A Cleansed Conscience

(Part 2)

Hebrews 9:13-14

June 10, 2001

 

Many evangelicals boil down Jesus Christ's redemptive work as a magical therapy to help those with poor self-images and emotional hang-ups begin to finally feel good about themselves. Since everyone has some kind of hang-up, then everyone needs Christ, at least to some degree. So rather than redeeming us for God, the work of Christ is used to redeem us for ourselves. The Godhead exists to sustain our ambitions and lifestyles.

 

Without trying to over caricature the issue, it is clear that much of professing Christianity lacks God-centeredness. Churches are driven by activities that more often than not do little to reinforce God-centered lives. Emphasis is placed on comfort, enjoyment, fun, personal excitement, physical and emotional well being, with one's spiritual life squeezed into the mixture as almost a "necessary evil." And people don't mind being "Christian" as long as they do not have to give serious consideration to the demands of the gospel.

 

This stands in sharp contrast to the gospel call of taking up our cross and following Jesus Christ, and of being "a people for God's own possession." Jesus Christ does not redeem us so that we can follow our own ambitions, all the while feeling better about ourselves. The gospel is not a self-help tool that invigorates our emotional health so that we might better lord over our lives. The redemptive work of Christ cleanses our conscience from sin and calls us to holy service unto God. Our text helps us with three questions regarding this call to holy service: What is this service? What qualifies us for this service? And how does Jesus Christ cleanse our conscience to serve the living God? Let us consider the ministry Jesus has secured for us.

 

Secured Ministry 

(as continued from a sermon on June 3, 2001 on Hebrews 9:1-14)

 

We previously considered that the work of Jesus Christ at the cross, secured redemption from the curse of the Law and guilt of sin. In contrast to the priests in the tabernacle who continually offered sacrifices to propitiate God, Jesus Christ "entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Nothing can be added to the work of Christ! God accepted with finality the work of his Son as satisfying his eternal righteousness and justice in the redemption of sinful men.

 

But all too often people view faith in Christ as the means to a self-serving end. I will grant that being a Christian typically does affect the way you think about yourself and everything else in life. It changes attitudes that therapy could do nothing about. It liberates us from enslaving and demoralizing habits. It gives us a joy and peace that transcends anything therapists can attempt. Having pointed out these things (and this only scratches the surface) I must insist that none of them is the reason God saves us. For being a Christian might also get you ostracized or persecuted or imprisoned or even killed. These are not exactly on the self-serving agenda. Salvation through Christ is not self-serving but God-glorifying and God-centered. Paul explained it like this, "For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." And then in a triumphant note of clarification, "For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living" (Rom. 14:7-9).

 

So Christ's work of redemption is not so that we can feel good about ourselves, but that saturated with God-centeredness, we might live unto him and for his glory. To help us see this, our writer views redemption as not only a cleansed conscience before God but a call to holy service. The background for this is found in verse 13, a reference to the high priestly work on the Day of Atonement and also to the practice of ceremonially purifying worshipers: "For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh." The "cleansing of the flesh" has no mystical content but simply means an external, ceremonial act that permitted the worshiper to return to divine service. Numbers 19:1-10 explains the ordinance of the red heifer. If someone touched a corpse or was in the tent of someone who died or touched a dead person on the battlefield or helped to bury a friend, then he was ceremonially unclean. He could not return to the fellowship of the congregation and the worship of the Lord until he was made clean. In anticipation of ceremonial uncleanness, a red heifer would be burned along with cedar wood, hyssop (marjoram) and scarlet material. After it was completely burned, the priest would gather the ashes, storing them in a dry place in order to be mixed with water for the sprinkling of purification. The one who was unclean would wait seven days outside the camp, then appear before the priest who would purify him on the third and seventh days by sprinkling this mixture of red heifer ashes and water on him. Afterward, his flesh was considered clean and he was readmitted to the fellowship and worship of Israel. Until he was cleansed he was not able to worship and serve the Lord.

