The purpose of this lesson: to stress the value and blessing found in having the conscience cleansed by Jesus' blood.
The dilemma: the person becomes a Christian and the conscience quickly awakens and grows. Why is that a dilemma? Prior to being a Christian, most persons' consciences are either dead or seriously impaired as a result of ignorance of God's intents and purposes.
In the American society of today, it is common for persons with distressed or dead consciences to enter Christ. The reality of the situation in the American culture is that this common situation will increase. As the conscience awakens, it is possible [often likely] that the awakened conscience will attack the new Christian for his/her attitudes and acts existing prior to becoming a Christian.
The moment of coming alive in Christ is commonly accompanied by a spurt of conscience growth. As the new Christian's conscience continues to develop, he/she increasingly becomes aware of attitudes and deeds of his/her pre-Christian past that were anti-god.
It is quite a transition for a person who lived prior to Christian existence with an impaired or dead conscience to learn to live with a conscience that has come alive.
He/she did not understand those past attitudes and deeds were anti-god when those attitudes and deeds determined his/her pre-Christian behavior. Now, as a Christian, it becomes increasingly evident that those attitudes and deeds opposed or misrepresented God.
It is often a shock to realize that "past meaningless acts and attitudes" were actually attacks on God and His priorities.
Suddenly, the Christian has a deep sense of regret and guilt for thoughts and actions existing in his/her pre-Christian past. The awakened, growing, developing conscience can consume this new Christian with a sense of guilt for matters that were part of his/her past.
It is unfortunate but true that many lived in a sense of emptiness prior to becoming a Christian, but not a sense of guilt. It is sad but true [they do not understand what God did and does for them in Christ] that many Christians exist under a continuing burden of guilt.
Satan can use this newly discovered sense of guilt to destructively work against the new Christian's life and his/her freedom in forgiveness. UNLESS . . . Unless what? Unless this new Christian grows and develops in his/her understanding of what God did and is doing for him/her in Jesus Christ's death.
When a Christian exists under a burden of guilt for acts and attitudes that existed prior to coming to Christ, he/she allows Satan to use his/her awakened conscience to attack God's blessing and gift of forgiveness. If any Christian could have lived under the burden of guilt for things done prior to coming to Christ, Paul could have. Yet, he did not!
The conscience does not come to life in a Christian to destroy the Christian! It is a protective device, not a destruction device! Its purpose is to guard the Christian against evil and to declare the need for the Christian to repent [acknowledge evil and redirect life] when the need for repentance exists [which is almost constantly!].
God intends an alive conscience to be a source of help to the Christian, not a source of destruction. The Christian conscience guards against evil. It does not exist to oppose God's gift of forgiveness!
Allow the writing we know as Hebrews to confirm the fact that God's forgiveness includes a cleansing of the person's conscience.
Consider Hebrews 9:8-10. The contextual focus of this passage is based on the Jewish day of atonement found in Leviticus 16. This was the only day of the entire year the high priest could enter into the Holy Place in the tabernacle/temple. All priestly functions on all other days of the year were performed in the section of the tabernacle/temple in front of the holy place. Only one person had access to the holy place, and for that person access existed only once a year.
The writer's arguments throughout the writing are based on the superiority of God's accomplishments in Christ as compared to God's good accomplishments in Israel. That comparison declares "that was good, but this is better."
The writer declared this symbolized the fact that access into the immediate presence of God did not exist for everyone. Israelites could approach God's immediate presence only through a representative.
Going to God's heavenly throne room is superior to going to the man-made holy place.
There was an inherent problem in Jewish tabernacle/temple worship. The high priest COULD represent all Israelites in the immediate presence of God. The high priest COULD obtain forgiveness for Israel for the sins of the people in the past year. The high priest COULD offer atonement for his own sins and the sins of the nation. However, the high priest COULD NOT cleanse the consciences of the Jewish worshippers. The day of atonement became a reminder of the fact that would continue to occur--next year Israel would need another day of atonement! In that reminder, the consciousness of sinfulness was elevated, not destroyed. The consciences of the worshippers confirmed they were guilty and would continue to be guilty. That guilt served as the centerpiece of their worship rather than a sense of permanent forgiveness.
With all the high priest could do for Israelites, he could not permanently cleanse their consciences. God did in Jesus Christ what the high priest could never do. God permanently cleanses the conscience of those who come to Him through Christ.
