Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
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an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
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for today's program. welcome to our broadcast today
i'm glad you could join us for the message i'll be preaching
from the book of hebrews in the new testament from the bible
the book of hebrews chapter nine going through this chapter i'm
going to be talking about the conscience today the title of
the message is how to have a clear conscience a clear conscience
how to have a clear conscience and you know This is taken from
verse 9 of Hebrews chapter 9, where we're taught in contrast
to the old covenant elements. Now you remember the old covenant,
which is the covenant that God placed the nation Israel under
for 1,500 years. That conditional covenant, which
they broke, that covenant that was given to them to keep that
nation together until the time of reformation, which I spoke
of last time. Verse 10 talks about the time
of reformation, the time of change. And what was that time of change?
Well, it was the time when the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised
Messiah, came into the world to do his great work of redemption,
redeeming his people by his death on the cross. He came in time
to establish righteousness for God's elect. And God's elect,
the chosen of God, are identified in the Scriptures as those who
are brought by God to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whether
they be Jew or Gentile. If you believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as He is presented and identified and distinguished
in the Bible, in both His person and His finished work, then that
gives evidence that you're one of God's elect. It's what the
scripture teaches. But that's the time of Reformation.
That was indicated on the cross when Christ, when He cried out,
it's finished, the redemption of His people, the establishment
of righteousness in time by which God would be just to justify
His chosen people. When he gave up the ghost, the
veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, indicating
that a change had been brought about in time on earth. And that's
the time of Reformation. That's when the old covenant
ended. It was abolished. We read that
over in the book of Hebrews chapter eight and verse 13. It says,
in that he saith a new covenant He hath made the first old, that
is the old covenant, first in time. And he says, now that which
decayeth and waxeth or groweth old is ready to vanish away. That's the old covenant. It's
been fulfilled. And the new covenant is now in
place. Now the new covenant is the establishment
in time of an everlasting eternal covenant of grace made before
time. So everything in this new covenant revolves around the
Lord Jesus Christ and that's the time of Reformation. In the book of Hebrews chapter
nine, the writer makes this point, and of course we know the writer
is God. Some people argue over who was the human instrument
who wrote the book of Hebrews. I personally believe it was the
Apostle Paul, but I'm not sure of that and it doesn't matter
because I believe the Bible is the inspired written word of
God. God is the author. It's by inspiration. That is, God breathed the inerrant
word of God. And that's why I have so much
regard and respect for the Bible. And it's the final authority
for me. The first and the last word on
salvation and matters of a right relationship with God. But in
Hebrews chapter 9, the writer is making a contrast between
what the Old Covenant elements, he talks about the sanctuary,
the tabernacle, He talks about the Ark of the Covenant, the
golden pot that had manna, the tables of the Covenant, Aaron's
rod that budded, the mercy seat. All of those physical elements
that were part of the Old Covenant, they were inadequate to save
a sinner from sin. There was no salvation in that
Old Covenant in and of itself. Now, In the Old Covenant, the
law of God, the Ten Commandments, was given to show them their
sin, to show them their depravity, and to show them the impossibility
of being justified, made right, forgiven, cleansed, righteous
before God based upon their deeds, based upon their works. That's
why it was given. now there were other elements
of the old covenant in the tabernacle in the priesthood in the sacrifices
that were pictures types uh... symbols if you will shadows of
someone and something much better and much greater to come and
that was the lord jesus christ and his blood which washes away
the sins of all his people his righteousness, his great work
of redemption. And so he says that the elements
of the old covenant, look at Hebrews 9 and verse 9. The elements
of the old covenant, the blood of animals, for example, the
blood of bulls and goats, the human priesthood of Aaron and
the tribe of Levi, the holy of holies, the tabernacle, These
things were, verse 9, which was a figure, a type, a picture for
the time then present, not for our time now, but for their time,
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices. Sacrifices were
the sacrifices of blood, which pictured propitiation, which
pictured the fact that the soul that sinneth must surely die.
and we as sinners need a substitute to take our place and pay that
debt. And the gifts were thank offerings.
Now all those gifts and sacrifices, now look at this, verse nine,
that could not make him that did the service perfect, and
then he adds, as pertaining to the conscience. Conscience. Could not make the person who
brought those sacrifices perfect. complete, righteous, forgiven,
all the blessings that God's elect have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it says, as pertaining to
the conscience. Now I mentioned this last time, but what is the
conscience? You know, the Bible often speaks in terms of the
heart, the natural heart of man is desperately wicked. Who can
know it? Jeremiah wrote that back in Jeremiah
17. the thoughts, the mind, the affections,
the will, but also the conscience. The conscience is the seat of
judgment within the mind. It is the sense of right and
wrong. The conscience, you see, it's
part of the mind, it's part of the heart. You know often, and
I know I've done this too, we as preachers often when we talk
about, we'll say just mental knowledge and heart knowledge,
and we point down here to our heart, but the heart in the scripture
includes the mind, the affections, the will, and the conscience. And that conscience is the seat
of judgment, seat of right and wrong. Now, all men and women
are born with a conscience. Over in the book of Romans, chapter
2, the Apostle Paul was inspired by the Spirit to write of that.
