Conscience, Part 3
16th June 2012
We've been looking at the promise of scripture that God will give every Christian a clear conscience. We've been focussing on Hebrews chapters 9 and 10, with verses like:
Hebrews 9v13-14
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 (NRSV "dead works"), so that we may serve the living
God.
Hebrews 9v28a
... Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people
Hebrews 10v1-2
The Law...
can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to
worship.
If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshippers would have been cleansed once for
all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins."
Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse
us from a guilty conscience.
Hebrews 10:10b
we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(I know I keep quoting these verses, but they're great, aren't they?)
All this - the healing of the blind spots in our consciences and the removal of feelings of guilt over past sins that have been confessed to God - was prophesied by Jeremiah. They're what the New Covenant is all about:
Jeremiah 31v31-34
"The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
"This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they
will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their
wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
Often, when we break bread, we remember Jesus's words:
1 Corinthians 11v25b
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
The wine represents the fulfillment of God's promise through Jeremiah - a new covenant, paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.
In this New Covenant, God promises to teach our hearts and minds about right and wrong "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts" so we really know what is good and what is bad, really love what's good, and really hate what's bad. This requires humility before God, because we all come to faith with well-meaning but wrong ideas about morality, and we need God to change our minds. It's not easy to admit we're wrong.
And, in the New Covenant, we have a personal relationship with God, "they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest".
The New Covenant also promises us freedom from guilt, "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.". He promises to forgive whatever wickedness we're guilty of, and never to remember it again. We stand pure and spotless before Him (although, of course, we don't deserve to). We're confident in His presence, because He has taken away our sin. He has washed us clean.
What mercy! What grace!
Why carry a burden that God has lifted off us? Let us accept the fulness of what Jesus has done for us, and enjoy being God's children - free from condemnation, free from guilt, free indeed!