Cleansing the Conscience
Hebrews 9:1-14
October 4, 2015
As you know, we are working our way through the book of Hebrews
And recently we have entered a new section in that book.
The writer spent 7 chapters revealing to us that in Jesus
We have a new and great High Priest.
He is not a priest according to the order of Aaron,
He is a priest according to the order of Melchizedek
As was promised in Psalms 110:4.
And after giving a thorough explanation regarding this new priest,
The writer has now moved on to his second point
Which is the new covenant that this new priest brought.
We learned in:
Hebrews 7:12 “For when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there takes place a change of law also.”
If you get a new priest, you have to get a new law.
Well we got a new priest, now it’s time to look at His New Covenant.
It was promised in Jeremiah 31, we first examined it in chapter 8.
• Whereas the old covenant depended on the faithfulness of man,
This new one will depend on the faithfulness of God.
• Whereas the old covenant worked from the outside in,
This new one will work from the inside out.
• Whereas the old covenant brought condemnation,
This new covenant brought forgiveness.
• Whereas the old covenant brought separation from God,
This new covenant brought a relationship with God.
And the writer closed the eight chapter by showing us that the old covenant was ready to disappear and the new one was now in effect.
Well, this morning we move on.
The objective of the writer is simple. Just as he spent time detailing why the new priest was better than the old one, the writer also wants to spend time revealing why the new covenant is better than the old.
And the conversation in the early parts of chapter 9
Centers around the CONSCIENCE.
Now you know what your conscience is.
Your conscience that voice inside your soul
That causes you to have some sense of what is right and what is wrong.
• Don’t get your conscience confused with the Holy Spirit, they are not the same.
• All people have a conscience, only believers have the Holy Spirit.
Paul spoke of the conscience in Romans 2
Romans 2:14-15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,”
Paul spoke of Gentiles “the non-religious” who instinctively
Did the things that were commanded in the Law.
Things like not murdering or not stealing or not committing adultery.
They weren’t people who had the Ten Commandments,
But somehow inside of them they just knew those things were wrong.
The reason is because to a certain degree God actually wired humanity
To know what was right and what was wrong.
That is called the conscience.
Now, the conscience is a sinner’s enemy.
The conscience refuses to let a sinner rest.
So man has been on quest to figure out how to handle a guilty conscience
Many throughout history (and certainly in our day)
Have simply sought to KILL THE CONSCIENCE.
Why? Because the Bible says that men love sin and in order to commit sin without feeling guilty they must sear their conscience.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,”
Ephesians 4:17-19 “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.”
They just ignore their conscience until it no longer bothers them.
Through exposure and practice, they become hardened to their sin,
They write a new code of what is right and what is wrong.
And eventually they even train their conscience not to work.
Well there is a major problem with that.
While guilt can most certainly be a bad thing (especially if it is false guilt),
Guilt in general can be a pretty beneficial thing.
Guilt is to the soul what pain is to the body.
Pain tells your body when there is something physically wrong,
Guilt tells your soul when there is something spiritually wrong.
And scripture says that
Those who make a habit out of searing their conscience
Only succeed in finding themselves square under the wrath of God
Romans 1:18-19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
Those who suppress the truth or sear their conscience tend
To never deal with their sin and thus find themselves under God’s wrath.
Romans 1:28-32 “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”
THE POINT: Searing your conscience is not a good way to deal with it.
(you won’t like the end result of doing that)
Realizing that, some people have turned to another avenue to try and handle their guilty conscience. That avenue is RELIGION
If you do something that makes you feel bad
You need to cancel it out by doing something that makes you feel better.
It is what I like to call “The Principle of Religious Exchange”
I cussed out my neighbor and felt bad about it, but then I went to church.
The two canceled each other out so I can feel better about myself.
The problem is that legalism resides here.
All your peace and assurance
Is wrapped up in the good things you are able to do.
This was the problem with the Pharisees.
