Alright, I want us to turn back
to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. My text this morning is mainly
verse 14. And I want to say a little bit
about how I arrived at this message this morning, this text. I've
been preaching, as you know, 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and
I'm going to continue doing that till we get to the end of the
chapter that verse that expresses the the ground of salvation the
heart of the gospel verse 21 for he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him and that's the foundation right there of all
gospel preaching, it's the foundation and the motivation of all Christian
living, it's the substitutionary death of Christ, the accomplishment
of Christ. But what I've been doing here
in 2 Corinthians 5, now like I said, my text is Hebrews 9,
but I'm just trying to show you how I got here for this morning's
message, is the gospel ministry. What is a gospel ministry? A
good news ministry. Are we a gospel ministry? A lot
of people claim to be part of or supporting a gospel ministry. And Paul's describing it here.
And he talked about it, how it's a ministry of glory and security
in Christ. That we are certain, we who are
in Christ, who believe in Him, truly by the power of God, truly
believe in him who are washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness we are certain to be glorified because our Savior
and our Lord has risen from the dead and he's seated at the right
hand of the Father in heaven so the gospel ministry is a ministry
of security you know and I don't I make no apology for this I
know there's so many denominations, so many so-called Christians.
They talk about being saved one day and lost the net. That is
not a gospel. Let me tell you something. If
you see that as good news, it's because you think too highly
of yourself. I'm not saying that to be mean.
I'm just telling you the truth. And the reason I'm so intent
upon that is because of what the Scripture says about the
judgment here. Look at 2 Corinthians 5 and verse
10. Let me just read it to you. And
then we'll get to Hebrews 9. Now Paul said, for we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ. I preached a whole
message on that. The judgment seat of Christ.
That everyone may receive the things done in his body according
to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. That's not
only the judgment of our persons, but the judgment of our works.
It's not what our works earn for us. or do for us. It's what our works say about
us as evidences of our standing in Christ. That's what that's
talking about. But what he's saying there is that the gospel
ministry is a ministry that must be undertaken and promoted in
light of judgment. We're going to face judgment.
You are going to face judgment. I'm going to face judgment. Do
you realize that for some of you today, this may be the last
message you ever hear? You don't know. I don't know
either. It may be the last message I preach. but there is a judge
that is appointed under man once to die and after that the judgment
and this is it so paul says in verse eleven of second corinthians
ten knowing therefore the terror of the lord now what is that
terror well we know the judgment and wrath of god that will fall
upon any sinner who stands before god at judgment without christ
that's the terror of the lord We know, it doesn't matter who
you are, what you've done or what you've accomplished in this
life, if you do not have Christ, our God is a consuming fire to
anyone who doesn't stand before. That's why Paul said that I may
know Him and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law. You can say, well, I joined the
church, or I got baptized, or I preached, or I cast out demons,
whatever. If you don't have Christ as your
sole righteousness before God, the wrath of God will abide upon
you. That's the terror of the Lord.
And therefore, he says, we persuade men. I talked about the gospel
persuasion. We preach the message of God's
grace to dying sinners. And we know that it's the Holy
Spirit who empowers that message in the new birth, in regeneration
and conversion to ruin sinners who are ruined by nature, dead
in trespasses and sin. But then he says we're made manifest
unto God. That is, how are we made manifest
unto God? Well, God looks on the heart. If we stay true to the Word of
God consistently, in the preaching of the gospel, then we're made
manifest unto God. So what Paul is saying, I won't
go back in all the context of this, he's pretty much saying,
well, it doesn't matter what men say about me then. You know? Paul was called a false preacher
by many. I've been called a false preacher. But it doesn't matter
what these men say. It's what, do I preach God's
word? That's the key. And that's how
you've got to determine this. And he says, and I trust also
are made manifest in your consciences. Now this is what got me on to
this message over in Hebrews 9. Last week I preached on this
too, the conscience. What is the conscience? We're
made manifest to your conscience. And I haven't been able to get
this off my mind. That's why I've determined that the Lord
has put this on my heart to preach to you. Because I think this
is so important. I know it's so important. And
I've entitled this message today, The Court of Conscience. The Court of Conscience. Now
why do I call it The Court of Conscience? Because that's really
what the conscience is. It's kind of the courtroom of
your heart. the courtroom of my heart and
our minds, the conscience. It's the seat of judgment whereby
we, out of our conscience, judge right and wrong, good and evil,
even saved and lost. If you judge it, you judge it.
