Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide? Sorry Jiminy, I Don't Think So!

Hebrews 9:11-14

Today we look at a significant passage out of the book of Hebrews.  It comes from Hebrews 9, and I specifically want to look at vv. 11-14.  Now you may now, that we do not know who the the author of Hebrews is, but even though we don't know that, we are sure that this is a crucial message from God to his people on who Jesus Christ is.

To set the stage for these verses, we have had the author of Hebrews presenting a sermon on how Christ is superior or better than anything.  The author shows that Jesus Christ is greater than supernatural beings like angels, he is great than all the prophets including the greatest - Moses, Jesus' role as priest for all humanity is greater than any order of priests in the past.  Basically, the author of Hebrews has succeeded in showing how Jesus Christ is the ultimate Messiah, the ultimate Prophet, and the ultimate High Priest.  Then the author goes on to show how Jesus works under a better covenant, a better temple in heaven, and how he was a better sacrifice.  It is in this section, that we find chapter 9 and the verses for today.  Jesus has provided an incredible accomplishment by his sacrifice.  Let's look now as vv. 11-14...

“But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

(Hebrews 9:11-14 TNIV)

Chapter 9 has several great accomplishments that Christ has done for us, but this morning we are looking as the first.  Christ cleanses our conscience.  How does he do this?  Jesus provides for us moral cleansing.  Well, the first thing you should be asking is, what does he mean by "moral cleansing" and second, what difference does it make?  We will see shortly.  First, we need to see what the conscience is.

Do you remember the old Disney animated movie, "Pinocchio"?  In this 1940's Disney classic, Pinocchio, a wooden puppet desires to become a real boy.  After Pinocchio's maker, Geppetto, makes a wish upon a falling star, the wooden puppet is visited by a Blue Fairy.  She tells Pinocchio that he can become a real boy of flesh and blood if he proves himself to be brave, truthful, and unselfish and is able to tell right from wrong by listening to his conscience.  Pinocchio doesn't understand what a conscience is, but then has it explained to him by another character, that had entered the puppeteer's workshop to get warm.  This character as you might remember is Jiminy Cricket, which is basically a small green, talking cricket.  Jiminy is asked by the Blue Fairy to serve as Pinocchio's conscience throughout the movie.

But Jiminy Cricket is famous for singing a few songs in the movie, one of which is "Give A Little Whistle."   And one of the famous lines from that song is "Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide."  So, was Jiminy right?  Can we let our conscience by our guide?  Well, the answer depends.  Our conscience is our God-given ability for self-moral evaluation.  Basically, our conscience is the ability God gave us to tell what is right and wrong and to see if we are living a righteous life or one that displeases God.  Put another way, our conscience is our ability to know something about myself that God knows.

Now we come to the answer to our previous question, "What it mean for Jesus to cleanse our conscience?" or put another way, "What does it mean for Jesus to give us moral cleansing?"  Well, in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, he provided us with two things: 1) negatively, he relieved the conscience from its sense of sin, guilt, and alienation from God, and 2) positively, he gave the conscience a sense of forgiveness and peace.  So, Jesus took away sin and guilt from our conscience and gave it forgiveness and peace.  When did or does this happen?  Well, it happened for each one of us at our conversion, when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior.  But it also happens many times after our conversion as we put forth the effort on a regular basis to keep our conscience clear.  What I'm talking about is confession of sins.  1 John 1:9 reads, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (TNIV).  We need to be putting in effort on a regular basis to keep our conscience clear by confessing our sins to God and receiving that sense forgiveness and peace that Christ offers again and again.  Why is this so important?  Because one precondition for serving God is a clear conscience.  We can't truly serve God as he desires us to without having a clear conscience before him.  Having it clear will let us see clearly what is the right thing to do to please our Father in heaven.

So, to answer the question - Can we let our conscience be our guide?  Only if we have a clear conscience that has a sense of peace because there is no unconfessed sin in our life that we feel know is coming between us and God in our relationship with him.  Only a clear conscience can produce pleasing service to God.

What the Word of God Does for Us

Psalm 19:7-14

Ps 19:7     The law of the LORD is perfect,

refreshing the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.

8 The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure,

and all of them are righteous.

Ps 19:10     They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the honeycomb.

11 By them your servant is warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.

12 But who can discern their own errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.

13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.

Ps 19:14     May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

(from Today's New International Version)

As we look at this passage, one of the first things that should strike us is the description of God's Word.  We should all be familiar, as we read through the Scriptures, of this way of describing God's Word.  In these verses in particular the Word of God is said to be: 1) perfect, 2) trustworthy, 3) right, 4) radiant, 5) pure, 6) sure, 7) righteous, 8) more precious than gold, 9) and sweeter than honey.

Now, we could focus on what the Word of God is in these descriptions and talk quite a bit about what they mean.  Clearly, the Word of God stands alone as the most precious book ever.  But in this passage I want to focus on the descriptions of what the Word of God does for us.  What results does it have or what does it produce when it is applied to a life.  We will focus on four things.

First, it is something that refreshes the soul (v. 7).  This could be refreshment that someone needs from intense distress or tragedy or it could be refreshment to someone who is simply tired or worn out.  But God's Word refreshes our desires and emotions to make the life within us, our soul, be revived to take on each day and serve the LORD.

Second, the Word of God makes wise the simple (v. 7).  The idea here is that the Word of God makes us teachable.  This I believe is one of the most admirable qualities a person can have because I believe it demonstrates a degree of heavenly wisdom on their part because we all have things we need to learn.  We need to be teachable people, people that God can mold as he desires.  The need to be teachable no matter what stage we have reached in life is illustrated very well in a short story written by Frank Koch in the magazine Proceedings, produced by the Naval Institute:

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days.             I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell.  The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."

"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.

Lookout replied, "Steady captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees."

Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."

The captain said, "Send I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."

"I'm a seaman second class, " came the reply.  "You had better change course 20 degrees."

By that time, the captain was furious.  He spat out, "Send, I'm a battleship.  Change course 20 degrees."

Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."

We changed course.

Here we can easily see the need for us to keep the attitude of being teachable no matter what stage we are in life, and it is the Word of God that is the tool that makes teachable if we are in it on a regular basis.

Third, the Word of God gives joy to our hearts (v. 8).  This means that God's Word educates our emotions and our minds to help us feel as we should about our circumstances - no matter how dismal that may seem, we have joy in the midst of them and we examine life in light of that joy

Fourth, the Word of God gives light to the eyes (v. 8).  This means that God's Word gives the reader the opportunity to see the world around them the way God sees it to some extent.  We get God's perspective on things, which is always the most important perspective.  We recognize needs as well as the beauty of his creation, which includes each human being with the dignity he created them with.  It also allows us to see God's boundaries for life.  We understand what is acceptable behavior and what is not acceptable to God.  We understand what God values, and what we in turn should value.  In a similar way, Paul speaks of this in Romans 12:1-2, when he speaks of the Christian's need to "renew" their minds.  The Word of God is what will "renew" our minds to have the illumination to see life the way God wants us to see it.