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
They did all those good things to sort of cancel out the bad.
Scripture teaches that they gave and prayed and fasted all in public.
The problem was that good deeds can’t cancel out bad ones.
Jesus said:
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Sure these men did some good things, but they also
• Stole widow’s houses,
• Loved the glory of man,
• Put heavy burdens on people’s backs,
• Made their converts sons of hell,
• Were guilty of the blood of all the prophets.
But in their minds they did more good than bad
So they were able to satisfy their conscience through their religion.
Men used religion to try and satisfy their conscience
And this is precisely how the old covenant operated.
The old covenant was supposed to provide a means for you to
Obtain forgiveness, Remove your guilt, and Rest your conscience.
And the writer wants to zone in on the main way it was supposed to work.
The main way in which the Old Covenant was supposed to cleanse your conscience was through the “Day of Atonement”
And here is how it worked.
• In Israel if you sinned and you knew it, then you immediately dealt with that sin
via sacrifice.
• You were supposed to go to the priest and offer what the Law prescribed every
time you sinned.
• But that never seemed to settle the whole problem, because you didn’t always
know about all the sin you committed.
This reality was a tremendous weight upon the people.
In short, they could do what the Law required
But still the fear and anxiety and guilt would remain.
The only means of satisfying this was “The Day of Atonement”
• On the Day of Atonement the high priest would take two goats. He would cast
Lots for the goats. One would be designated to the Lord and the other as
the scape goat.
• The Lord’s goat would be slaughtered and its blood would be taken behind the
veil and sprinkled on the altar to atone for the sin of the people.
• The other goat was the scape goat. The priest would place his hands on this
goat, thus symbolically transferring the sin of the people onto this goat and
would then send it away.
• This offering was powerful because not only did it atone for the sin you knew
about, but also for the sins you didn’t know about.
On this day, all your sin was atoned for.
Leviticus 16:29-30 “This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.”
On this day your sin was atoned for and sent away
For you to never have to think about it again.
It was intended to not only cleanse your soul,
But also to cleanse your conscience.
You were supposed to feel better because your sin was taken care of.
But it never really seemed to work.
What was supposed to be a day of peace and rest and assurance
Actually became a perpetual reminder that sin was never gone.
Any peace that was purchased on that day was definitely short lived.
So in our text today the writer is going to show you
Why the new covenant is so much better.
He’s going to set the old and the new side by side
To show you why the new covenant is so much better than the old one.
#1 THE PARABLE OF THE OLD COVENANT
Hebrews 9:1-10
I call the Old Covenant a parable because that is the wording that the writer will use.
In verses 8-9 the writer will tell you that the tabernacle “is a symbol”.
The word “symbol” translates PARABOLE,
Which means “to lay side by side”
And is also where we get our word for parable.
You are familiar with what a parable is.
It is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
The story may be about farming or fishing or baking bread or harvesting crops, but in the story is contained a symbolic spiritual reality.
The earthly story was NEVER the point.
The spiritual meaning was always the point.
For example:
In Matthew 13 Jesus gave the parable of the sower where He talked about the farmer sowing seed on 4 types of soil. If you walk away from that and all you learn is how to be a better farmer you drastically missed the point.
The point was about the human heart and how various hearts receive the word of God.
Well, the writer here tells us that the old covenant was the same way.
It was a parable. It was a symbol.
It was never intended to be the main point,
Rather it was intended that you look past the symbolic to the substance.
Let’s look at the parable here.
(READ HEBREWS 9:1-5)
Here the writer takes you on virtual tour of the tent of meeting.
He wants you to visualize it in your mind.
(2) “there was a tabernacle prepared”
(2) “the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place”
So we have this outer room.
(3) “behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies,”
And he lists the various paraphernalia that is included in that second veil
And while all of those things have a certain symbolic meaning,
The writer is very clear that NONE OF THOSE THINGS ARE HIS MAIN POINT.