Don't say you don't judge it, you do. But you judge it according
to your conscience. And we know that by nature, man's
conscience is evil. Now that doesn't mean it's not
religious now. Doesn't mean that it can't appear righteous unto
men. But it's evil. It's a fallen conscience. The
evil heart. We're born dead in trespasses and sins. The conscience
is part of the heart. When we're saved by the grace
of God through Christ, we're given a new heart. That means
we're given a new conscience. It's described different ways
in the scripture. So we won't get into all that.
But here's the thing about it. The gospel ministry is to be
undertaken, driven by the fact that every one of us, one day,
will stand before God at judgment. Isn't that right? We'll have
to answer to the Lord. He's the one with whom we have
to do. We know the terror of the Lord. Listen, we also know
the grace and the love of the Lord in Christ. Don't we? But before you reach the judgment
seat of Christ, now listen to me very carefully. Before we
reach the judgment seat of Christ, every one of us will enter the
court of conscience in our lives many, many, many times. We'll enter the court of conscience.
Somebody might say, well, my conscience is bothering me. You're
at court. That's what you're doing. You
say, well, I feel guilty. You're in the court of conscience.
And in the court of conscience, there are three issues, according
to the Bible, to deal with. And I want you to see them this
morning. The first issue is the issue of guilt. That's what you
have to deal with when you go to the court of conscience. That's
what I have to deal with, guilt. Now, when I talk about guilt,
I want you to understand something, though. I'm not talking about
how you feel. You say, I feel guilty. Well,
what are you saying? I ask people when they tell me,
I say, well, what do you mean by that? What, do you feel like
you're a sinner? Yeah, I know I'm a sinner. So if that's what you're talking
about, yes, you feel guilty. You ought to. But when I say
about, when I'm talking about guilt, what I'm talking about
is in line with condemnation. That's what guilt is. Guilt is
a legal term here. It's a sentence. When the criminal goes to court
and he stands before the judge, he's either going to, after the
trial's over, the sentence is either going to be guilty or
what? Not guilty. So that's what we're
talking about. The second issue in the court
of conscience is the issue of repentance. And I want to talk
a little bit about that. And then the third issue in the
court of conscience is the issue of sorrow. Sorrow. And of course, that's obvious.
Are you sorry? Well, let's talk about that a
little bit. All right. Paul set forth there, you remember,
in 2 Corinthians 5. We stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. We know the terror of the Lord.
We persuade men. We preach the gospel. We pray
that sinners will be brought to faith in Christ and repentance,
dead works. We pray that the Lord will bring
His sheep into the fold. And He does it. He will. Whether
it's today or tomorrow, sometime between now and the end of this
world. God's going to bring his people.
Christ said that. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh me I will in
no wise cast out. He said, This is the will of
him which is sent me, that of all which he hath given me I
should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
He says, They all shall be taught of God, from the least of them
to the greatest. So we know in whose hands this
whole thing is. It's in God's hands. Salvation's
of the Lord. And I take great comfort in that.
I tell you what, I don't believe Noah could have preached one
day, let alone 120 years, if he didn't understand that, the
salvations of the Lord, because he didn't have any converts in
120 years. God's going to take care of it.
I don't believe Isaiah could have preached one day. The Lord
told him, I've called you to preach, and he said, but nobody's
going to hear what you say. That's what he said. Who shall
believe our report? Could you imagine that? What
a motivation. Go preach, Isaiah, but nobody's going to hear what
you're going to say. Think about that. Well, why preach, Lord? Because I said so. Think about that. Well, before
we come to judgment, the final judgment, we have to deal with
the court of conscience. And that's what this gospel ministry
is all about. That's what Paul was saying.