And he's talking about Gentiles in verse 14 who did not have
the law of Moses. And the point that he's making
here is this, that just because the Gentiles did not have the
law of Moses from Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments and all
that, does not mean that they had no conscience, that they
had no sense of right and wrong, that they didn't have laws to
govern society. And here's what he says in verse
14 of Romans 2, listen to this. For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature, naturally, as they're born naturally,
the things contained in the law, that is, the Gentiles, you know,
the Ten Commandments says, thou shalt not kill. Well, the Gentiles
didn't have the Ten Commandments back then, but they still had
laws that forbade murder. You shouldn't kill. That's what
he means by that. Stealing, they had laws that
forbade stealing. And he says, these having not
the law are a law unto themselves, verse 15, which show the work
of the law written in their hearts. That's their conscience, you
see. Their conscience also bearing witness that their thoughts the
mean while accusing or else excusing one another. They had laws, they
had legal systems, they had courts. And that's what he's talking
about. That's the conscience. But now
here's the thing. The conscience of all natural
men and women fallen in Adam, ruined by the fall, born dead
spiritually, the conscience is defiled. The conscience is defiled. The conscience is defiled with
sin. Now, how do you know that? Well,
somebody might say something like this, well, I know I'm a
sinner. I know I'm not perfect, but how do I have a clear conscience? I know I'm guilty, for example.
I know I've committed these acts or had these thoughts, and that
brings guilt down upon the conscience. Guilt is one of the hardest things
to deal with. Someone once said that the institutions,
the mental institutions, are filled with people because of
guilty consciences and here's the issue that shows how defiled
the conscience is the conscience of natural man or what we call
the defiled conscience is a guilty conscience but it's one that
seeks relief from the guilt in something that denies or dishonors
God in his glory. Now, do you understand what I'm
saying there? If you have a guilty conscience, you say, well, I'm,
you know, I know I'm just as bad as I could be or whatever.
How do you find relief? How do you clear that conscience?
Well, back during the old covenant, many or most of the Israelites
who were under that system They sought to clear their conscience
by their works, by their activities, by their participation. I've
often said on this program that the Jews had basically three
points in themselves which they used to claim a right relationship
with God. And you could say it this way,
to clear their conscience. Number one was their physical
connection with Abraham. Number two was their physical
circumcision of the males, which represented the whole family.
And number three was their keeping of the Law of Moses. Well, to
seek a clear conscience, to seek perfection, completeness, righteousness,
forgiveness, cleansing, based on any of those things, denies
God, the God of the Bible. It's unbelief. It dishonors God,
every attribute of His character. And that's a defiled conscience.
Now, under that old covenant system, participating in all
of those ordinances and all of those sacrifices did not make
the one who brought those things perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. One of the reasons that that's
clearly taught is because those things had to be repeated over
and over and over again. I kind of liken it to the false
religious system of rededication today. It's common for people
to think, well, salvation is just something I did when I was
12. I walked an aisle, and I confessed
Christ, and I got baptized. Then I go out and sow my wild
oats, and I have to come back in and get rededicated. And then
you go out and do this. You have to come back and get
rededicated. You see, all of that. And that's
how they clear their conscience. That's dishonoring to God. That's
not in the Bible. That's a concoction of man to
keep them present in the congregation and all of that. So don't think
about it. Those things have to be repeated.
How can I have a clear conscience? Well, look over at Hebrews chapter
10 and verse one. Now listen to this. It says,
for the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not
the very image of the things. You see that law talked about
good things to come. but it wasn't the very substance
of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continually, over and over and over again, make
the comers thereunto perfect, complete, righteous. Verse two,
for then, if they could have made the worshipers complete,
perfect, righteous, forgiven, cleansed, Would they not have
ceased to be offered? You wouldn't have had to do them
over and over again. Because that the worshipers once
purged, once cleansed, should have no more conscience of sins,
no more guilt. Now don't confuse the word conscience
with the word conscious. In other words, here's the point
that I'm going to make. If I am truly in the Lord Jesus
Christ, believing in Him, which means I'm washed clean from all
my sins in His blood, His death, and then I stand before God righteous
in Him, having His righteousness imputed, charged to me, based
upon the one-time act of Christ on that cross, You see, if I'm
in Him, then I'm not guilty. I am a sinner, and I am very
aware of my sins, conscious of my sins. But I have no more conscience
of sin in this sense. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. That's what that means. I am
saved eternally by the grace of God based upon the righteousness
of Christ imputed. Now let me show you that here
in the scriptures. Look back at verse nine again
of Hebrews chapter nine. He says, these things were 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 which stood only in
meats and drinks, divers for various washings, carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. See, that's a
way of describing all of those activities under the old covenant. Verse 11, but Christ, being come
and high priest of good things to come by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, not of that Jewish temple, Christ is the
tabernacle. John 1 14, the word was made
flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us. And he says in verse
12 of Hebrews 9, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood, he entered in once. Now not continually,
not year after year, but once his sacrifice, his one offering
took care of the whole problem. That's what it's saying. That's
why it's a sin to add anything to the blood of Christ, to the
righteousness of Christ, to the death of Christ, as to attaining
or maintaining salvation and a right relationship with God.
