The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: Sometimes we're wondering, where is the power of God in my situation? It's not there until I see God who gives His power, but I have to look in order to see.

Guest (Male): In church sanctuaries across the world, we find many common items that can include an organ, a pulpit, a choir section, and so on. But how do we find God in that sanctuary?

On today's Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris takes us to a spiritual sanctuary and draws parallels that compare our hearts and minds to those familiar church buildings. Let's go hear today's message: Seeing God in the Sanctuary.

Pastor Jack Morris: I want you to open your Bibles. You have to open your Bibles. This is God speaking. Friend, take your Bible, turn to Psalm 63 and look at verse two. We're going to go to verse two, and then we're going to go back to verse one. Read verse two with me in unison: "I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory." Did we or didn't we see God?

Now I'm going to talk for a little while about our emotions. Do you have emotions? God has emotions. God gets angry. God is joyful. God is made glad. And you're made in the image of God, and we all have emotions. But there's an emotion that maybe comes to most of us who are healthy—now there's a lot of depression and anxiety, but there's an emotion called anger.

Somebody on the highway will run his car or her car in front of you, or somebody in the checkout line will jump in front of you. You want to give a person a piece of your mind and it's all you can do to control it—that is, control your mind and your thoughts. But anger—I want to tell you a story about anger.

There was this businessman in Illinois. This happened a long, long time ago, years ago. This businessman had a very important engagement in a place called Deer Park. This was before businessmen went to their engagements in airplanes; they would use trains. They would use airplanes. It would be hard to sit on that piano bench for the sermon. Let's give that man a hand.

So he got a ticket on a train to go to Deer Park. He had worked hard all day and he went to one of the porters on the train and spoke to the porter and said, "I'm very tired, but I'm also a heavy sleeper. When I go to sleep, nothing can really wake me up." He said, "So here's a tip," and he gave him a hefty tip. He said, "Now 5:00 in the morning, when we get into Deer Park, you put me off this train. I have an engagement. I have to be there. Now 5:00 in the morning, wake me up and get me off this train."

Well, 9:00 in the morning came and he was still on the train, and he was about 200 miles from Deer Park on down the track. So he found the porter, gave him a tongue-lashing and he used some words that he hadn't used since he was in the Navy. And then he stomped off the train.

Well, the conductor was standing by and the conductor said to the porter, "I've never seen a man that mad in my life. That man was mad. I've never seen anything like it." The porter said, "Well, you should have seen the man that I put off the train at 5:00 in the morning at Deer Park, how mad he was." Things make us angry, and not all those things are humorous that make us angry.

But notice what it says in verse two: "I have seen you in the sanctuary." Now here's a sanctuary, we call it the sanctuary. And when I come in, I look up to the sanctuary and the very first thing I see is this holy communion table. The broken body, the blood of Jesus. I'm in the sanctuary. My name is in the Book of Life. I'm here to sing, to pray, to be taught the Word of God.

I'm all of that because of this. If it weren't for the body and the blood of Jesus, if it weren't for this, nothing would matter and I'd have no salvation at all. So I see you in the sanctuary. I see the candles burning. I see the cross. I see it. I'm here because of what that represents.

I look and I see a piano and I see an organ. I'm going to sing. I'm going to rejoice. I'm going to worship. I've come to worship—not just to see friends, yes to see friends and to hug one another, but this involves me. I look and I see a pulpit and I know very shortly the pastor's going to bring the Word of God that will feed my soul and strengthen me on the inner person and bring souls to Christ.

Oh yes, I've seen God in the sanctuary. But I come in and I see all of this all the time, year after year, month after month, week after week, Sunday after Sunday. But I've got to think where I am and why I am, who I am and why I'm here. Now I'm going to be able to say, "I have seen you in the sanctuary." I've got to think about why I'm here and what's going on and what all of this represents or I will not see God in the sanctuary.

Friend, I pray that you and I will see something today. I have seen you in the sanctuary. And what happened when I saw God? I beheld your power and your glory. Sometimes we're wondering, where is the power of God in my situation? It's not there until I see God who gives His power. But I have to look in order to see. Are you still with me? Okay. I have seen you in the sanctuary.

Now notice it says, "I have seen." Look at that word. "Seen" means not with a natural eye—no man can see God and live—but with a spiritual eye. I have seen God. I've been reminded of God through the Word, the prayer, the worship, the hymns—everything has brought me to God, has ushered me into the presence of God.

Just like an usher ushers you down to the pew, well all of this is to usher me closer and closer and closer until my spiritual eyes open and I see God. And now when I see God, I experience His power and I experience His glory. Do you want more power and glory in your life? You've got to see God. And when you see God, that power and that glory comes upon you.