I trust that we're made manifest in your conscience. Now, how
is that? Well, the gospel ministry, the
gospel of reconciliation, the gospel of Christ is aimed at
the conscience. You could say it this way. It's
aimed at the heart. In other words, when we preach
the gospel, we're not just out to reform outwardly. Listen,
now, that's not to say that we don't sometimes need reformation.
We do. Bad habits, bad behavior. We
need to change that, you see. But you can clean up the outside,
Christ said, and not the inside. Isn't that right? And that's
what religion cleans up, the outside. But the gospel ministry
is aimed at the heart, the inner man. It's aimed at the conscience,
the mind, the affections, the will. All right? And when I examine
myself, one thing that I want to know is this. You know, the
Bible says examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.
Well, when I examine myself, the one thing that I really want
to know is this. Has the gospel truth been applied
to my conscience by the Holy Spirit? And for that reason,
you've got to deal with those three issues at court. at court. Now the first issue is the issue
of guilt. The Bible says that all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. Isn't that right?
It says the wages of sin is death. The just deserts of sin is death. I've been thinking about this.
I've been writing a little article on it. Conviction of sin. You know, You know, a person
who's been brought into court, what's to be decided is their
guilt or they're not guilty and they're convicted. You're guilty,
you deserve to go to prison or you deserve death, whatever the
sentence is and the just punishment is. When you think about conviction,
And what brother Joe read there in 1 Timothy 1, that this is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. That's the apostle Paul talking.
He says, I am chief. He didn't say Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners of whom I was chief. Because
you see, if you looked at Paul's past life, It was pretty easy
for a lot of people to see how Paul could be classified there
as the chief of sinners. Now, he was a religious man.
Outwardly, he was a moral man. He was a dedicated man. He strove
to keep the Ten Commandments, which says, Thou shalt not kill.
Yet, he was adamant to persecute Christians. He was adamant to go arrest him,
have him put on trial and killed, because he considered what they
preached, Christ, and salvation by the grace of God in Christ,
he considered that to be heresy. And so he was adamant about it.
He was probably the lead persecutor and prosecutor, because they
all feared him. There's one time in the book
of Acts, he had to really convince them that he was the same man
as Saul of Tarsus. No, you couldn't have been that
guy. We knew him. No, by the grace of God, I am
what I am, Paul says. God changed his name. So we could
see in his... But here he is, writing to Timothy,
Paul's an old man now. Been in the ministry for years.
Used of God to start many churches in the Gentile regions. Used
of God to write over half of the New Testament. And yet he
says this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that
Christ has come into the world to save sinners of whom I am
chief. Now was Paul just waxing poetically
there? Was he just talking religiously
there? I know people a lot of times,
you know, they, they, they, it's what they say down south, they
kind of hang dog it, you know, they go, oh, I'm such a bad,
I'm such a good. Somebody else says they get mad,
get angry. Paul's not just waxing poetically
there. He's talking out of, he's speaking by inspiration of the
spirit. That means he's not lying. He's
not even exaggerating. He's telling the truth of whom
I am chief. And I was thinking about conviction of sin. Somebody
says, well, I'm a sinner. Have you really seen yourself
as a sinner? Have I really seen myself to
be a sinner? You know, it takes a work of
God the Holy Spirit to really convince a sinner of sin. And here's the issue. Here's
the issue of conviction. Have you ever seen that if God
were to ever give you what you've deserved and what you've earned
based on your best, it would be eternal damnation. That's
where it lies. It's not just saying, well, I
know I'm not perfect. Everybody knows that. I know
you're not perfect. I've seen you all. You know I'm
not perfect. You've seen me. None of us are
perfect. in ourselves so it's not just
say well i know i'm not perfect it's not say well i know i'm
i'm not perfect but i'm not as bad as some i'm saying this have
you ever seen that if god were at any second in your life to
give you what you deserve and what you've earned based on your
best it would be eternal damnation that's what John meant when he
penned those words in John 16, where he talked about how the
Holy Spirit convinces the world of sin because they believe not
on me, talking about Christ. He's penning the words of Christ
there. In other words, without Christ, my best deserves damnation. And listen, Christ is not just
someone who makes up where I can't get far enough. He's not just
one who fills in the blanks. In other words, I go so far and
then He fills in the rest. Because that's damnation too,
my friend. Christ is all. 100%. All my forgiveness, all my righteousness,
all my glory, That's it. He's everything. Or He's nothing. That's what the Scripture teaches.
