Folks, it's been a long time
since I faced this direction. I'd like you to do me a favor. Ask the Lord to pray for me.
Pray and ask the Lord. Pray for me. Not out loud, Jim. Just, you
know, it's been so long I can't read that clock anymore. Last
time I was here, I could. I want to invite you to turn
and read with me. It's important that you do. Hebrews
chapter 9. And I want to read verse 1 through
10. If you want comfort in our Lord
Jesus Christ, I think probably this is my favorite book in all
the Bible to find it. and hopefully I can generate
your interest in doing so maybe when you go home by what I've
got to say. Look at verse 1 through 10. Let's read it. Then verily
the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. I'd like to make a comment here.
The first covenant there that it's speaking of. Brother Henry
Mahan stood in this pulpit one time as I can recall, in the
early 70s. And he made this comment. He
said, this book is about Christ. And he said, there's an Old Testament,
the law, and the prophets. That's the beginning of it. The
law and the ceremony which pointed to Christ. It says, this first
part here, He's coming. And then he said, when you get
To the New Testament, you have the Gospels which says He's here. And then you have the letters
of Paul that he wrote to all the churches saying He's coming. He's coming again. He's coming,
He's here, and He's coming again. That's the Old Covenant, the
First Covenant that's mentioned here in this first verse. Then
verily the First Covenant had also ordinances and divine service
in a worldly sanctuary. It was a building. It was visible. For there was a tabernacle made.
The first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all. which had the
golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, and over it
the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot
now speak particularly. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But into the second went the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people, the
Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest. while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience, couldn't make him perfect, which stood only in
meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed
on them until the time of reformation, the time of Christ, when he would
come. Now I want to talk to you today
about the last phrase of verse nine in particular. And if I were to have to title
this, it probably would be no conscience, no conscience. Let's begin by asking this question.
Who was this addressed to? The very first sentence of this
book, you don't have to turn there, identifies those to whom
this book was addressed to. It begins with these words. It
says, God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
time past hath spoken to us by the prophets and hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son. Those to whom God spake in this
book by the prophets were the children of Israel. But at this
point, just before this point, he had spoken to these folks
through his son. The scripture says that he came
to his own and his own received him not. That was these people
right here, the Jewish people. But then in Hebrews chapter three
and verse one, we find another stipulation that narrows that
audience even a little bit more. He said, wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling. He was still addressing these
folks. They were believers. They were Hebrew believers who
had faith in their Messiah, who was the Christ, who had come.
That's who their confidence was in. Generally, that means it
was written to us too, as believers. And that can only mean that it
was not the Jewish nation at large which was addressed here,
but only the holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling among
them and us. Now that being said, it also
means that it was written to all believers, as I've said.
That means that it was written to us too. Now for purposes of
what we're gonna study and to illustrate what I wanna show
you today, it's also important to remember that this letter
was written before the complete and utter destruction
of Jerusalem. Just about the time this letter
was written by Paul, I think it was him, That city was about
to be left as nothing but a plowed ground. There was nothing left
standing, and all of these believers were dispersed out into all the
world, fleeing for their lives. And the gospel went to the entire
world by that destruction which God brought on that city, on
that country, on that city of Jerusalem. in the purpose of
God. In that purpose of God, that
city was destroyed. And the question which was troubling
the minds and hearts of these believing Hebrews, the ones to
which this letter was written primarily, was their relationship
to the law and the ceremony. All they had was the Old Testament. They didn't have the New. They
didn't have the revelation that we have. It was their relationship to
the law and the ceremony and the Levitical priesthood and
to the Old Testament, the Old Testimony. That was the testimony
they had. We got both. We got both the
old and the new testimony. The ones to which this letter
was written looked up day in and day out,
and that temple was still over there. Still, and there were
sacrifices being offered in that temple, and Christ had already
come, worked on behalf of his elect people, died, had resurrected
and ascended back to heaven, and that temple was still over
there. And they were offering sacrifices in it. What was their relationship to
that law and that ceremony? The temple was still in Jerusalem,
The Levitical ordinances appointed by Moses were still being observed. And although the sun had risen,
Christ had come, the moon hadn't disappeared yet. It hadn't gotten
light enough yet. If you've seen the moon in the
morning, just as the sun come up, when the sun gets high enough,
the moon will disappear. Christ had come, the sun had
risen, He fulfilled all of those types and those shadows which
pointed to Him in the law and in the ceremony and in that Old
Testament, that Old Covenant, or Old Testimony. It was waning,
it was ready to vanish away. And Hebrews 8 verse 13 says,
Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to pass away. Those things are leaving here.
