In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of drawing near to God and the barriers that can hinder this relationship. He uses the analogy of a wheel and its spokes to illustrate how as we get closer to God, our relationships with others also become important. The preacher emphasizes the need for honesty and a true heart in approaching God, rather than striving for unattainable holiness. He also references the tabernacle in the wilderness as a portable place of worship for the Israelites and highlights the role of Jesus as our high priest.

Epistle to the Hebrews and the verses I'm going to read are in chapter 10 verse 19. Now these few verses are the apex of the whole epistle. The previous chapters have been leading up to this great injunction we've got here and the following few chapters look back to it and derive from it. Hebrews 10 verse 19, having therefore brethren, whenever you have the word therefore you always want to ask yourself what is it therefore? And quite obviously this verse looks back to all that the apostle has taught us about Jesus, his high priesthood and his great sacrifice for sin. And we cannot of course compress into this time what is contained in it, but it takes a great backward look in this epistle. Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he has consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near. The tendency for all of us is to stand back, conscious of our unworthiness and of God's holiness, but provision has been made for people just like ourselves to draw near. Let us draw near and there are four qualifications with which we've got to draw near. With a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled or cleansed from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Paul here is talking about the tabernacle in the wilderness. That tabernacle which Israel took with them as they journeyed through the wilderness to Kenya. And that tabernacle was nothing more than a portable place of worship. They were on the move, they couldn't build a temple, so they had a portable place of worship which they could erect in each place to which they went and which they could take down in each place. And the word tabernacle simply means a tent. It's rather like someone, an evangelist having a tent campaign. Maybe you've engaged in such campaigns. I don't know whether you will use tents in your work on the continent, possibly not. But there are tents, there are evangelists in this country who in the summer months go from place to place with a portable place of worship. They take it out and set it up, and then they take it down again and set it up again. And so this is all that that tabernacle was, a portable place of worship. The word tabernacle has a rather grandiose meaning in our ears. We think of Spurgeon's tabernacle and what a grandiose building it is. It's really completely the wrong word. The word tabernacle simply means a tent, a temporary portable place. And this is all that it was in the Old Testament. Now this tabernacle or tent, this portable place of worship was divided into certain components. First of all there was the outer court, just with a fence around it, completely open to the skies, in which outer court there was first of all the brazen altar upon which the daily burnt offerings and other offerings were offered. And then as you went further in there was the lava made of brass, a great basin there with certain, standing on certain things, in which the priests would wash themselves before they came to the tabernacle proper which was in the middle. Now the tabernacle proper was of course not open to the skies. It was, as I've said, a tent and it was covered with rough badger skins. In fact this tent was not very different from the tents in which the Israelites lived. They lived in tents covered with badger skins and so was this tent, this place of worship, God's habitation, like there a tent covered with badger skin. Inside that tabernacle it was divided into two compartments. When you went into the first compartment there was the showbread, the table of showbread, the golden candlestick and the altar of incense. And then there was a curtain, a veil, beyond which was the second compartment which was called the holiest of all, or the holy of holies. The first compartment was called the holy place, a very busy place. Much had to be done by the priests and Levites in the holy place. The candlestick to be attended to, the showbread to be changed, incense to be offered on the altar. But beyond that there was the second compartment which was the holiest place on earth to see Israelites, which symbolized for them the very dreading face of God amongst them. That then was in brief the tabernacle. Now what is the meaning of all this for us? It's interesting that in the Old Testament it is again and again called the tabernacle of witness. It was meant to witness something to them. And what it witnessed to was God's great desire to dwell among men. It wasn't enough for God to have created man. He created man that he might have fellowship with the man that he created. God from the very beginning wanted to dwell among men. And this tabernacle was a witness of that fact. This is shown in the early chapters of Exodus, Exodus 25, where God is first giving instructions as to the building of the tabernacle. And having told them of the various commodities they were to gather, he says, and let them make me a sanctuary. What for? That I may dwell among them. So that tabernacle, that tent, was in order that God in symbolic fashion might actually dwell himself amongst them. And I rather think it was more than symbolic because there were all sorts of awesome expressions of his presence around that tabernacle about which we shall speak in a moment. Now I rather imagine the fact that God was intending to dwell among them didn't please the people very much. I think they were a bit scared. God dwelling in the midst of our camp. When we go down the high street we have to go past God's dwelling place and in there God is living. And when we go to the marketplace God is right in the middle of our camp. As I suggest