If righteousness come by the law, Christ is dead in vain. He told the Jews, if you be circumcised,
Christ will profit you nothing. You can claim Christ all you
want, but if you think it's circumcision plus Christ or Christ plus circumcision,
He'll profit you nothing. He's either all or nothing. That's
what the scripture teaches. So that brings us down to this
issue of the court of conscience. This court of conscience. Now,
look at Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14. He says, how much more? What's
he talking about? That's a comparative. He's saying there's something
less than this that won't get the job done. What was it? Well, he mentions it in verse
13. He says, he says, for if the blood of bulls and of goats
and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, you know what that's
referring to, that's the old covenant law. That's the animal
sacrifices that were shed under the law of Moses. Look back up
here in verse 8 of Hebrews 9. What he was talking about, he's
talking about while that old covenant was in force, while
it was still going on, here's what was being said. Verse 8,
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. While that first tabernacle was
standing and in force and those services were required, that
was a signification by the Holy Spirit that the way into the
holiest of all had not yet been made manifest, revealed, and
accomplished on earth. Now, what is the way into the
holiest? Well, the way into the holiest
is the blood of Christ. And what he's saying, as long
as that stuff was going on, Christ hadn't yet come. That's simply
it. You understand? While the Old
Covenant was in force and going strong according to God's command,
the Holy Spirit was telling those people that the Messiah had not
yet come. He had not yet become incarnate.
He had not yet kept the law. He had not yet died for the sins
of his sheep. God's elect. He had not yet been
buried, not yet raised again. He's going to be, that's what
that whole old covenant and the ceremonial law, the blood of
bulls and goats meant. They typified Christ to come.
But as long as they were in force, the Holy Spirit was signifying
that he had not yet come. Look at verse 9, he says, which
was a figure, a type, a picture for the time being present. For that time, not for our time
now, for that time. in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that, now listen to this, that could not make
him that did the service perfect, that means complete. There was
no finishing, there was no completion, there was no perfection in those
earthly elements as, now look at it, as pertaining to what? The conscience. You know what
those old covenant services did for those people? It reminded
them constantly of their guilt. Of the fact that they deserve
condemnation based upon their best. And it could not make them
complete and perfect as pertaining to the court of conscience. Look
at verse 10. We stood only in meats and drinks. That is ceremonial. That's what
that's talking about. Diverse or various washings.
Carnal ordinances imposed on them. You know what that means?
It means it's forced on them. Why was it forced on them? Because
they were rebellious people. You see this old covenant, the
ceremonial law, the issues of that covenant could not reach
the heart. Couldn't reach the conscience.
And so it had to be forced upon them. It had to be the law of
the land. That's what it had to be to a rebellious people.
Now what's the difference in the church in the New Covenant?
He said, I'll put my law in their hearts. I'll write it in their
hearts. I'll give them a new heart. You see what I'm saying?
There's the difference. All right, he says, it was imposed
on them until the time of what? Reformation. What's that talking
about? Martin Luther and John Calvin?
No. That's talking about the time
of change. When would that change come? It's when Christ Jesus
hanged on that cross in John chapter 19 and He said what? It is finished. And what happened? Remember?
The veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Done
away. Over. And then that's when he
begins to talk about how Christ, as a high priest of good things
to come, verse 11, a greater and more perfect tabernacle.