Those things are leaving him. Now, it had become an urgent
necessity for the Hebrew Christians to understand that Christ was
the true and the eternal high priest in the heavenly sanctuary,
not in that temple. Not in that temple. And that
the new and the everlasting covenant with Judah and Israel was connected
with the gospel promise of that new covenant, that new testimony. And informed them that the promises
of God to his chosen people was still firm, they were still unchanged
in spite of the changes that they were seeing. Understand this, in this letter
to the Hebrew, Paul speaks of these two covenants, two testimonies.
There's a first covenant, it's mentioned in chapter eight and
verse seven, or an old covenant, or a first covenant. Then Paul
speaks later of what he calls the second, or the better. He said that we have a better
testimony, a new covenant, a new testament. Now we must never,
Suppose that the difference between the first and the better means
that one differed in its substance. Doesn't say anything different,
says what it's always said. And that one differed from the
other in substance or that any change had taken place in the
mind of God. In reality, there's been, from
everlasting, only one covenant. only one and the same covenant.
And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sole covenant of the
people, both Jew and Gentile. And the ministry of the gospel
of Christ is not a new revelation, which differs from that old revelation. Our Lord said, I'm the Lord,
I change not. And that's the reason that we,
sons of Jacob, are not consumed. He hadn't changed. He has not
changed. Never changed his mind, never
had a change in thought, never had one change in purpose. And that assures us that we will
not be consumed. Why? Because he made an everlasting
covenant with Christ. the son, his son, a covenant
of promise way back in eternity before there was ever an angel
or before there was ever a man or a heaven or an earth. Paul's
purpose in writing to these Hebrews was to show them that the gospel
that was preached to them in the Old Testament, the Old Testimony
through the law and the ceremony, having been fulfilled by Christ
was being replaced. It was waxing old and passing
away by a better testimony. You and I are Gentiles. And we've
never had to observe this law in that ceremony. We've never
offered lambs. We've never offered turtle doves. They were Hebrews. They were Jews. but they were
Christians, they were believers, they trusted in Christ, and they
were people of faith, clearly so because they were addressed
by Paul as holy brethren. Yet there was a temple that was
still standing, and the law and the ceremony was being observed
as much as they could then, and it must have caused them great
conflict of mind. As believers, I got to thinking
about this as believers. This supposedly was written about
AD 62, something like that. Maybe that's when Jerusalem was
destroyed, but it was just on the cusp of that destruction
of that city. I think it's possible that some
of those that Paul addressed with this book may have been
even eyewitnesses to the very life and ministry of Christ.
They'd seen him. They'd heard him. They'd witnessed
his miracles, possibly. It was only 60 years after his
death. Paul was saying in this letter
to the Hebrews, people that the administration, the practice,
the work, the ceremony required by that Old Testament was no
longer required and it was unnecessary. In fact, it had become nothing
but dead works. I won't take time to show you,
but if you wanna look at it, it's in chapter six and verse
one and chapter nine and verse 14. I can already see I'm gonna
have to struggle to get done with this. The substance of all
those pictures and shadows had come. The law and the ceremony
of the Old Testimony had been fulfilled by their Messiah, Jesus
of Nazareth. And from verse two to verse eight,
What we've just read is a brief description of the tabernacle
which the Lord gave directions to Moses to construct. It was
to be the dwelling place of God. The details of that old tabernacle,
which we read some there, the table, the shelled bread, all
those things, handed to Moses on Mount Sinai were meticulous
in their detail. Nothing could be out of place,
out of measure. It had to be according to that
pattern. It had to be according to that type and that shadow
of things in heaven. and a testimony of the grace
of God in the coming Messiah. For almost 4,000 years, they
had been practicing and performing that law and that ceremony. It spoke of and revealed the
things of Christ, all those ordinances. And things were in our shadows
and pictures of heavenly things. They spoke of Christ in every
glorious and minute detail But the substance of those things
had yet to come. Now look at verse eight. The Holy Ghost is signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. While as yet, the first tabernacle
was yet standing. Have you ever considered what
a shadow is? Have you ever seen the shadow
of a tree? Or better yet, have you ever seen the shadow of an
airplane going across the ground? Or maybe a cloud. You can see
a cloud moving across the ground. You might point your finger at
that shadow and say to your wife, there goes an airplane. Of course,
she's always smart enough to say, that's not the airplane. That's the airplane. If you want to see the substance
of a shadow, which these things were, you've got to look up. That's what the people of God
saw in those old sacrifices and those ceremonies. They saw the
substance of things in heaven. These believers did. They understood
it. Some of them didn't. True believers,
true faith, did not see a ritual or a rite or a ceremony performed
which entitled them or made them worthy of God's favor, they saw
Christ, the Lamb of God, that was offered for them. They expected
the consolation to come, that person to come, which were represented
by those sacrifices. They saw Christ, the things of
Messiah. He was the substance of the shadow
that was here on earth. Let's read Hebrews 9, 8 and 9
again. It says, the Holy Ghost, this
signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.
