you. That veil has been ripped and you have victory. For Revelation says: and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Today my testimony is, because Jesus died, I'm alive. Because his grace is greater, my sin is forgiven. Because he endured the shame, I don't have to carry it. Because the guilt of my past is not nearly as great as the promise of my future, where sin did abound, grace did that much more abound. Today I want all of heaven to know how much I love him. Today I want all of hell to hear how much I stand beside him. Today I want the world to understand that the one who was lost has now been found. The one who was blind can now see. My chains are gone. I have been set free. The veil has been torn and I am a son of the living God! Give the Lord a handclap of praise!
I want you to stand in the presence of the Lord. And I want to close this service this way. God didn't rip this veil just so you could come see him on Sunday. God didn't put his son through all that he put him through just so that you could cry out to him in a crisis. God tore this veil and it's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days out of the year. But when is the last time you went in there? When is the last time you stopped waiting for somebody to lead you and you just decided to walk in by yourself, when you were willing to lift your hands and raise your voice and give your heart of worship and praise of spirit and truth to God, and say, "Father, I thank you for what you've done, and I thank you for what you're going to do".
I want you, right where you are, to lift your hands and raise your voice. And I want you to take a moment just to enter into the presence of the Lord, to step behind that veil to declare the goodness of God in the land of the living and to thank him for all of the things that he's poured out in your life. He is a great God and greatly to be praised. And he longs to hear you worship him. That's why the Bible says: he inhabits the praises of his people. So don't let the guilt of the past, or the shame of yesterday, or fear, or any chain of bondage, or yoke of oppression keep you from going where God made it accessible for you to go. The blood of Jesus Christ has made you righteous. Your stains have been washed white as snow. And now you can go into the throne room of his grace and his mercy. And you can receive power in your hour of need. Hallelujah. Lift your hands in worship. Sing. Worship and sing.
Lord, I thank you for your presence that's in this place. I thank you for what you've made possible through Jesus Christ your Son. I thank you that every heart in this room having been cleansed of sin, can simply say, "In Jesus' name" and every need is met, every mountain is moved, every promise fulfilled. For they are yes and they are amen through the precious blood of the Lamb of God. And we thank you for that today. We celebrate the day of our salvation, rejoicing in what you've done. For where sin did abound, grace did that much more abound. The veil has been torn and we are privileged to be in the presence of the Lord. In your name, we pray, and we receive, and we celebrate. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.