What was the greater and more perfect tabernacle? His humanity. His body. That's what it's talking
about. God in human flesh. Here's God
in human flesh. Here's the God-man. The Lord
Jesus Christ. You see? And he says, not made
with hands. Men didn't build this with their
hands. That is to say, not of this building. And then he says,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
his own blood, the blood of the God man. He entered into once,
entered in once. You see, they did it more than
once. back in the old covenant the high priest entered into
that the holy of holies one time every year one time on the day
of atonement every year for over for about fifteen hundred years
that's how long that old covenant was in existence and it says
into the holy place having obtained that means it's done eternal
what? redemption eternal redemption
Not a temporary stay of execution. But an eternal redemption. What's
redemption mean? The price has been paid. In full. Eternally. Forever and ever and ever. and
cannot be rescinded and then it says for us well that's added
by the King James translators but what is simply saying is
he did it for his people just like the high priest went in
for Israel Christ our great high priest went into the holiest
of all with his own blood for spiritual Israel God's elect
out of every tribe kindred tongue and nation now look at verse
13 for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of
an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of
the flesh now what does that mean? well what it means is this
that during the time of that old covenant their worship at
the tabernacle in the temple ceremonially and temporally and
physically set them apart from other nations fleshly That was
sanctifying to the purifying of the flesh. It wasn't a spiritual
purification. It was just a ceremonial purification. Those priests, before they went
into the holy place, they had to wash up, you see. They had
to cleanse themselves. They had to cleanse that altar.
Everything had to be cleansed. And the blood of bulls and of
goats was taken in, the blood was taken in by the high priest
into the holiest of all and sprinkled there. And it set them apart,
it sanctified them, but only in a fleshly way, a physical
way, a ceremonial way, not in an eternal way, not in a spiritual
way, you see. So if that did that, if that
animal blood did that, now he says over here in verse 4 of
chapter 10, look at it, he says, it's not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sins. You know, they can't
do that. But if they did sanctify to the
purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
the Son of God incarnate, who through the eternal spirit, not
through... In other words, this has to do
with an eternal everlasting covenant of grace made before the foundation
of the world. And it lasts all the way through
eternity. It wasn't just a 1500 year period
from Sinai to Calvary. This is eternal. The eternal
spirit offered Himself for He was made sin Our sins charged
to Him, imputed, accounted to Him. For us, Christ who knew
no sin, He offered Himself without spot to God. That is, without
fault, without blemish. He's the sinless sacrifice who
went to the cross not for His own sins that He committed or
any sin infused into Him or anything. It was for sin charged to Him. Our sins charged to Him, the
sins of His sheep. Purge your conscience. Cleanse
your conscience. All right? Now, I'm going to
stop right there and just look over at Hebrews chapter 10 and
verse 19. I'm going to come back to verse
19. Now, remember I said the issue
in the court of conscience is guilt. Now, here's the issue of guilt.
Are we guilty? All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. Here's
what I'm saying. If God were to give me what I
deserve and what I've earned, what would it be? If He were
to pronounce sentence upon Bill Parker at any time, in any way, in any
form, shape, form or fashion based on My sins based upon my
best efforts to keep the law. What would the sentence be? What
would it be? It would be guilty. It would be condemnation. Now, he's talking about here
having a purged conscience. Well, what is that purged conscience?
Well, look at Hebrews 10 and verse 19. Now, here's how the
court of conscience goes into operation under the preaching
of the gospel empowered by the Holy Spirit to a believer. Come to the court of conscience. Now, what's he talking about
here in Hebrews 10? He's talking about how Christ, as the substitute
of His people, as the one to whom all the sins of all his
people were imputed, charged to, made to meet upon, how he,
by his one offering as the God-man on the cross, put away sin, paid
the debt, finished the transgression, made an end of sin, and brought
in everlasting righteousness. By his one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10, 14. His one offering
did that. And then God says in verse 17
of Hebrews 10, And their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. I won't hold it against them. I won't impute it to them.
I won't charge them with their sin. David cried, Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth, chargeth not iniquity, whose
sins are covered. What do I deserve? I deserve
death. Is there any other way in the
court of conscience that that can be different? Look at Hebrews
10 and verse 19. He says, having therefore, brethren,
boldness, confidence, liberty, unhindered freedom and access
to enter the holiest, the holiest, the very presence of God. How? Underscore it. By the blood of
Jesus. There's your key. What is his
blood? It's his death. It's his satisfaction. It's his righteousness charged,
accounted to his people. He says in verse 20, by a new
and living way, not that old way, the blood of animals, of
an earthly tabernacle, but a new way, new in time. This way is older than the earth. It's the everlasting covenant
of grace. But it was new in time because it didn't come into existence
in time until Christ came. And that's why it's called a
new covenant. The new covenant is the fulfillment in time of
the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. What God purposed
before time has its fulfillment in time. And He says, "...by
a new and living way, which He hath consecrated, which Christ
hath made new." Christ did it. It's nothing you do or I do.