which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make them that did
the service, did service, perfect, perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. That phrase, while as the first
tabernacle was yet standing, it is saying until the coming
of Christ. in the flesh and his perfecting work and his death.
The law and the ceremony as it carried down from Mount Sinai
by Moses had taught for nearly 1,500 years the true and proper
way for entering into heaven. it pointed to Christ as a type
and a shadow. But that pointing, that description,
that ceremony, left it in a dark, kind of obscured revelation.
But then when Christ came, he, by his substitutionary death,
laid heaven wide open. to be seen and entered into by every believing sinner. As
he hung on that cross, that veil that blocked the entrance to
the Holy of Holies in that tabernacle, he couldn't get past it. There
was only one man that could go in there. And when Christ hung
on that cross and gave up the ghost, that veil fell, it ripped and opened up
heaven from top to bottom, just left it exposed wide open. And
now we come to verse 9. All can enter in. Now let's read
again verse 9. What about this comment concerning
a perfect conscience? That's what I want to get to. All these things was a figure
for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did service perfect
as pertaining to the conscience. I looked up the definition of
conscience. That's what I want to spend the next 10 minutes
on. I'm always surprised to discover
how dumb I am on occasions when I'm absolutely sure I know something. Conscience. Webster defines conscience
as the faculty or the power or inward principle which decides
as to the character of one's own actions. Conscience warns
you against and it condemns you that which is wrong and prompts
you to do that which is right. Now that's pretty clear. But
I found in the scriptures where it's stated much more simply.
If you will, turn to Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two, look at it
with me. I want you to see this now. Romans
chapter two, verse 14 and 15. It says here, when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, we don't have the law, by nature, They
do the things contained in the law. These having not the law
are a law unto themselves, which show the works of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts, their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or excusing
one another. You do realize this. You you
realize that murder, stealing and adultery and all those things
is wrong, don't you? Of course you do. Nobody had
to tell you that. Your conscience tells you that.
It condemns you. It accuses you. Or it excuses. Your conscience has never and
will never pat you on the back for having done good. It won't
do it. All it will ever do is either accuse you or it'll excuse
you. That's what we read, just read,
where it says there are thoughts to mean while accusing or else
excusing. And when it accuses you, it's
condemning you. And when it's excusing you, it's
condemning you. That's all conscience can do.
That's it. You talking about acting on a
good conscience? You ain't got one. You ain't got one. So you see, conscience has to
do with guilt. If one has no conscience, he has no guilt. Come on, you see where I'm going.
Conscience has to do with good and evil. But conscience, after
all is considered, can only condemn you. Conscience must tell you
on every occasion that you're incompetent. Where did we get our conscience?
You say, well, I was born with one. That's true, that's true. But our father, Adam, was not
created with one. Have you ever thought about that? He was perfect. He had no guilt. He was upright, perfect, before
God. So where did it come from? Where'd
conscience come from? It came in the fall of Adam,
when he ate that fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. And in that spiritual death which he suffered that very moment, when he ate of that tree of knowledge
of good and evil, in his spiritual death he was given a conscience.
