The Cleansing of Conscience (Part 1 of 2)

When we disobey God's law, we feel guilt and shame. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God will be our teacher, may we only hear your voice, we only want to be the students of your Word, and we want to be obedient and changed by your truth. So grant, then, that we might be freed from every distraction, and that our minds might be fastened on the wonder of who you are and what you have done for us and what you are saying to us.

For Jesus' sake we ask it. Amen. In this central section of Hebrews, the writer is establishing, with purposeful repetition, the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ and the superiority of the new covenant. And he has been setting this forward by means of a series of contrasts that are highlighting the old as opposed to the new. And here in chapter 9, he makes his point very strongly by showing how it relates to a matter with which each of us will be able to identify. And that is the issue of a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience. No matter how young or old we might prove to be, the fact is that all of us understand what it is to feel a sense of guilt.

People may try and urge us away from this, suggesting that it is somehow unhealthy. They may suggest that conscience is an aberration, that it is an externally understood thing, that it has no basis, really, in the creative purposes of God, if there is a God. But the fact remains that each of us understands it. The Bible says that our conscience is a faculty which enables us to apprehend the moral demands of God—that we are built with an innate sense of right and wrong, that we are not simply physical beings and social beings and sexual beings, but we are also moral beings. And we are able to violate against our own sense of conscience, which is established within us by the very act of creation. And it is by means of this same conscience that we are then enabled to feel guilty when we understand ourselves to have violated God's moral demands. And the sense of feeling guilty is a complex experience. Children wrestle with it, because it includes a sense of judgment. They wonder why it is that, having stolen from the jar of cookies, they feel the way they feel. They have no real explanation as to why it is that they run and hide in a closet underneath the stairs, why the sound of their parents' voice strikes terror in their tiny lives rather than joy and anticipation in the way that they might have anticipated before this event. The accompanying sense of unworthiness, of self-deprecation, and of estrangement all is part and parcel of a guilty conscience—men and women who feel estranged from God, estranged from other people, and estranged from themselves. Their own personal sense of angst can more often than not be traced to the fact of a guilty conscience and to the fact that despite the passage of time and despite all of their endeavors, somehow or another they are unable to relieve this deepening sense of burden. Now, my purpose this morning is not to address this issue of conscience.

It is fascinating. We can leave it for another time. But rather, it is simply to acknowledge its place in this contrast between the Old and the New Covenants. Because here in chapter 9, the writer makes it clear that the way in which the Old Covenant and the New Covenant was able to deal with the matter of conscience is vastly different. For example, in the ninth verse here of chapter 9, he says this is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered—notice the phrase, were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They couldn't do it.

They couldn't. Then you go forward to verse 14, and he says, "'How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death or from deathly acts, to serve the living God?'" Now, I don't think I have to labor too hard to make it clear to us this morning that this is not a matter of arms-length theology. I would suggest that anybody who can stand up and speak clearly about how a guilty conscience may be cleansed will get a listening in the ranks of all who are prepared ever to admit that their conscience was guilty. Indeed, one of the great fallacies of modern psychology and psychiatric help is to always constantly externalize the guilt, so that the first response to somebody who says, I feel this way, the answer is, oh, but you shouldn't feel that way, because it's not your problem. And seek to alleviate the guilt by externalizing it, by projecting it either back, forward, sideways, or somewhere else that doesn't work, especially when we're the ones that stole the cookies.

Because we're the ones that feel the sense of guilt. In the 1970s, when the late David Watson was working very successfully and effectively with university students in evangelism in the United Kingdom, he described how on one occasion, speaking at an English university, he had talked at the end of one of his sessions to a young girl who had the reputation of being, quote, the toughest girl in our university. She had quite openly slept around, she'd taken every drug that was available on the campus, outwardly she didn't care about a single thing, and she flat-out had zero interest in the notion of Jesus Christ and Christianity. And he tells how after speaking one evening at this English university, as he was greeting people at the conclusion of it all, this girl came up to him smoking a cigarette. And she walked up to him, and she said, Reverend Watson, I just came up to let you know that I just received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

Took a drag on the cigarette, turned around, and walked right out. And Watson says, And I looked at her gall, and I said to myself, Time will tell. At the conclusion of the following evening's meetings, he was again greeting people. And in the course of greeting people, he encountered a young girl whom he did not immediately recognize. It was the girl from the previous evening.

She actually looked radically different. And she explained to him, Since last evening I have spent most of my time crying, because in spite of all my toughness and all my hardness, for all my life I've felt as guilty as hell. And some are here this morning, and behind the nice suits and the smiles and the cars and the stuff, two people know—God and you.

That's exactly how you feel. And for this girl, what brought it all out was this amazing story of Jesus. She couldn't fathom that a God who was absolutely pristine in his holiness could love her. She couldn't imagine that a Christ who had lived a perfect life and died a death upon the cross had died to forgive her sins.