 

The point the writer makes is that if such an ordinance had the power to restore a person to fellowship and worship-at least externally, then "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" He begins with the lesser, the ceremonial, and goes to the greater that actually has an effect upon the believer. To help us investigate this, I want to begin at the end of the passage and work backward. So we must first consider the nature of this service of the living God.

 

1. What is this service?

 

The writer makes it plain that the cleansing through Christ in his death is so that we might "serve the living God." This service is the same word used earlier in the chapter to refer to the service of the priests. In both verses one and six the term is translated, "divine worship." It helps us to understand that this writer did not see service as doing things for God or helping God as though he was lacking. It refers to the active worship and service of God by those set apart unto him. In their case service was related to the offering of sacrifices and giving gifts unto the Lord (v. 9). John Owen adds that the word "properly denotes that service which consists in the observation and performances of solemn worship" [An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, vol. VI, 313).

 

No Longer Spectators

 

But what is this ministry given through redemption? We have no brazen altar or mercy seat or tabernacle. The use of the same word is intentional. While these professing believers struggled with a return to the ceremonial activities of Judaism, the pastoral author reminds them that the priests were the ones who were involved in regular worship and service unto God. The people, for the most part, were spectators. They depended upon the priests to approach God on their behalf. They had no confidence to approach him. Did they desire to be mere spectators? But now through "the blood of Christ," all who are cleansed in conscience can be engaged in "divine worship." It is service rendered to "the living God." It is not some dumb idol that we serve or some theory of religion. We approach the Creator to render worship. What is our connection to these Old Testament priests?

 

A Royal Priesthood

 

We are declared to be "a royal priesthood" and "a kingdom, priests to His God and Father" (I Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6). This is not the "paid staff" or even the elders. It refers to every believer! All of you who are redeemed by Jesus Christ are to "serve the living God." But how do you serve him? You do so through offering prayers, worship, gifts, praises, gospel proclamations, testimonies, and holy lives that we find foreshadowed in the priests. Being redeemed never means a life of boring inactivity! It is a fully active life, lived passionately as those who have been set apart through the blood of Jesus Christ by the work of the Spirit. Paul explained that even the act of daily presenting ourselves as living sacrifices unto God is our "spiritual service of worship" (Rom. 12:1). No one expressed it better than Peter: "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.... But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (2:5, 9). The sacrifices of praise (Heb. 13:15), prayer, and worship are to be our new occupation as believers. Proclaiming Jesus Christ through whatever means we can becomes our new passion. These things are never to be considered options for the Christian. They are our occupation as part of the holy priesthood purchased by the blood of Christ!

 

But how can you serve the living God? You must have a cleansed conscience to qualify you for service.

 

2. What qualifies us for this service?

 

You will notice that the text ties in the cleansing of the conscience from dead works unto (Greek, eis, which seems better rendered as "unto" in this case) the service of the living God: "cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." The thing that held the ancient Jews back from unfettered worship was their guilty consciences. How could they approach the holy, all-seeing, all-knowing God? With a deep sense of God's holiness the people shrank from approaching God. The veil of the tabernacle separated them from the presence of the Lord. They lived with the consciousness of the smoke and thunder upon Mount Sinai, and the utterances of God. One thing is certain; these people had a deep reverence for the Lord. They were not trite when speaking of God. They did not make jokes about the Lord or spiritual matters. So filled with awe over God, they would not even utter his covenantal name, Yahweh, for fear that they might profane it by mispronouncing it.

 

Dead Works

 

But there is a play on terminology here to help illustrate what our writer means (v. 13). He refers to the practice of those who were ceremonially defiled by contacting someone who was dead. Even if it happened by accident that they were in a tent with a dead person or helped someone that was dying, they were still defiled. Spurgeon points out that the heinous nature of man's enmity with God can be seen in the fact that seven days of uncleanness were demanded for touching or being in the company of a dead man while only one day of ceremonial uncleanness was demanded for touching a dead animal. The sinfulness of man pollutes whatever it comes near. The sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer was required to make the worshiper ceremonially clean.

