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.
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