For us, as our substitute, as our representative, as our sin-bearer,
our sin-offering, through the veil, what veil? That is to say,
His flesh, His humanity, His perfect sinless humanity, God
in human flesh. And verse 21, and having a high
priest over the house of God, he says, verse 22, let us, now
who's us here? That's believers. Those who have
been brought to faith in Christ. And he says, let us draw near
with a true heart. Now what is a true heart? It's
an honest heart. Honest before God. It's a sincere
heart. It's a new heart. Ezekiel 36,
I'll give them a new heart. It's a circumcised heart. Remember
Paul wrote about that in Romans 2. It's the circumcised heart,
the heart that's been convicted over sin. It's the broken heart,
the contrite heart. It's the work of God the Holy
Spirit under the preaching of the gospel to bring a sinner
to see his sin. and to admit before God, Lord,
if you marked iniquities, who would stand? Not me. If you give
me what I've deserved and what I've earned, it'd be hell. That's
what it is. That's the true heart. That's
the sincere heart. It's not the heart of a hypocrite.
It's not the heart of an unbeliever. It's the heart of faith. It's
the heart that's been purged and cleansed by the blood of
Christ. And look what he says, in full assurance of faith. What
is that? That's the full assurance of
my salvation and my justification before God as I look to Christ. That's what faith is. It's looking
to Christ. Resting in Him. His blood and
righteousness. And then look at it. Having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. And our bodies washed
with pure water. What is an evil conscience? It's
a guilty conscience. It's a condemned conscience.
It's a legal conscience. Legalism. You know what happens
to most of the natural man when his conscience gets to bothering
him? What does he do? A lot of times,
what does he do? He gets religious, doesn't he?
Oh, I better rededicate. I better start going back to
church. I better join the church. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, well, I should have joined the church long before I did.
I said, well, you should have looked to Christ. That's what
you need to do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. He gets religious. He promises
to do better. He reforms his life. You say,
well, preacher, what's wrong with all those things? In and
of themselves, nothing. But if that's what soothes the
guilty conscience, my friend, it's an evil conscience. You've gone to court, and you've
been pronounced guilty, and there's no way out. You see, when the
evil conscience is sprinkled, what's that referring to? Remember
when the priest took the hyssop, that plant that they made a brush
out of? And what he did is he took the blood of the animal,
the lamb, off the altar, put it in a basin, carried it in
there, and he took that hyssop brush and he put it into the
blood and he sprinkled it all over the mercy scene and all
over the vessels. And that, as Paul wrote back
over in Hebrews 9, it's a figure, it's a type of what? The blood
of Christ. What can soothe the guilty conscience? before God in the court of conscience. There's only one thing, the blood
of the Lamb of God. And if you find relief from that
guilt any other place other than the blood of sprinkling, other
than Christ and Him crucified and His righteousness alone,
you know what you've got? You've got an evil conscience. If the fact that you walked an
aisle when you were 12 and got baptized, if that soothes it,
my friend, I'm telling you, it's an evil conscience. If the fact
that you've given money to support charity soothes that guilt, that's
an evil conscience. That will not stand up in the
court of God's justice. The only thing in the Bible that
can soothe the guilty conscience and remove the condemnation is
this, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Your conscience will charge you.
Your heart will charge you. My heart does. But who shall
lay... where do you run to for salvation? For justification? For relief? For peace? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
Ever living to make an intercession for us. That's the only way. You see,
that's the issue. You see, an evil conscience will
drive you to seek salvation by your works. An evil conscience
will drive you and motivate you to try to establish a righteousness
of your own. But the cleansed conscience,
the sprinkled conscience, is part of God the Holy Spirit bringing
a sinner to faith in Christ. Now look back at Hebrews 9. Here's
the second issue. Here's the issue of repentance.