 

"Dead works," in the case of our text, plague the conscience to keep us from freely worshiping the Lord. Why do men not naturally worship the Lord? It is the problem of "dead works." We might call this works or acts that are characterized by death. Owen writes, "They proceed from a principle of spiritual death...they are useless and fruitless, as all dead things are.... They deserve death, and tend thereunto. Hence they are like rotten bones in the grave, accompanied with worms and corruption" [311].

 

We might think that we can avoid such "dead works" by doing good deeds. But even in the good we do, as Spurgeon expressed it, "there is sin even in our holy things." He adds, "Brethren, sin stains our piety and pollutes our devotion. We do not even pray without needing to ask God to forgive the prayer. Our acts of faith have a measure of unbelief in them, for the faith is never so strong as it ought to be" [MTP, vol. 25, 363]. Lest any of us think that we can produce a certain level of personal purity that will be found acceptable to God, take a good look at your own heart and motives; and then think deeply upon the justice of God. Dead works even in the midst of spiritual actions stains us. Our one hope is in the merciful provision of Jesus Christ!

 

Christ's Merit

 

This is why our writer emphasizes throughout his Epistle that the sole means for us to approach God is through Jesus Christ. Because of Christ's high priestly work, we are to come boldly before the throne of grace (4:14-16). Because Jesus Christ has opened a new and living way for us through the veil of his flesh at the cross, we can enter the presence of God with confidence (10:19-20). It is the bloody death of Christ that cleanses the conscience from dead works to serve the living God! It is not your personal piety that opens the way to God for you. The merits of Christ alone suffice to open the way to God.

 

If the sprinkled ashes of a red heifer could make a defiled man ceremonially clean so that he could return to the congregation and join in worship, "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" What qualifies you for worshiping and serving the living God? It is the merit of Jesus Christ gained on your behalf at the cross that qualifies you to serve the Lord. The ashes of a red heifer affected a man externally or ceremonially, but the blood of Christ affects us internally and practically. There is great liberation in thinking upon this. For often we have difficulty in our Christian worship and service because we are smitten in conscience over our performance. Our deeds testify to the weakness of character, duplicity of motives, and deceitfulness of attitudes. Our ancient writer exhorts us to move away from a dependence upon our supposed merits to anchoring our trust in Jesus Christ. He alone qualifies us to serve the living God.

 

3. How does Jesus Christ cleanse our conscience to serve the living God?

 

There is a three-fold answer to this question found in our text.

 

The Exceptional Nature of Christ's Work

 

First, the exceptional nature of Christ's work is noted by the phrase, "how much more will the blood of Christ." Trusting in something external is easy for a man to do. From an emotional and psychological slant, we can convince ourselves that something done externally suffices for our spiritual need, that of a cleansed conscience. If you doubt this then take a look at modern evangelicals. It is horrifying that the data comparing professing believers to professing unbelievers shows no real difference in character, family life, or morals. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.... He who does not love Me does not keep my words" (John 14:23-24). Yet many of the professing believers are smugly satisfied that they are in a right relationship to God in spite of the fact that they do not keep Jesus' words. They have either psychosomatically convinced themselves or else been manipulated to believe that they are right with God, that God is their friend, and everything is okay spiritually. So they pray, and preach, and sing, and witness, and serve, and praise the Lord without giving careful thought to anchoring their lives in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. The external trappings of worship, service, church activities, Christian organizations, leadership offices, and membership salve the conscience long enough until the next external "ash-sprinkling" comes along.