And the single result of that conscience is guilt, knowledge
of good and evil. And after he ate of that tree,
Felt guilty, didn't he? Felt guilty and unclean. He had
no conscience of guilt or sin before that. He was naked before. And then he was naked after.
Being naked before conscience, before his conscience was given,
came. Didn't have any problem with
it. He had no conscience of guilt
or sin before that, but after his rebellion, and eating what
was forbidden, then he tried to cover it. His nakedness. And that didn't
work. Didn't work. Then when he was
confronted with that, he hid from God. Why? Because he was
guilty. He had a conscience. So he finally,
ultimately, blamed it on his wife. He made an excuse. It accused. And he excused. Both brought condemnation. He
never blamed himself. And as Peter said, conscience
is always either the accuser or the excuser. And we can see
that in our Father Adam. None of those services performed
under that Old Testament could make the comers there into perfect
pertaining to conscience. If those rites and those ceremonies
and all that law and ceremony could have removed guilt, then
they would have never been repeated. They did those things day in,
day out, year after year. The blood and the sacrifice of
all those lambs, all those bullocks, all of those turtle doves, rams,
young pigeons, goats, it never stopped flowing. It was just
a bloody mess all the time. And those who offered those sacrifices
after no more than turning their backs on the altar to walk away
had to go back and do it again. Never any comfort pertaining Never
any perfection pertaining to the conscience. Because there
was remembrance every year, they could never put away sin. Is
there anything such as a good conscience? You know, have you
ever gone in, an example, an illustration of what that, have
you ever been outside working? 98 degrees, 100% humidity, and
you go in, get in the shower, and it feels so good. You feel
so clean. And you no more than get out
of the shower, go back out on the porch and sit down till you
feel all sweaty and dirty again. That's these folks. Well, what does the Holy Spirit
signify? that'll silence that conscience. A perfect sacrifice, that's what
it takes, a perfect sacrifice that has nothing to do with our
religious practices and service. The conscience can only be silenced
when there's no accusations, no condemnation. When it can
find nothing at all to accuse you of, then it'll be silenced and only
then. And only the substitutionary
work of Christ can do that. That's the only thing that will
do it. I want you to look at a few more
verses with me. Look at chapter nine again, verse
12. It says, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered at once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Only the substance of that shadow
could do that. Christ Jesus, the Lord, the substance
of that shadow. Having obtained on every basis for condemnation,
guilt has been removed completely, completely. And verse 15, for
this cause he's the mediator of the New Testament, that by
means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the First Testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of eternal inheritance. Verse 26, look at that, just
the last phrase, now once in the end of the world hath He
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." And that
will never be repeated. It's done. There's no commandment
which He's not honored perfectly and on our behalf. There's no
penalty of the broken law which He has not endured. God's people
have no sin that has not been atoned. There is no more shadow. He has come. He became a servant
and obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He was in
substance the Lamb of God. That's what John said. Behold,
the Lamb of God. He was the Lamb. And he put away
sin once and for all. He's elect. Now, if you don't
believe that, look at chapter 10, verse 12. This man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on the
right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath what? Perfected. Forever, them that
are sanctified. Now look down at verse 18. Wherever
remission of these is, what does that say? There's no more sacrifice. And last of all, verse 22. Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Look at that,
evil conscience. And our bodies washed with pure
water. Believers should have no conscience,
no guilt. You reckon these folks, these
Hebrews, could walk away from those old dead works? And that's
what they were. They were dead, dead worthless
anymore. The substance had come. Their
self-righteousness, you bet they could. They could rest, they
could rest in Christ now. In fact, when they saw Christ
as the sub and substance of their standing and their justification
before God, I think that they were revolted at the very thought
of bloodying their hands with a carnal sacrifice ever again. Not when they saw him. Not when
they saw him. I think. It probably. Made him sick to
even think about it. So Larry, you have conscience,
any conscience of sin. You got any conscience of sin? Yeah, I do. But not. When I look to Christ. I'm not guilty. You may not see that, but that's
the way God sees it. He sees me with the righteousness
of Christ. My sin. Our sin. If we trust in Christ. Is gone. We have no conscience. I hope the Lord blesses you.