I'm not sure that it pleased them very much because the Jews always believed that no man could see God and live. And this was bringing God a bit too near us. They might well have said what Isaiah said at a later date, who among us can dwell with a devouring power? Who can live with everlasting burning? It was bringing God just a little bit too near a people as sinful as they were. But I'm quite sure that God made it clear to them that there was no need to fear his dwelling among them. Though he told them, I imagine, two things. He said it's all right, I'm going to dwell among you but I'm going to dwell in a tent. You live in a tent. Well then I'm going to live in a tent and my tent won't appear to be very different from yours. And this tent is going to veil me from the eyes of sinful men so that you can go on there living and not actually see me and therefore not die. That tent then was that which veiled from the eyes of sinful men the glory of God within. Otherwise man could not have looked upon God and lived. So he assured them there was always going to be a tent to veil his glory. And that tent wasn't going to be very dissimilar from theirs. And then I like to imagine, he said, and more than that, no need to fear because in the middle of that tent, in the holiest place of all, there's going to be the mercy seat. Now the mercy seat was a golden oblong box. It was made of a case of wood, overlaid within and without with gold. And on the top of that box, inside the box were the two tables of stone on which the commandments were written. And on the top of the box there was a lid made of gold from which grew out the two cherubims whose wings overshadowed the lid. And that lid, with the cherubim overshadowing it, was called the mercy seat. And on that mercy seat, once in the year, the high priest was allowed to go in and sprinkle atoning blood, the blood of a goat upon whom symbolically had been laid all the sins of the people. And there in the very middle of the holiest place of all, there was the mercy seat, with the cherubim gazing in wonder at those bloodstains. No need to fear that I'm going to dwell among you. First I'll dwell in a tent that will shield my glory from your eyes. And in the middle of that tent there's going to be not a judgment seat, but a mercy seat. There's going to be atoning blood sprinkled before me. And that mercy seat meant that God was dwelling among them in order not to judge his people, but to bring mercy for their many miseries and abounding grace for their many guiltinesses. And so that, I believe, was what the people understood. All right then, that is what the tabernacle of old witnessed to Israel. It was symbolic to Israel, not merely to us. But of course it is a picture to us of a glorious reality even greater than the reality which was revealed to Israel. That tabernacle is a picture to us, and by the way I'm not giving you an academic study, you've even bothered too much with notes, because we're going to come to something tremendously practical and experiential, but we're going to take our time getting there. And we want to see it grounded solidly, firmly in scripture. Now this tabernacle of old, yes it witnessed to the fact that God was dwelling, going to dwell among them. For us it is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the tabernacle by means of which God actually today dwells among men. The fact that Jesus is our tabernacle is shown by the very name he was given, Emmanuel, which means God with us. Yes that Old Testament picture was only a picture, but God actually dwelt among men in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well we too might feel, well isn't that bringing God a little too near for comfort? And he would say the same two things to us, as he said to the people in the Old Testament, no need to fear that I'm going to dwell among my people, because I'm going to do so in a tent. John 1 14 says this, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and in the Greek that word dwelt means tabernacled among us. The word, the eternal word was made flesh, and in that flesh tabernacled among us. In other words, the body of our Lord Jesus, that human body, was the tent in which the deity dwelt amongst men. It was the tent that veiled his essential glory from the eyes of men. Had God not dwelt in that tent in the Gospels, those disciples would have died on the spot of being blinded by the sight. But in mercy, God shielded his glory, so that man need not die, though they were looking on deity. As the old well-known English Christmas hymn says, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hailed incarnate deity. And so here's the tabernacle, the tent which is his body, and inside the immortal God dwells in the person of his Son. And men could talk with him, and commune with him, and yet live. There was an occasion, of course, when once for a moment God lifted, lift up the veil a little bit, only a little, that was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he saw his glory transfigured in an unearthly way, but only for a moment, and God had to drop it again, because he wouldn't otherwise have done it. And so God says, you needn't fear, I and my Son are going to dwell among you, and I'm going to do so in a tent. And his tent is not going to be very different from yours. If Jesus Christ walked into this room, you might not see immediately any difference between him and us, for he had the same sort of body. He partook of flesh and glory, but it was only a tent, veiling the essential deity within. And then God would tell us, as he told those people of old, no need to fear, not only will I dwell among you in a tent of flesh, hiding my glory, but in the very heart of this tabernacle there is going to be the mercy seat. In fact, Jesus is himself our mercy seat. That is clearly stated in Romans 3, 20, 35, where it says, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Romans 3, 25. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. And the word in the Greek, translated here, propitiation, is exactly the same word, mercy seat. Propitiatory, a place of propitiation, where the blood is sprinkled. And thus it says that God set forth Jesus our mercy seat. And he never could have been a mercy seat between man and God, had that mercy seat not been sprinkled by precious blood and constituted. It's the Jesus of Calvary, it's the Jesus who presents his blood before God, who is my mercy seat between me and God, whereby I can find mercy for my miseries and grace for my many guiltinesses. And therefore, the dwelling of God among men is utterly for man's encouragement and blessing and peace. All right then, we've seen what the tabernacle meant and what the mercy seat meant. Now here I come to the very practical part of what I've got to say. If the tabernacle as a whole represents the Lord Jesus, what do you make of those two compartments within it? What are they meant to symbolise? The holy place and the holiest of all. And I'm going to suggest to you that we can regard those two compartments as representing two degrees of proximity to God, in which we may live. The holy place and something beyond the holy place. The holiest of all. This is rather suggested by Exodus 26, 33. And thou shalt hang up the veil upon the cross, that thou mayest bring thither within the veil the ark of the testimony, and the veil, listen to this, shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. That veil did not divide between the secular and the sacred, but between the sacred and the most sacred. This is something very awe-inspiring, I think. It didn't divide between the secular and the sacred, but between the sacred and the most sacred, between the holy place and the most holy place. And it represents, as I've said to you and to me, two degrees of proximity to God. It is not the contrast between the unsaved and the saved, the two compartments. Nor is the contrast between the unconsecrated Christian and the consecrated Christian. It goes much, much deeper than that. It's the distinction between the holy place, that's a wonderful place to be, and the holy place, but the most holy, a place even beyond the holy place. And when you and I have been saved, as we have by the grace of God, when we've been to that brazen altar of Calvary, and brass always speaks of judgment, and we see the great judgment bearing of Jesus on the cross for us, and when we've gone on to the lava of regeneration, for that is what it speaks about. Titus talks about, in the Greek it is the lava of regeneration, talks about the washing of regeneration, but the word washing is lava. When I've been to the brazen altar, and seen the judgment of my sins, and when I've had an experience of the lava regeneration of the Holy Spirit, after that, I may choose in which compartment, in which place, I'm going to live out my Christian life. I can, if I please, live it out in the holy place, and that's a great advance of what I ever knew in the world. It's a holy place, occupied about holy things, all so different from the life we used to live. Or, however, I can choose to live in another place, here called the Holy of Holies. So I want to suggest to you, there are these two degrees of proximity to God, in which you and I may choose to live. Not that our choice is once for all, it's a choice that is continually confronting us. In which place am I going to live this day? In the holy place, or the holiest of all? And some of us perhaps have never known anything very much more than the holy place. It's been so wonderful, it's been so different, that God wants to show us there's something more than merely the holy place. Well then, what is life in the holy place like? Well, it's not life in the world. Very different. You're not in the outer courts, you're not outside the outer court. You've rarely had a real new experience of salvation and regeneration. Well, what's it like? Well, we'll turn to Hebrews chapter 9, verse 6. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 6, and here you have the tabernacle described in its two compartments. Now, when these things were thus ordained, the priests went continually into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. It was a place where they accomplished the service of God. They were in and out the whole time. It was a very busy place. If it wasn't the lamb standard that needed attention, it was a showbread. If not the showbread, it was the altar of incense. And there were all sorts of other sacrifices, part of which were offered in the holy place. And the ordinary priests were all the time going in and out a very busy place. But although they were occupied about holy things, there was that vein that separated them still from the most intimate communion with God. Now, I know all too much about living only in the holy place, and what I have to say is to my own heart as much as to yours. Holy place living is the place of busy Christian service, where we're occupied about holy things, where our conversation is perhaps about the work of God and the minutiae of things that had to be taken care of, all to do with holy things. Very busy, very active. But there's a veil, even in the midst of that activity, between us and that intimate place of fellowship with God in the Lord Jesus. It's so easy to be occupied as you will be and have been in holy things, to be doing it only in the holy place, without your heart being melted and touched, and without ravishing sights of Jesus and of grace touching us. To do it in a strong, efficient, but metallic way, with no touch of the divine upon our spirits, with no touch of the melting love of God. I confess this is so characteristic of me. I must confess, I find myself subconsciously all the time putting effectiveness as first. You can be very effective in the holy place, but it's only the holy place. There's a veil still between us and the living God himself, and God did not really save us only to live our lives with some sort of a veil between us and God. And of course these veils are all erected because, whether we realise it or not, attitudes and deeds and words that are sinful. Of course we don't see them, and we don't repent of them, and there they remain between us and him while we get busy. Sometimes we're almost