 

But the external "ash-sprinkling" sanctifies "for the cleansing of the flesh" alone and not for the soul. It is the blood of Christ that "cleanse[s] your conscience from dead works," while external "ash-sprinkling" can do nothing of the sort. Consider that Jesus "offered Himself without blemish." No animal, unaffected by the nature of man, was offered at the cross. But the God-Man Jesus Christ was! He was not only qualified by reason of his humanity but also by virtue that he was "without blemish." There was nothing in him that stood under the divine sentence of death until he "became sin for us" (II Cor. 5:21). Jesus "offered Himself without blemish to God." It was not to the religious community or to the devil or to political institutions that Jesus offered himself. It was God the Creator who was offended by our sin; and it was this same God that must be satisfied in order to assuage his wrath and offer forgiveness to sinners. The form of the verb, "offered," demonstrates that Christ did this once for all, so that the aim of his offering of Himself was "to God" to meet the righteous demands of divine justice.

 

The Essential Need of His Sacrificial Death

 

Second, the essential need of his sacrificial death can be found in the fact that we live with consciences saddled by dead works, and apart from the sacrificial offering of Christ, we cannot serve the living God. Someone might object to this, claiming that he or she is more than willing to serve God apart from trusting in Christ. I do not doubt that this happens more than we can number. People give large sums of money to charitable needs, thinking that such virtuous acts qualify them for approaching God. Others are quite serious in their rituals and worship, thinking that the piety shown in such endeavors qualify them before God. However, we can be assured that if there were other ways to God, whether through service or giving or worship, then Jesus Christ would never have left the glory that belonged to him in heaven, become a human being, and suffered the bloody death of the cross. God demanded satisfaction! So "the blood of Christ," that is, the death of Christ through the shedding of his blood vicariously for sinners, was offered to God to satisfy his justice.

 

The Effective Means through the Spirit

 

Third, the effective means through the eternal Spirit caused the offering of Christ to be sufficient for us to be redeemed and to serve the living God. This is a major Trinitarian statement that we find in this context as the Father pours out his wrath on his Son, who as Son bears wrath and judgment on behalf of sinners, and is enabled by the Holy Spirit who makes the Son's sacrifice efficient for all who believe. The Father is satisfied or propitiated, the Son is glorified in his obedient, sacrificial death, and the Sprit applies the redemptive work to every believer, so that consciences are cleansed to serve the living God. "How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" While the sacrifices of high priests were offered in an earthly tabernacle, the one sacrifice of Christ-the sacrifice of Himself, was offered "through the eternal Spirit" who transcended the regions of the earthly into the heavenly. I believe there is a two-fold emphasis upon this effective means through the Holy Spirit. First, the Holy Spirit enabled Christ to suffer vicariously the infinite outpouring of divine wrath. Jesus was filled with the Spirit without measure. The Spirit anointed Christ for his ministry, enabling him with mighty power even at the cross (Isa. 42:1). Think of the love that was necessary to go to the cross in order to bear the judgment of the very people who despised Christ! Think of the strength necessary to walk in perfect obedience, bear up under the strain in the Garden of Gethsemane, and continue through the beatings and scourging to eventually endure the cross. Think of how the Spirit made the blameless Son of God infinitely conscious of the weight of our sin. The Holy Spirit enabled the Son of Man in his humanity to bear the load of the cross.

 

Second, "the eternal Spirit" gave infinite value, eternal weight to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Unlike the repetitive sacrifices of priests, what Christ offered was sufficient for all eternity. The Holy Spirit continues to apply that work of Christ to those who believe throughout the ages. While the priests offered sacrifices that affected men externally, Jesus Christ, "through the eternal Spirit," offered one sacrifice that forever affects internally all who believe. The Holy Spirit made application to al the Old Testament saints who looked with anticipation toward the "time of reformation" when the shadows would end and the substance of eternal salvation would be accomplished by Messiah. The Holy Spirit gave power to apply Christ's work to all in the future who will believe.

 

Conclusion

 

A cleansed conscience cannot be purchased. It cannot be found through a keen therapist. It is not for the taking through creative religious activities. Here God meets us empty handed, with nothing to offer him but the brokenness of our sin-shattered lives. But He gives us everything through the provision of His blameless Son, whose blood was accepted as merit for us, that we might serve the living God.

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