The foundation, the ground of salvation is his one offering. He entered in once into the holy
place, that is the very presence of God, having obtained eternal
redemption for us, for his people, his sheep, his church, God's
elect. He obtained it. Now the blood
of bulls and goats couldn't do that. Look across the page to
Hebrews 10 and verse three. Remember he said, those things
had to be offered continually year after year, but they couldn't
make the comers there into perfect. If they could have, they would
have ceased. Verse three of Hebrews 10, but in those sacrifices,
there's a remembrance again made of sins every year. And the remembrance
is not just a consciousness of that, it is the guilt of it,
the condemnation that comes from it. So he says in verse four
of Hebrews 10, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. The animal sacrifices couldn't
do that. When Abel back in Genesis chapter
four brought the lamb blood of the Lamb. He wasn't looking to
animal blood to cleanse him from his sins. He was looking forward
to the promised Messiah. How do I know that? The Bible
teaches it. Hebrews chapter 11, 1 John chapter
3. You see, Abel believed that God
was going to send Christ. Well, look back at Hebrews chapter
9. He says in verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and of goats
and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify it to the
purifying of the flesh. Now let me, that's a difficult
verse, but let me tell you what he's saying there. That word
sanctify means set apart. And what he's saying is for 1500
years under the old covenant, God set the nation Israel apart
from all other nations through that old covenant and its sacrifices. And what he's saying here is
that the ashes and the blood of bulls and goats, the ashes
of an heifer that came from off the altar, sprinkling them, you
remember how Moses had to sprinkle everything and the high priest
had to do that later on. set apart to the purifying of
the flesh. It was a ceremonial, civil purification. It was not a spiritual purification. It was not an eternal purification. But it was a physical thing.
And that's what the blood of bulls and goats accomplished.
Just a physical, temporary, civil, ceremonial physical purification,
that was it. Just like you go wash your hands
from the dirt. You got dirt on your hands, you
go wash them, and you say, well, they're purified physically. And that's what the blood of
bulls and goats did. So here's what he's saying in
verse 13. If the blood of bulls and of goats did that, accomplish
that, verse 14, now here's the key. How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit You see, this
is an eternal thing. This is a spiritual thing. Offered
himself without spot to God, the sinless sacrifice of Christ.
Bible says he was made sin. How? By imputation. The sins
of his people charged to him. Purge your conscience. Cleanse
your conscience from the guilt and defilement and the condemnation
from dead works to serve the living God. Now what are the
dead works there? The dead works refers to people's
attempts to cleanse their conscience by anything other than or added
to the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what dead works are. Those
under the old covenant who tried to cleanse their conscience with
the blood of ceremony and activity, their connection with Abraham,
their circumcision, keeping the law, that's dead works. You who
are trying to cleanse your conscience today by your activities in religion,
joining the church, getting baptized, taking the Lord's Supper, rededicating,
that's dead works. There's only one thing that can
cleanse the guilty conscience, and that's the blood, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look over at Hebrews 10 and look
at verse 19 of Hebrews 10. Listen to this. He says, having
therefore brethren, boldness, that means liberty, free access
to enter into the holiest, the very presence of God. What gives
me liberty, right and title, free access to enter the presence
of God? And he says, by the blood of
Jesus. You see that? Verse 20, by a
new and living way. This is not the old covenancy. which he, Christ, hath consecrated,
newly made for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
he died, you see. Verse 21, and having a high priest
over the house of God, verse 22, let us draw near with a true
heart, a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith. Now, what
is the full assurance of faith? It's the full assurance that
I get by looking to Christ and His blood and righteousness as
my only ground of salvation to justify me before God. Having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, a guilty conscience,
a legal conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. How are
we going to have a clear conscience? There's only one way, and there's
no other way. The only way is to look to Christ,
believing in Him, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, pleading His blood, His righteousness imputed as
my only ground of salvation. I have no right, I have no title,
I have no qualification, fitness to approach God in any way and
expect God to receive me and accept me and bless me, but the
righteousness of His Son. And the Bible says, for by one
offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. This
is a one-time thing. I look back on what Christ accomplished. Christ, who is God in human flesh,
the Word made flesh, tabernacling among us. I have no other right. Somebody says, well, what is
my right to pray? I heard a man say one time that
he didn't feel like he was qualified to pray because he had lost his
temper during the day. And I thought, well, if you didn't
lose your temper, you wouldn't be qualified to pray based on
anything like that. You know what our qualification,
you know what a believer's qualification for prayer is? We have a great
high priest who has passed through into the heavens, Jesus Christ,
the righteous. He's our qualification. The Bible
says that in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
and you're complete in him. How much more, that's what he's
saying here in Hebrews 9.14, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, the blood of God in human flesh, God manifest with
us, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. You see, as a sinner saved by
grace, I'm aware of my sin, but I cannot be condemned because
of Christ. Hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.