too busy for God to repent, to see where we are. And we can go for a long time, even in a team of workers, as many of you will be, doing it all, only in the holy place, giving out literature, trying to testify. And I say this because I know it's all too true of me. And not only way back as if I had a wonderful experience that's put me beyond needs like this, but right up to these days I find this is my peril. I hardly dare assess how much of my time is only in the holy place. It's not that you're going to spend all your time praying or reading your bible in some other place of blessing. Of course the Christian life is a busy life. Busyness need be no bar to fellowship with God. We can do it all with Jesus. But we don't do it with Jesus. That's the point. If God's given you a task to do, he's given it to you to do it. Never say I'm too busy. That's not the problem. And I'll tell you what happens. When we account for our spiritual barrenness on being too busy, we say there's no cure because you can't see any way out of your present busyness. The answer must be something other than a cessation of busyness. We've got work to do for God, but we could be doing it in the holy of holies, but we don't. And we contend to have veil and separation between us and God. And then another thing in the holy place is in same chapter Hebrews 9 verse 9. That holy place was a figure for the time then present. Yes, it's true to say not only can we see it as two degrees of proximity, but historically the holy place was all the saints had up to that point in Old Testament time. It was a figure for the time then present, and we go on to say in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. It's a place of activity. It's a place of service and sacrifice. But there was one thing those sacrifices couldn't do. They couldn't make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Now there is one perfection which is available to the nearest child of God down here on earth. Sinless perfection we'll have to wait till we get to glory for, but there's another sort of perfection which you and I can have right now, and that's perfection as pertaining to the conscience. Can you believe it? A state where your heart, although subjected to the blinding light of God, does not condemn you. What a state to be in. What a place of fellowship with God and peace, and we long for that because there's so many things that do condemn us. Our hearts do condemn us so often. In fact it may well be true that far more of us than we realize are going around jogged with the sense of not being good enough. Only this morning I had that sense and God spoke me a blessed word that helped me very much. But how are we to become perfect as pertaining to the flesh? And subconsciously, if not consciously, we have the idea that our business and our activity and our service is going to help some. If we have longer quiet times, if we are steady in our study of the word of God and devoted in our outgoing service, surely that's going to help. It does nothing of the sort. It says here that the gifts and sacrifices offered in the holy place could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Christian service is no answer to the Christian sin. Prayer isn't the answer. The Bible isn't the answer. You do all that, as some of us have discovered, and we're still going around with a condemning heart, not still, not really free. And there is still that veil between us and God. But then there's another place, the holiest of all. Now what is descriptive of that? What is this place beyond the holy place? Well I'm going to suggest to you two simple things. The first is that the base of the pillar of cloud and fire rested above the tabernacle. That's a fact. And I think it's right to say that it was in the holiest of holies from which it stretched out. And it filled that holy of holies with an unearthly light. There were no windows in the holy of holies. It was not exposed to the sunlight. But it was ablaze with light, this light that came from the cloud of glory, the base of which was in the holy of holies. And when the high priest once a year drew back the veil, he was greeted with a blaze of dazzling light above the brightness of the sun. Now I would suggest to you there's the first thing about the holy of holies. 1 John 1 5 says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Now light and darkness in scripture are not vague synonyms for good and evil. Darkness is that which hides. Light is that which reveals. If you come into a room and the light isn't on and it's dark, it's night time, you might bump into the table and think it's the piano. But when the light is turned on the table is seen to be the table and the piano is seen to be the piano. And so God is light, all the time revealing everything as it really is. This is a great statement. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Darkness is hiding. And there's nothing in him that can be one with any bit of duplicity or hiding within us. God is light. And his great property is all the time, not only in times of special revival, but all the time if you're willing, pouring down light, light, light into our heart. Showing them up to be just what they are. Showing that motive to be exactly what it is. Showing that attitude to be exactly what it is. Showing the reason why you do this or said the other to be exactly what it is. This is the great characteristic of our God. God is light. And I'm suggesting to you that life in the holiest is living in that all revealing light all the time. Indeed that is what John talks about. If we walk in that light as he is in the light, willing for everything to be shown up as it really is. And that's a very humbling and searching experience because the natural thing for all of us when sin comes in is to hide it. And we've hidden it so often that we now don't recognise it. We've adopted what is virtually a lie about ourselves and we've told this lie about ourselves to others and to ourselves so often that at last we've rarely come to believe our own lie. And we really do think we are such nice Christians, so devoted, so pure