And church isn't church like church used to be. It isn't that kind of church anymore. I have seen you. I have. I don't know about the other people who are here today, but I've had an experience with God and I've experienced His power and His glory. And I leave again a new creature, a new person in the Lord. I left that way last week. I leave that way this week.

No matter how many 20, 30 years I've been saved, every time I come to God, there's a newness that comes over me. And God breathes into me like He did Adam. I've been in God's presence. I have seen God in the sanctuary.

Now in the Old Testament, there were priests, and the priest, particularly the high priest, would go into a place called the Holy of Holies only one time a year. And if he would go in there without confession of sin—not only the sins of the people of Israel but his own sin—he would die in there.

The presence of God was so holy and so strict that they tied ropes around his feet because there may have been a sin that he forgot to confess and God would strike him dead on the spot. And they would not go in there because they would be struck dead, but they had ropes to drag him out. Friends, it's a serious thing to go to church and to go into the presence of God.

But when Jesus died on the cross, something happened to that veil or that curtain that the priest could only go behind once a year. And when he went behind that once a year, he would move that curtain and go behind it, and there was the Ark of the Covenant. We might consider it the communion table.

The Ark of the Covenant. And in that Ark was Aaron's rod, the manna that they had eaten in the wilderness—a sample of it in a jar—and the Ten Commandments, making it a holy place. These are pieces of furniture that are carved out of wood or plastic or something else, but they represent holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty.

The rod budded. That rod budded. See, there were a number of other priests; they were sort of lower down on the scale. They wanted Aaron's position. They wanted to be the high priest. They wanted to be over all Israel like the high priest. And so they were just waiting their turn. They just couldn't wait to get in there and to be that high person that everybody would look up to.

And so Moses said to Aaron and to all of the other priests—there were 12 others, one representing one of the 12 tribes of Israel—said, "Okay, bring your rods and we'll let God do the choosing. Let God be the one who chooses His ministers. It's not for us to do that; it's for God."

And so they all came in and every one of those priests, they strutted in with their rod, hoping that God would somehow signal them to be the high priest. And then Moses said, "Put your rod in the holy place and I'll come back in the morning and we'll see which rod has budded. We won't have anything to do with it; this will be holy unto God. God will make the decision."

They came back in the morning and Aaron's rod budded with little flowers. Not only flowers, but almonds, the fruit came on it. Now what was God saying? That He chooses to give life, joy, happiness, forgiveness to the person who is submissive to Him and His holy will. He is the chooser.

And He chose you and me to be His follower and to serve Him. And out of that dead stick, that rod, came life and fruit. And out of your life and my life, dead in trespasses and sins, came life, spiritual life, everlasting life, and the fruit of the spirit. So God is choosing to give you something, but you have to look up and see Him. Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh. Look up, for the glory and power of God is coming upon you. I mean today, this morning. Look up. God is here to see you. He does see you. I want to see Him.

The scripture says in Revelation chapter five that you and I—now listen to what God has done. Just as God chose Aaron and through Aaron's rod revealed life, in Revelation chapter five it says that you and I in Christ are a kingdom of priests. Hey, you and I are a priest. We may not have our collar on backwards, but we're a priest. And a priest, you know what a priest does? A priest is an intercessor. A priest is a prayer—women and men alike, it's the same, you're all priests unto God.

We are to go behind the veil. And here is the point: the day Jesus died on the cross, His seven last words, but then comes His last word, He cries out, "It is finished." And when He did, Matthew chapter four, chapter five, the scripture says that veil that a priest could only go behind once a year—and he'd go behind them at the risk of his own life; he had to examine his heart like you and I need to examine our heart or else he would be struck dead—that veil was rent from top to bottom. Not from bottom up, but from the top, meaning something came down from God and split that wide open, saying that everyone now—that's what it says, does it not?

In Revelation five, a kingdom of priests. In First Peter chapter two, you're a royal priesthood. Everyone now can go behind that veil without fear at all, knowing that you are a priest to talk to God, to intercede with God, to look upon God. You, you, you are a high priest unto the Lord.

So friend, why not go behind the veil this morning and look upon the God who loves you, the God that you pray to, the God that you call Our Father, and see His glory and experience His mighty power? There's power and glory to be experienced in the Lord.

There was a comic strip, one I'm going to tell you now. There's nothing humorous about it at all; matter of fact, it's one of the more serious things I'm going to say in the sermon today. A comic writer, a painter, had a little image, a little man I guess called Pogo. Maybe you've heard of Pogo before. Maybe you've seen him in Pogo.