And the whole notion of Hebrews 8 and verse 12—"I will forgive their wickedness, and I will remember their sins no more"—was an absolutely mind-blowing concept to her. That God not only forgives sin, but he forgets sin, and he cleanses the guilty conscience. So the Word of God comes to troubled consciences—comes to the troubled consciences of men and women not to demoralize but instead to arouse them to their great need so that they might turn to him. So those of you who are on the receiving end of people giving you advice which says, You shouldn't feel guilty, and you're running around to make sure you don't feel guilty, you are running into oblivion. Guilt is given to us in the same way that a fear of fire is given to us—as a brake and as a protector and as a guide, so that we might be led to the only answer to a guilty conscience.

Now, when we come to chapter 10, we're going to discover the same thing. In verse 2 of chapter 10, speaking of the sacrifices that were repeated endlessly year after year, he said, If they could have made people perfect, wouldn't they have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But the fact is that they did feel guilty for their sins.

And they continued to. In verse 22 of chapter 10, the contrast is there, Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled, to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. Now, this is the context, then, loved ones. How is this obsolete, old covenant made clear to us? And how is the wonder and glory of the new covenant made appealing to us? Well, he says there is this reason and this reason.

Now he says, Let's think about this issue of conscience. Now, in the first ten verses, he emphasizes all over again the inadequacy of the old covenant. Or if you wanted to turn it on its head, you could say that he prepares us for the adequacy of the new covenant. But the inadequacy of the old covenant is stressed by paying attention to two things. Number one, a description from the past. You read these first five verses, and you say to yourself, What is this all about?

A tabernacle and a lampstand and consecrated bread and curtains and altars and incense and gold coverings and jars of manna and so on and budding staffs and everything else? And you say, Oh goodness me, what is this about now? I wonder how long it'll take us to get to verse 6.

Well, not particularly long. And the reason being is because he tells us that we shouldn't take that long, because in the final sentence of verse 5, we cannot discuss these things in detail now. Well, some of us breathe that sigh of relief. The first readers would have been very familiar with it, would have been a difficulty to them, they would have been able to fill in the gaps.

For most and many of us, that is not the case. It's been of some intrigue to me this week that despite the writer's perspective here—in other words, he wants to advance his main argument, and so although he could stop to discuss this, he decides not to, so that he may continue. And you pick up commentary after commentary after commentary, and the people have spent nine and ten pages doing what the writer to the Hebrews determined really didn't need to be done.

Well, you can relax, because I'm not about to do that to you. There are applications of these things, but now, according to the writer, is not the time to make them. He doesn't establish the superiority of Jesus by denigrating what had been a God-ordained ritual in the earthly sanctuary. In fact, he gives glory to Christ by giving these Old Testament, Old Covenant things their due place, and he says, These were of significance. God established them, and therefore Christ and the New Covenant are even more significant, insofar as these are not denigrated, they are in their place, and yet these issues supersede them. The Old Covenant was divinely prescribed, and the New Covenant is its fulfillment, not its contradiction.

And what you have in the Old Testament, again, as we've said all along, is you have promise, and then in the New Testament, fulfillment. You have shadow and copy, then you have reality. And that's what the writer is saying. We're not going to discuss these things in detail now. Calvin warns against trying to fill in the blanks. He says, Since nothing is enough for inquisitive men and women, the apostle cuts out any opportunity for subtleties. In case too much discussion of these things might break the thread of his argument, philosophizing beyond reasonable bounds, as some do, is not only futile, it is also dangerous. We must show discretion and moderation in case we desire to know more than it has pleased God to reveal.

And on the average week, we have at least a dozen telephone calls from people which are sincere calls. They want to know about bits of the Bible they don't understand. I want to say to them, as graciously as I can, don't worry about a bit, you don't understand. You go and worry about the bits you do understand. Because the bits you do understand, you need to start doing. And if you give yourself to doing the bits you do understand, then we'll come back later, like eating fish, and you get a bone, put it on the side of the plate, we'll come back and deal with that later on. And there is an inquisitiveness in us that says, you know, unless I answer this, I won't be able to keep going.

The plain things are the main things, get on with them and keep marching. Some of the other stuff will be in heaven before we get the answers. The writer understands that. So the inadequacy of the old covenant is established because he gives us this description of what is past, and then he provides us in verses 6–10 with an illustration for the present. Now, we get that right out of verse 9. He says, This is an illustration for the present time.

You don't have to be too brilliant to do this stuff, as you can see. To study the Bible, you just need the English language and a prayerful heart. What is he saying? He's saying the old covenant is obsolete, and it's passing away. That's the end of chapter 8.

He goes on and shows how this is true by describing the things of the past and providing a very good illustration in the present. He moves from the description of the sanctuary, which has been in the first five verses, to examine the limitations of the ritual of what was going on in the sanctuary. What was happening in there? Well, people were going behind curtains, some were going behind the first curtain, one chap was going behind the second curtain. Most people couldn't go behind any curtains. The outer court was frequented by the ministering priest, but only the high priest went behind the second curtain, according to verse 3.