(5b) “but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.”
The main thing he wants you to see is that
In the tabernacle there are two veils.
One contains the holy place the second the Holy of Holies.
(READ HEBREWS 9:6-7)
Now he wants you to see the work that is going on there,
So add the priests to your mind vision.
(6) “Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship,”
Do you see them? Like busy little ants…
They are working non-stop because the people are sinning non-stop.
• We have sinful people bringing their offerings.
• We have unclean people brining the required offering.
• We have thank offerings
• We have guilt offerings
It is a busy place with the entire nation working these priests to death
To try and stay ahead of the sin epidemic.
(7) “but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.”
Now the writer wants you to notice that one special day.
That one day when only one priest
Enters behind that second veil to make atonement for sin.
That day is of course Yom Kippur “The Day of Atonement”
The priest is going in to try and produce and absolute clean slate.
He’s going to put people at total peace with God and clean the conscience.
Can you see it?
WELL, THERE’S A PROBLEM.
This entire scene was a parable.
That means when you sit from afar and watch it unfold,
There was a message you were supposed to get.
That is what the writer says:
(8) “The Holy Spirit is signifying this…”
That is to say, when you watch that entire ordeal,
This is what the Holy Spirit wants you to walk away with.
What is the message you were supposed get?
(8b) “that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,”
Do you see the first problem?
YOU CAN’T GET TO GOD.
Now granted there is a lot of symbolism regarding Jesus
In all those pieces inside the tent of meeting,
But none of them are the main point.
The main thing the Holy Spirit wanted you to see was a veil
And that access to God was impossible.
Only the priests enter the first and only the high priest entered the second
And the writer says this “is a symbol for the present time”
This is a parable for you to study today.
We have another problem:
(9b) “Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience”
Well that’s a bummer.
In short, THEY CAN DO IT, BUT IT DOESN’T HELP
Hebrews 10:1-4 “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
They are busy
They make lots of offerings, but they don’t work.
Why?
(10) “since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.”
Those offerings don’t actually cleanse your conscience because it’s just food and drink and all sorts of symbolic ceremonies.
• Do you suppose roasting a goat in the fire really takes away your sin?
• Do you suppose sticking your hands on a goat’s head and leading it off into the pasture really takes your sin away?
• Do you suppose the priest washing his body and putting on white garments actually makes him clean before God?
Of course not, that’s all symbol, it’s all parable, and it’s all external.
It doesn’t really do anything,
And therefore it can’t really help your conscience.
Your little girl can get out her toy dishes and symbolically feed you turkey and dressing, but will it satisfy your stomach?
No, it’s a symbol, it’s a parable
And that is what the writer wants you to see.
Despite all the offerings, despite all the goats, despite all the washings DO YOU SEE WHAT NEVER CHANGED?
THE VEIL
The veil never came down
And so it doesn’t matter how much you enjoyed the show,
Deep down in your heart you know it never worked
And your conscience doesn’t really feel any better.
Do you get the point?
The Old Covenant was a parable, it was symbol “until a time of reformation”
It was just a picture to get you ready for the day when the actual reformation arrived.
That was The parable of the Old Covenant
#2 THE PERFECTION OF THE NEW COVENANT
Hebrews 9:11-14
We were waiting for the “time of reformation”, well the writer mentions it.
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come…”
That is to say when the new Priest arrived with His new covenant.
He provided substance to the symbol.
He fulfilled what the shadow represented.
He brought life to the parable.
“He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation”
I hope you can see the difference.
All those other priests entering that man-made curtain
Where just a symbol of what Jesus was going to do.
He didn’t walk through some man-made veil, He “entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle”
So when you set the two covenants side by side,
You can already see one major difference. It is THE SANCTUARY
The old operated in a man-made one,
Christ entered the heavenly and perfect one.