Consider Hebrews 9:11-14. This statement focuses on the superiority of Jesus Christ's atonement offered for us. Jesus Christ atoned for the Christian in the heavenly throne room of God, not in a humanly built holy place. Jesus Christ atoned for the Christian with his own blood, not the blood of an animal. Whereas the Jewish day of atonement was a temporary solution lasting for only one year, Jesus Christ's atonement was a permanent solution producing an eternal atonement.
The atonement God provides for us through Jesus Christ's blood is totally adequate for every problem produced by evil--even to the cleansing of the conscience! The solution God created by sacrificing Jesus is not only complete, it is also permanent.
The Jewish day of atonement cleansed the flesh. Jesus Christ's atonement cleanses not only the flesh, but also the conscience. It is not wrong for the Christian to recall his/her pre-Christian acts and attitudes. However, the motive for remembering is not to encourage a resurrection of guilt. The motive for remembering is to appreciate God's incredible achievement in the blessing of forgiveness in Jesus Christ's atonement. Read 1 John 1:5-10. What an encouragement!
The superiority of God's accomplishment in sacrificing Jesus is revealed in the fact that it not only cares for all physical guilt, but it also cleanses the conscience. God created a permanent solution for every form of problem produced by evil.
Consider Hebrews 10:19-25. Especially note verse 22. Baptism not only washed our bodies clean from sin. It also purified the Christian's conscience. There is no need to feel guilt for what God has forgiven! There is need for praise and adoration to God for His perfect solution, not for the guilt of past failure!
God's purposes for baptism are (1) the purification of the body and (2) the purification of the conscience. Both are continuing for the person who remains in Christ. Remaining in Christ is not a matter of sinlessness [an impossibility for anyone!] but a matter of continuing relationship with God. 1 John 1:5-10 stresses it is the needed, perfect solution.
The goal of being a Christian IS NOT to "earn" or "deserve" salvation. Romans 7:18-25 reveals the futility of that approach. This is not an affirmation that Christians do not need to be obedient to God. It is the affirmation that obedience must be based on the proper motive. The motive is not the self-deception produced by the false conviction that "I" earn or deserve "my" salvation because of "my" obedient acts. The motive is a declaration of appreciation for what God did and does for "me" through the death of Jesus Christ. The hopeless despair of Romans 7:18-24 suddenly became the hope of assurance of Romans 7:25 and 8:1!
No person "deserves" what God does for us in Christ. It is impossible to "earn" or "deserve" the gifts God grants us in Christ. Attempts to "deserve" God's blessings end in either (1) self-deception or (2) overwhelming guilt. Only the arrogant seek to "deserve" rather than to "depend." Only the arrogant seek to "deserve" instead of seeking to be appreciative.
"I" do not do not trust "my" accomplishments of obedience for "my" salvation. "I" trust God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ's death! Trusting "me" is the magnification of personal guilt! Trusting God is the peace of forgiveness based on His love for "me." "My" faith [confidence] must never be in "me" but always be in God. Faith in God produces peace because a cleansed conscience rests. Faith in "me" produces the unending guilt of a distressed conscience agonizing over the person's unworthiness and failures.
Faith must always be focused on and placed in God, not in self. The certain avenue to personal guilt is faith in self. The certain avenue to enduring peace is faith in God.
The writer of Hebrews knew the peace of a cleansed conscience. Consider Hebrews 13:18. The focus of the message of Hebrews is not on "what a good man the author is." The focus of the message is on what a good, wonderful, and absolutely complete Savior God provided us in Jesus Christ. The author is a man of good conscience because he understood what God did and does in Jesus Christ.
The author's message did not advance self. It advanced Jesus Christ.
For Thought and Discussion:
This discussion should include the awareness that Satan often seeks to focus the conscience on the obvious flaws of pre-Christian existence. When Satan succeeds in making Christians inactive by turning an awakened conscience against pre-Christian deeds or attitudes, he neutralizes the joys and blessings of God's forgiveness.
This discussion should include the fact that any approach that encourages "faith in me" instead of confidence in God's promises results in the burdens of guilt rather than the joys of peace.
This discussion should include the fact that the agony of guilt and the joys of peace oppose each other. If God's solution in forgiveness is not internal (the conscience) as well as external (the body), there can be no peace.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 10