And it was dangerous to do that. See, I don't think that we fully understand… I'm sure we don't fully understand this. Very difficult for us in our very contemporary, familiar, individualistic culture to understand the notion of the awesomeness and the holiness of God. I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that the key to effective Christian living is an awareness of God's majestic holiness, that the key to significant worship is an awareness of his holiness. And so, when the high priest went into this most holy place, the people were aware of it. He said prayers before he went in, and he took blood with him in order to safeguard himself. Verse 7 says that he never entered without blood. And if blood was to atone first for his own sins—because he himself was a sinner—and then, having dealt with himself, he was able to minister on behalf of others. But it was a fearful thing to go into that which symbolized the presence of the living God. And we understand that in the unfolding pattern of Scripture, we have these two truths in tension—one, that God is awesome and beyond us in his holiness, and two, that the Holy Spirit enables us to cry, Abba, Father.

Therefore, we have the intimacy of a relationship with Jesus, and we have the awesomeness of the holiness of the triune God. Suffice it to say that these first-century believers would not have understood those of us who come late to worship, especially in the nine o'clock hour. Ten-forty-five, it's difficult.

There are practicalities. But in the six o'clock hour, people come in at five past, ten past, quarter past, twenty past six to say, You are worthy. God says, Sorry? How worthy am I? Am I worthy of you getting here on time? Fell in love with a girl, kept her twenty minutes late? You fall in love with a girl, you're there half an hour early practicing for what you're gonna say.

You're around the corner working on it. So when she shows up, you're ready. The high priest entered into the most holy place. And according to verse 8, his movements were illustrating the fact that ordinary men and women did not have direct access into the presence of God.

And that brings us to the first of three central truths that I want you to notice. Number one, the inadequacy of the Old Covenant is expressed in the fact that access to God was restricted. Ordinary priests were restricted from the most holy place by this curtain here in verse 3. Their ability to move around was in itself only with a limited clearance. They could only go so far, and the people couldn't go as far as them.

And there was only one backstage pass, and it was only given out once a year for one individual to use, and that was the high priest. And to everybody else, the access to God was restricted. And so people began to look at those individuals, and with a measure of justification, as the key to their access to God. And in our generation, unless men and women's understanding of the nature of what it means to have access to God is transformed by the truth here of Hebrews 9, men and women continue to look at religious men in the exact same way. When an individual thinks like that, it is clear that they have never understood the radical change that had been brought about in the establishing of the new covenant. And they are living their lives in the awareness of the fact that their access to God is totally restricted.

And they are aware of the fact that something needs to happen if there is to be freedom of movement not just for the priests but also for the worshippers. Now, the writer is building to what he is going to proclaim in verse 24. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one. He entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Verse 19 of chapter 10, the same truth. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, open for us through the curtain… See how revolutionary this was for these individuals? For whom access to God was restricted. And the writer to them says, I want you to understand that we have confidence to enter the holy place.

That is revolutionary! You couldn't go in there There was only one chap went in there. And it was a dangerous thing for him to go in there.

And before he went in, he had to make sure that he had atoned for his sins in the sacrificial system, and that he was then able to offer atoning sacrifices for the others who were restricted. And now the writer says, I want you to know that you can come straight in, walk right in, sit right down. Baby, let your mind roll on.

I don't know where that came from, but it's good. That's the deal. You can walk right in, and you can sit right down. And you can ease your mind.

Why? Not by means of the restricted access of the old covenant, but because of a new and living way that has been opened up by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is Truth for Life. Alistair Begg is talking about Hebrews chapter 9 and the cleansing of conscience. At Truth for Life we believe everyone should have access to clear relevant Bible teaching like you've heard today. For that reason, Alistair's sermons can be listened to or downloaded free from both our website and our free mobile app. Our current study is called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus, Volume 2. All ten messages in this series are accessible online without cost being a barrier. Or if you'd prefer, you can purchase these messages on CD or the convenient USB with no markup. Find out more at truthforlife.org slash store. Over the last few weeks, you've heard me talk about a three-pack bundle of books designed to help all of us share the gospel with others.

Today is the last day for you to make your request for these materials. The first book we're offering is called Have No Fear, and as the title implies, the content of this book will help you overcome any nervousness you might feel in presenting the gospel or maybe a fear of presenting the gospel less effectively than you'd like. The second book is called The Word One to One. This is designed to help you sit down with someone and walk through the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

It includes questions that will spark a meaningful two-way conversation. The idea here is to bring our friends and acquaintances into direct contact with Scripture, allowing God's Word to do God's work. And when you request The Word One to One, we're going to include two copies, one for you and one to share. So this unique offer of three books will be sent to you when you request it along with your support for Truth for Life. Again, this is the last day I'll mention this book bundle, so get in touch with us right now by going to truthforlife.org slash donate, or you can donate and request the books using our app. You can also call us at 888-588-7884. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Bob Lapine. Hope you can be back with us again tomorrow as we continue our study in the book of Hebrews in chapter 9 in our series called Fix Our Eyes on Jesus. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.