in tension. We've given that impression and we've rarely come to believe our own lie. And the first thing that God has to do and continually do is to disabuse us about ourselves. And this is the light. And whenever you are conscious of something being revealed, of yourself being revealed, to whatever thing God may use, there shines the light of God. There we are approaching the holy of holies. God is light. And I know this. I know what it is to shirk that light, to not want to share something with another Christian for fear he will challenge it. So I just quiet about that thing. I'm walking in darkness. I'm not willing for the light to reveal it. I'm not willing for anybody to ask me awkward questions. I don't want to be disagreed with. I've got a little plan and that's hidden. But if I want the holy of holies, intimacy with God, I must be willing to be shown up. I must be willing to be open and be known for what I am. And if God wants to challenge something, then let him challenge and I'll say yes. And if he's going to challenge me for another brother, let me be open to that other brother. This is walking in the light. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, hiding things, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And this is the thing. This isn't cleansing first and then you walk in the light. You walk in the light as you are. You won't know what you need cleansing from unless the light shows up how things are. If you go into a room when you get up in the morning, the blinds are drawn, there's only a little bit of light, you may not realize how much that room needs cleaning until you pull the blinds back. And then you see it's too stiff. And so this is this great thing. Quite obviously, we being what we are and God being what he is, we are not going to live continually in that light except as penitents. If you want the holy of holies, you've got to be willing to live the rest of your days as a penitent. Because the light will have to show up so much. Now I want to share something that has come to me recently that may help you. Very often the idea of being a continual penitent is distasteful to us. Do we never get the victory? Do we never ride the crest of the way? Well of course we do. But what came to me is this, that God is on a recovery operation with all of us. We don't know how terrific the fall of man really was, and how much was lost of the divine image in us. And what God is doing, he's out to recover that divine image, to restore what was lost. And when you are born again, the first step in that recovery operation has taken place. But that recovery operation has got to go on. You don't know what debts there are, where self has reigned and where Jesus doesn't reign. And therefore it's a lifelong process, this glorious recovering of the divine image in us. And the fact that you've been brought into I want to tell you something about it. Now I've got to maintain this state of blessing. What nonsense! Man, that's the mere beginning. There's much more that yet needs to be restored to which we're blind. But as we go on in that light, saying yes to God, oh God you're right, I'm wrong. So the boundaries of his territory within us are all the time extended. There may be wonderful things on the, in more or less in the center of that boundary, but on the perimeter, there's always going to be further conviction, further sight, further occasions of humbling ourselves before him, because that area of light is all the time extending itself into the darkness of our heart. And the saintliest man is still on the process of recovery, and God's only got so far with him. That's the reason why even the saintliest, the most obedient believers yet are tested and are disciplined with all sorts of severe, difficult ways, not because of something outstandingly wrong that they must be corrected, but they're still in, in that life and in that personality that have not yet been recovered and have not yet been brought under the sway of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is it, that light. And only this morning I had a new experience of that light shining, I must say I hated it. I hated it, it came through my wife, she wasn't all that conscious of challenging me, but she had to confess her malaise, her uneasiness about an attitude I was adopting in a certain manner with regard to money. And God had to show me a wrong attitude about money and I hated to see it. And there's one thing I hate, to have to confess that I'm wrong again. But this is the way, and there's nothing that you love more, I speak for myself and I think it's through you, than your righteousness. Job was quite ready to lose his family, his wealth, and even his health, but he wasn't willing to lose his righteousness when his friend said he was wrong. He said, I'm not wrong. And it's a death indeed when we bow to the light of God within the veil and say, yes God, I agree with you. And yet there's rest in doing it. I mean, why in the world are we fighting against God? We want to serve Him, want to live for Him. And yet, the very ones that are anxious to live for Him can't, even when the cancer comes, can be resisting Him. What in the world do we do it for? Surely His way is the best way. We sing, let God have His way, this is it. When the light shows something of an attitude, or a relationship, or a motive, or a transgression, or just the plain wrong of being mean in a carnal, self-centered way. But this light that shines within the veil is a loving light. It's not hard, and when you reflect that light to others as we do in fellowship, be sure it's loving light you pass on, not hard light. I've heard the expression, hard light. One brother goes to another and says, I must be open, I mustn't hide my feelings about this man. But I'm afraid it's hard light. But the light that comes to you and me comes from the God who so loved us, that in order to recover us from this very thing, emptied heaven of His darling, to die on the cross. And then there's a second thing about the Holy of Holies, and that is that which I've already mentioned, that within the veil there's the mercy