Well, Pogo and his buddies were going to go to war. And they drew their swords, they grabbed their spears, and they marched off toward the enemy. Now the next little image, a little comic strip picture, but here comes Pogo coming back. His sword is sheathed, he's dragging his spear in the dust behind him. And the next has a quote from Pogo saying, "We have seen the enemy, and the enemy is us."

Friend, if we don't go behind the veil, we will not see God. And if we don't see God in our hearts, we won't experience His power and His glory. We have become our own worst enemy because we and no one else but I have hindered the power of God from coming into my life. I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to spirituality and spiritual growth.

Somebody ought to say praise the Lord. Friend, you're learning now how to move into the glory and power and presence of the Lord by seeing God and experiencing God. I think it was 2016 down at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. It was the Prayer Breakfast time, and Conrad N. Hilton, who is the founder of the Hilton Motel chain, was the speaker. And this is what he said. And I'm going to read it; I don't like to read a lot in the sanctuary in a sermon, but I think I need to read what he said to the people just a few years ago.

He said this: "What I like about prayer is that it is a means of direct communication with God. You can speak to Him at any time, night or day—not like the priest that goes in once a year, but any time is any time, night or day—and know that you can with certainty know that He is listening to you. You can thank Him for the things He has done for you. You can tell Him that you are baffled, bewildered, discouraged, or that you are the happiest person in the world. You can tell Him anything because you're a priest; you can go behind the veil. A part of man, prayer is a part of man's personality and without which he limps as he walks without God, groping in the darkness."

But you know, friend, you and I know where the water is, don't we? We know who the water is, don't we? Jesus said to the woman at the well, "You drink this water, you'll thirst again. But if you drink the water that I will give you, you'll never thirst." And with that woman, my heart and your heart is crying out, "Sir, give me that water." And when you cry out for that water, you'll get that water. But you've got to go to the well. You've got to go behind the veil. You've got to go into the presence of God. And when you do, there is power and there is glory.

Look at verse two: "I have seen you in the sanctuary." I have feasted on spiritual manna today. I have drunk from the well that never runs dry. I've been in the sanctuary. Now Moses went in the sanctuary into the very presence of God, and the scripture says when he came out—now listen to me friend, closely now—when he came out, because you and I are not going to be in that place where we want to be at every moment. There are things that are going to anger us, upset us, bewilder us. You know, as I've always often said, if it weren't for people, this wouldn't be a bad world to live in. It's people! Aren't you glad you're not people? That you never do anything that will upset anybody? No, we all have, and we've already been on the receiving end also.

But Moses went in into the presence of God and when he came out, his countenance was aglow. It was such, there was such a glow in his skin, he didn't even realize it. And when he tried to talk to the people, they didn't have sunglasses or shades back then to cover their eyes. He had to put a veil over his face. And now he could talk to the people.

Friend, the presence of God makes you different. And you may not see it, but others will see it in you. People are looking at you and me. And when we come out from behind the veil, we come out with the very power and presence and image of Jesus on us. We walk and talk and live and worship like Jesus. We are above those mundane things that upset us and get us down. We're living in glory, we're living in power.

The scripture says in Psalm 34 verse five, "Those who look to Him..." Listen. "Those who look to Him..." Are you part of those who are looking to Him? Well, let me tell you what happens to those who look to Him. No, I won't, but the Psalmist will. Psalm 34 verse five: "Those who look to Him are radiant." They don't go around with a sourpuss on their face like they've been sucking a pickle. But they have the glory and the joy of the Lord in their heart, come what may. Though all hell assail me, Jesus will not fail me.

Friend, we've got to get things straightened out with one another. Yes, but we've got to get things straightened out with Him. And if you go behind the veil—not only at church, but what you've seen and what you've experienced at church—that automobile can be your behind-the-veil experience. Your home, your bedroom, wherever you are, you can have the sanctuary within you.

You are carrying something. Moses came in into the presence of God and he went out with the glow of God upon him. I can't tell you any more than what I've told you now. If you want power and glory in your life, go behind the veil. You'll see God. You'll come away radiant with the glow of glory in your soul, effervescent from your life. And everybody says amen. Amen. Will you bow with me? Praise be to the Lord. Amen. Thank you.

Guest (Male): God is love and is waiting for us to enter His sanctuary, where prayer and praise can be lifted up to Him and we can truly experience the presence of God. Won't you reach out to Him in prayer right now where you are and tell Him in simple words your thoughts and feelings? He's waiting to walk with you and meet your needs.

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