Now listen to this. In the court of conscience, and
it goes right in line with what I've been saying, when you, listen,
when your conscience accuses, Where do you run to for help? He says in verse 14, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from what? Dead works to serve the living
God. Now turn to Philippians chapter
3. Let me show you a glaring example of what that passage
there is teaching. Philippians chapter 3. Here is
Saul of Tarsus. And just like everybody else,
has a guilty conscience. Where did Saul of Tarsus go to
to find salvation? Where did he go to to find righteousness? Where did he go to to find relief
and peace? Well, look at it. He says in
verse 4 of Philippians 3, "...though I might also have confidence
in the flesh." He went to the flesh. What do you mean, preacher? Well, listen to what he says.
He tells you what he means. He says, "...if any other man
thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh,
I more." What are you talking about? Verse 5, "...circumcised
the eighth day." of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews, is touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless." Where did he go to for his righteousness?
Where did he go to for his justification? Where did he go to for his relief
and peace? He went to his works, his decisions, his own will,
his own way, his own works. That's where he went to. Just
like the Pharisee, in the parable of the Pharisee, Lord, I thank
Thee that I'm not like other men. I've done this, I've done
that. Just like those false preachers
in Matthew 7. Haven't we preached in Your name? Haven't we cast
out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful... Where do they go
to? They go to their works, their religion, their ceremonies, their
dedication, their zeal. And that gives them relief, temporarily. But where does the cleansed conscience
go to? We'll look at verse 7 of Philippians
3. But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for
Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith." Now there's only one who can soothe that
conscience. And that's Christ. Dead works
won't do it. What are dead works? Any works
that are aimed at saving yourself or keeping yourself saved or
making yourself righteous before God. Shouldn't believers be obedient? Yes. But the only thing that
can soothe that convicted conscience, cleanse that conscience, is the
blood of Jesus Christ. And then turn to 2 Corinthians
7. That's the issue of repentance. Repentance of dead works. And then here's the issue of
sorrow. The conscience, the court of conscience, 2 Corinthians
7 now, will continually make a believer sorry over their sins. That's right. It's this repentance. It begins in repentance of dead
works, but it continues a lifetime of repentance. Paul's talking
about that here in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7. Look at verse 8. He said, for though I made you
sorry with a letter, he'd written a letter to the Corinthian church
over their bad behavior. He said, I made you sorry with
a letter. I do not repent, though I did repent. He felt like, what
he's saying there is this, when he first wrote the letter, he
felt like he's being a little too hard on him, but now he says,
I wasn't. He said, for I perceive that
the same letter, the same epistle, hath made you sorry, though it
were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were
made sorry, I want to be sorry for my sins. I want you to be
sorry for your sins. But it's not just being made
sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. That is, sorrowed
to repentance unto obedience. That's what he's talking about.
For you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might
receive damage by us in nothing. In other words, in trying to
make him sorry, Paul didn't damage him. Now, what does he mean by
that? Well, it's like a false preacher who preaches a salvation
by works. He'd damage you. Why? Because he'd bring you into unbelief. That's what he does, you know.
You're not doing enough. You're not giving enough. You're
not acting right. And if you don't, God's going
to take it out the back in a coffin or something. You know, that's
damage. That's legal conviction. But look at verse 10, he says,
but godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented
of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Now what is he
saying? Just very, very shortly. The
sorrow of the world that works death is a sorrow that stirs
up legal repentance, legal obedience, mercenary, seeking to please
God, seeking to obey God in a way that dishonors Him. That's the
sorrow of the world. It finds relief from that sorrow
in the works of the sinner. But the sorrow, the godly sorrow
in the court of conscience that brings a sinner to be really
sorry for his sins. unto repentance, unto obedience,
change of behavior, is that which finds relief only in Christ and
Him alone. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. You see, even my sorrow doesn't
save me. Even my sorrow doesn't wash away
my sins. Even my sorrow doesn't make me
righteous. It just simply shows that I am
washed in the blood of Christ and righteous in Him. That I'm
saved by the grace of God. Okay. Let's sing hymn number
280 as our closing hymn. Moment by moment. 280.