seat, the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. And that's what enables people like you and me to abide in that light. He's there, Jesus is, not to condemn us merely, but to set us free. The blood-sprinkled mercy seat, to cleanse completely all that the light shows of wrong in us. The light and the blood go together. Apart from the light you don't see your needing of the blood, need of the blood of Jesus. But when you see the blood, you can afford to walk in that light. You needn't make heavy weather of repentance. You can be quick to say, oh God, you're right and I'm wrong. And you have the peace of taking the sinner's place again, and immediately knowing the beautiful restorations and cleansings effective for us by the blood of Jesus. And you find you're given a righteousness before God that is greater than that of the Archangel Gabriel. Did you know that the most feeble Christian hasn't got a better righteousness before God than the Archangel Gabriel? He hasn't got a better righteousness before God than praying high. The moment he calls sin, sin. Because the blood is his righteousness. I like that line and that hymn, this is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. When you've taken a sinner's place, what righteousness have you got? You've been shown up again. I tell you, then it is you appreciate, my righteousness is the blood of Jesus. And what a righteousness. You know you can walk around the holy place as if it belongs to you. You're there. It's your home. It's blinding light. You can't be more clean than what the blood makes you when you confess to what needs cleansing. And you're given boldness, as it says, to enter in and dwell within the holiest by the blood of Jesus. But the blood of Jesus always presupposes you are confessing your need of it. And so here it is, this wonderful moment by moment, dwelling there, things being shown, yes Lord I'm wrong, clean, free. Beautiful fellowship with the needs and longings of my heart really satisfied. Oh I want to tell you, I run away from the light and I'm not always in the holy place, but I know it. And I know, I know the way into it. And I know that even a man as failing as I know myself to be, can have boldness to enter the holiest and live it by the blood of Jesus. As that famous hymn says, eternal life, eternal life. How pure the thought must be when placed within thy shrinking sight, thy blinding sight. It shrinks not, but with calm delight can live and look on thee. The spirit that surrounds thy throne may bear the burning bliss, for they have never, never known a fallen world like this. Oh how shall I, whose mind is dim, whose naked sphere is dark, before thee never will appear. And on my naked spirit there, the uncreated being, there is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode and offering and a sacrifice a Holy Spirit energy and advocate with God. And so here are these two compartments. And the things that cause the barrier, the veil are not merely things only between me and God, but so often they're that way between me and other people, for the two relationships go together. I've often thought of the illustration of a wheel and the spokes of a wheel. As you get nearer the hub, the spokes get nearer to one another. If at a given point, that point is not near the other spoke, you know to that extent it's not near the hub. Got it? If at one point on the spoke it's not near the other spoke, I know it's not near the hub. And if there's things between me and others, an attitude of bitterness, perhaps to the folks at home, or going back, and I'm not in love there, on my part, to that extent I'm not near the Lord. These are the things that impedes so often getting in to the holy place, in the holiest of all. It seems to me that in the holy place it's ninety-five percent of the way to God. But the holiest of all is that last five percent. Someone who says, revival comes to the heart of a child of God or to a group of Christians when they're willing for God to deal with the last five percent which has been withheld. Think for a moment of two insects on two neighboring spokes of the wheel, and they're walking along the wheel toward the hub with their wings outstretched. You know ninety-five percent of the way, the matter of their relationship one with another doesn't come into it. They're going along slowly, happily, getting nearer and nearer to the hub that is just fine. But all that last five percent, when they get nearer the hub, they find they're getting uncomfortably near one another, and they find their wings touch and crash. Hey, what are you doing? And that accounts for the fact that when you want to get into the holy of holies, the matter of your attitude and relationship with other people become acute. I found that for my own case. For years I went through life as I thought, as an evangelist, smiling at everybody and everybody smiling back at me. Occasionally I did have little whiffs of criticism, but well, you don't take all that seriously anyway. I smile at them, they smile at me, and I had no problem, as I thought, in my relationship with other people. But there came a time after which I was always having problems. This was the thing I was always being dealt with by God, because I was seeking to go that last five percent into the holy of holies, and then this matter became terrifically acute. These are the things, and this is what the light will show. And when that light begins to show, you can either say, yes Lord, you're right, or you can make for cover. In which case, I'm only in the holy place. But oh, thank God for this wonderful Jesus, so real, the friend of sinners, and his precious blood, all on my side, provided I confess that's what I am. You know, the whole of God's redemption is custom made for weaklings and sinners and empty people on condition they confess that fact. And the moment you do, you qualify, you qualify for Jesus, you qualify for everything, his risen life. He's not going to share his glory with a strong person. It's weak ones who are willing to confess that fact, and they live by and on the Lord Jesus. And so there's many a