But that wasn’t the only difference you see. You also see the difference in THE SACRIFICE
(12a) “and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood,”
When Christ entered God’s true Holy of Holies
He didn’t take goat’s blood or the blood of a bull.
Trust me when I tell you that God is not interested in such things.
In fact even the Psalmist said:
Psalms 50:7-13 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats?”
Through Isaiah God said:
Isaiah 1:11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.”
God has no interest in animal sacrifices.
He has no interest in the blood of goats.
Then why did He command it?
BECAUSE IT WAS A SYMBOL
When your daughter makes you a play feast you pretend to eat it,
But I’m guessing plastic fruit & play dough pies don’t really hit your spot.
So it was with God.
He commanded animal sacrifice to complete the symbol,
But that’s not really what He wanted and so it never really worked.
But Christ came and brought what God desired:
A perfect, sinless, holy, life sacrificed upon His altar.
Hebrews 10:5-7 “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. “THEN I SAID, ‘BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'”
Not only did Christ enter the better sanctuary,
He brought the acceptable sacrifice.
When you lay the two covenants side by side I can tell you a third way the new one is better. The new covenant brought about SUCCESS
(12b) “He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption”
• How many times did the old priests enter the tabernacle? –continually
• How many times did Jesus do it? – “once”
Why only once?
Because he “obtained eternal redemption”
Do you understand the difference between temporary appeasement and “eternal redemption”?
Those priests never satisfied God’s wrath,
They merely continued to remind Him of the promise that was coming.
God didn’t want those goats,
But every time He looked on the blood of one of those goats
It was a reminder that one day the Perfect Lamb was coming,
And God was willing to wait.
Jesus was that better sacrifice.
Romans 3:23-26 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
All those sins of the past were never fully atoned for,
God just “passed over” them until Christ came and made it right.
But when He came He obtained “eternal redemption”
There was never a need to do it again.
There was never a need for another sacrifice.
And I can show you one more way in which the new is better than the old when you set them side by side. And that is regarding the SATISFACTION it will give you.
(13-14) “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
First the writer reminds the readers how much better they felt on the Day of Atonement, or on the day they brought an offering.
On that day when they brought their goat or washed in that water meant to make you clean, you sure felt better about yourself didn’t you?
And we just established that wasn’t really doing anything.
So how good should you feel knowing that Christ really did enter God’s presence and really did offer an acceptable sacrifice?
“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
If the symbol made you feel that good,
How good should the substance make you feel?
See Christ really did wash away all your sin.
• Christ really did fully atone for you.
• Christ really did carry your sin away.
• Christ really did wash you clean.
In short, Christ really dealt with all those things that made you feel guilty.
He cleansed your conscience.
And now, all of those who are trusting in Christ,
Don’t have to live with a guilty conscience.
We often sing that song “In Christ Alone”
“No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus controls my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand
‘Til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand”
That is what the New Covenant brought!
The old brought a picture of total forgiveness.
The new brought the reality of it.
The Old covenant was a religion that kept you always making sacrifices to a God you couldn’t approach.
The New Covenant lets you approach the God who has forgiven you based upon the perfect sacrifice of His Son.
That is what we are talking about here.
The New is better than the Old.
A revival evangelist had finished a week long tent revival and was taking down his tent. As he was pulling up the pegs a young boy approached him and said, “Sir, what must I do to be saved?”
The evangelist said, “You’re too late.”
The boy answered, “Why? Because the revival is over?”
The evangelist said, “No, because Jesus already did it.”
There’s the difference.
The Old Covenant said “DO” the new says “DONE”
The application:
Run to Jesus, trust in His work on the cross for you,
And through Him have a relationship with the Father.
Leave the religious ordinance behind.
If you’ve never let go of your efforts to make yourself pleasing to God
And decided to trust in Jesus for what He did for you,
I would invite you to do that this morning.
DO YOU HAVE A GUILTY CONSCIENCE?
Jesus can replace it with peace.
In Jesus is eternal redemption.