humbling as we go within the veil. Many a thing sometimes that has to be put right, not only with him, but with others too. But we needn't make heavy weather of it, because grace is flowing like a river. Millions there have been supplied, still it flows as fresh as ever, from the Saviour's wounded side. Did you expect yourself to be other than one who needed this grace of God that exceeds sin? Of course not. I tell you, when we make heavy weather of repentance sometimes, it's just because we haven't got reconciled to our own native wickedness. But how extraordinary that I, after all this training and all these years of service, should have jealousy in my heart. It shouldn't be an extraordinary thing, you say, that's characteristic of the old man. I recognize that's what the old man is, but he belongs to the cross, and I'm going to the cross. And this light will show every time something of self, lifts itself up to take his place. And without making too heavy weather, you take God's side, and you come into freedom, and you live in the light with Him. Well now, let me just take a few more minutes. What is the way from the holy place to the holiest of all? Well this verse says, having two things, let us draw near. Having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood. It's a terrific word. It's one of the great key words of this epistle, to give feeble, needy saints boldness. It comes again and again, liberty. How could a man who's as weak as I know myself to be, have boldness to enter the holiest and live there by a new understanding of the blood of Jesus? By a new acknowledgement of my need of it, and I see, listen, how utterly sufficient this is for God. This refers back to all that the previous chapters have told us, of the one sacrifice for sins forever. I like that. One sacrifice for sins, listen, forever. That one was enough for right to the end of time. When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, how could I look and see him there, who made an end of all my sin? I don't look back to the cross, I look up to the cross. One sacrifice for sins forever, and it's meant to make the guilty bold and free. Oh, and as your peace will abound, as you see and ask God to show you more of what that blood means to God first, and therefore to you. Sometimes I've heard the most extraordinary prayers of freedom, almost cheekiness, as men see this extraordinary miracle of grace for the feverish of the feeble, everything for those that have nothing. Boldness through the blood. And it tells us that we go in through the red veil. What was the veil? The flesh of the Lord Jesus, that hid his glory. A hiding which has made necessary thy man's sin, but when Jesus died and his flesh was rent, the veil was rent too in the temple, you'll remember. Which means that within the holiest, I no longer know Jesus after the flesh. His flesh has been rent. That's not the Jesus I know. I don't need any pictures of him. I don't say I wish I'd been with them then. You've got something better than they had in the gospel. The veil was still up in the gospel, but it isn't now. And I know him as he really is. Why must it be thought that we must see a person to know a person, or touch a person to know him? I can't see you this morning. I can only see the house you live in, the real you's invisible, and yet we can talk with one another and get to know and love one another. And so it is with Jesus. And I've got heads of thoughts, you know, that when I get to glory, the situation up there is not going to be a lot different from what it was down here. Because I didn't know Jesus after the flesh down here. I knew him as he really is. And it's not going to be a lot different, on a bigger scale maybe, free from limitations, but the relationship and even the experience is going to be much the same. Because the veil's been rent. Well, that's the first thing. Having therefore boldness by the blood. Some people would teach that this sort of understanding of the gospel would make for introspection. It doesn't. It makes for boldness. Of course, if you're only seeing your sin. And I had a stage where that's all I said. It didn't make for boldness. What brought me boldness was seeing Jesus, was seeing what grace meant, was seeing what the blood meant. I hear the words of love. I gaze upon the blood. I see the mighty sacrifice and I have peace with God. You and I have got to know that whereas we need to repent, it isn't repentance that brings us peace. In fact, you could have less peace rather than more sometimes. You could only beat yourself for more after having owned up. Ah, it's essential that we do take that place of judging ourselves, but only that we might see the precious blood. That's where I get my peace. Otherwise I'm back to striving for finished work. Cease your deadly doing, cease your deadly doing, cast your deadly doing down, down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him and Him alone. A sinner who nips his wrong, but absolutely accepted, absolutely free, and filled, and rejoicing. All because there's power, wonder-working power in the blood of Jesus. But there's another thing that we have. Not only having therefore boldness by the blood, but having a great high priest over the house of God let us draw near. We've got a great high priest. One who's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Who's seen where we've been. And you know, you get so confused. You say, now I know I'm all wrong Lord, I've got out of touch, I'm cold, I know to come into the Holy of Holies, but I can't quite remember what the preacher said, and what, I don't know that I understand too much about the meaning of the blood of Jesus. And you know this great high priest stretches out his hand and says, don't you worry whether you can remember. And don't you worry whether too much, whether you understand and have got it straight. Do I see a heart that's sighing, that's enough. And this great high priest, again and again, has transcended my understanding of things, and stretched out a hand to a needy, struggling, discouraged child of God, and says, I know I'm rejoicing, I'm in the holiest with him, washed in his blood, and rejoicing. Oh this beautiful high priest of ours. This one who sat where we've sat. He's ours. He's within the veil. He's our representative. And he's taken his humanity there. He's on my side. Don't you believe when the devil makes you feel he's the God with the big stick. It isn't true. He's on the side of a feeblest man who will confess this fact, having a great high priest over the house of God. And then he quickly says, the various things that have characterised us have become four things that have really been inferred up to now. One, let us draw near with a true heart. Not with a holy heart. Maybe you feel, I don't know, I shall never attain holiness, but with a true heart, an honest heart. What's needed on my part and yours within the veil is honesty. Not some unattainable height of holiness that you can only struggle up to, but honesty about our unholiness. Let us come with a true heart, not hiding anything. It's lovely in a prayer meeting when people are coming to God with true hearts, when people take off the mask, where they share their needs, and that in the presence of their brethren. Friends, this is the way, as I've understood it, into the holiest, with a true heart. I may not be able to attain great heights along other lines, but if I'm willing I can be honest. Sometimes I'm not, but I can be. Let us draw near with a true heart. And then it says, in full assurance of faith. Not always full assurance of feeling. I may not always feel. I may still feel a sense of guilt, but if God says he's satisfied with the blood, and I've owned up to it all, then I've got to believe that that's enough for God. And if it's enough for God, it ought to be enough for me. Why am I still chastening myself? In full assurance of faith. A true heart, in full assurance of faith. Faith in the blood, faith in the grace, faith that my very need qualifies me. This is a great word. And then thirdly, we come with our hearts sprinkled or cleansed from an evil conscience. If there is something still bothering you, face it up and put it right. Own up to it. The blood will cleanse from all that guilt if I'm honest about it, and I can come in to the holiest with a heart cleansed from an evil conscience. It isn't that there aren't things wrong, but they've all been brought to the light and the blood has covered them, and they needn't condemn me. And if anybody says, you know you went right there, you can say, you couldn't be more true. You're dead right, I was wrong. Sometimes I've had an awful agony in my heart when I think I've done the wrong thing, and I say to myself, oh dear, what will people think? Oh, I'd better go round telling them that I'm wrong, and asking them to forgive me. Now, very often it's right to do that. But in some cases in my life, I've been feeling I ought to try and say this and say the other, really to establish my righteousness in their sight. And sometimes God's given me peace this way. I said, Lord, if they think I was selfish, if they think I was rude, or whatever else it is, they think the truth. And if anybody comes along and says, you know, I didn't like what you said, you can say, neither did I like it. I agree with you. God's already showed it to me. And as I say, they think the truth, I'm freed by the blood. And then, if I need to, then I'm happy to agree with anybody who may take me to task. Sometimes, of course, it is owing to ask another dear one to forgive us. But sometimes running around doing that can be almost a desire to establish ourselves and getting it straight with God. That recidivist under the blood, and I don't mind now anybody having my testimony. Our heart cleansed from an evil conscience. And lastly, which has also been inferred, our bodies washed with pure water. The heart, the body. The heart is the inner man, the body the outer man. And I can only infer that that phrase, the body washed with pure water, is things in the outer life taken care of as God shows us. In fact, I've got to rewrite a letter I've written. I haven't posted it. My wife wasn't very happy and I'm not happy either. The body washed with pure water. I don't know what it'll mean to you, for you. It'll vary with every one of us. But here is the wonderful possibility of us having boldness to enter not merely the holy place, but the place where the light shines and where the blood of Jesus has extraordinary efficacy on our behalf to make us free, the holy of holies. Now you will know to what extent God has shown you, you've only been living these days in the holy place. I don't know, maybe for a long time or perhaps just the last day, you've got back into your old ways, you've lost that sweetness. Things have come between you and other people. Oh thank God for this wonderful way into the holy by the blood of Jesus, sanctified for people as failing and as needy as we are. The result is we have something for sinners. We're not prigs, we're not speaking to them from pedestals. In fact, I think sometimes when we speak to those that don't know the Lord, we do well to share something of our testimony as Christians, not merely how we were saved, but how it's going with us. And nothing will touch them when they see that a Christian is open to God and responds and takes the sinner's place alongside them. So there's our picture, the holy place, the holiest of all, open to us by the blood of Jesus. Can you believe it? You must. The mighty Word of the blood of Jesus. And dear one, you and I can lose that awful sense of not measuring up, of not being good enough, by being reconciled to the fact, of course you are, but this is all your hope and peace, this is all your righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. How delighted God is when we come on that ground. I tell you, you'll be amazed how good He'll be to you, what things He'll do for you, how He'll encourage in you when we're living before Him on that ground. Amen. Lord Jesus, we commend this Thy Word to Thy Spirit to use. Lord, every one of us is involved in this. I am. And thank You that You've made available this place, the holiest, near to the heart of God. Amen.