Hebrews 9:13-14
A Guilty Conscience

In the book of Hebrews I have come across a few very interesting and instructive references to the matter of the human conscience. We think of the conscience as that invisible inner voice that affirms what we have been taught is good and condemns whatever we have been taught is evil.

The apostle Paul declared, "I always strive to keep my conscience clean before God and man." (Acts 24:16) Maybe this was a great priority with the apostle because perhaps life's worst burden is a guilty conscience, the feeling that you have done something wrong and are guilty for it. I can think of nothing more painful and unpleasant than a guilty conscience.

In Hebrews 9 the writer says some thought provoking things about the conscience. In the book he explains the superiority of Jesus compared to angels and compared to Moses and the law. Jesus is superior to the OT priests and his covenant is superior to the old one and it is founded on better promises. The tabernacle in which Jesus serves is superior to the old one and his work as our high priest is far superior and more effective than that of the Levitical priests under the law of Moses. But observe in our text what he says about the conscience.

9:6-10

Under the law of Moses access to God was not readily available to the people. This was illustrated by the tabernacle itself in which only the priests could enter the Holy Place and only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place and only once a year. In this way the Holy Spirit was showing and teaching the people that the way into the Most Holy Place, the throne room of God, the presence of God was not yet disclosed or open to the people. And all of that illustrated that those OT gifts and the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priests were not able to clear the conscience of the one who worshipped God and wanted fellowship with God. The clear implication is that the really effective barrier to God is a dirty and a guilty conscience. Only when the conscience is clean can a person be free to approach God without reservation and offer him acceptable service and worship, and the OT gifts and sacrifices simply did not give a person a clean conscience.

Now one might ask the question: Why didn't the Old Testament (OT) sacrifices clear a person's conscience? After all, God told the people that if they offered such and such an animal sacrifice for their sin, this would atone for the sin! But apparently, the people were still left with a guilty conscience. How come?

The first and primary reason is found in 10:1... The life of an animal is simply not sufficient payment for the penalty of sin. This is because the life of an animal is not of the same value as the life of a man. The penalty for sin is death, the taking of human life, and therefore human life and death is required to truly pay for human sin. Instinctively, humans recognize this, and this is why under the law, they were left with a guilty conscience. Read 10:1-2...

Another reason the OT gifts and sacrifices did not cleanse people from a stained and guilty conscience may have been that under the OT there was no provision made for forgiveness for willful sin. God told them they could offer sacrifices for unintentional sins, but what about all the sins of the other kind - of which all men are so often guilty? See Lev. 4:2; Numbers 5:30-31; Hebrews 9:7.

So we are left with this remarkable statement, that even after the people offered all their gifts and sacrifices under the law of Moses, they were not left with a clean and clear conscience for the simple reason that those gifts and sacrifices were insufficient to cleanse their conscience of the sense of guilt for their sins.

We continue our text. 9:11-14

Observe the superiority of Jesus. He went through the greater and perfect tabernacle. He went to a place not even a part of this creation. He went to heaven itself. And he entered not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own blood that came from a perfect and unblemished life. His sacrifice was so much greater than that of the bulls and the goats. Therefore, while those old sacrifices provided a superficial cleansing, a temporary cleansing, a cleansing of sorts, Jesus' sacrifice provides an eternal redemption and payment for sin that cleanses the inside of a man. He cleanses the conscience! Read 10:19-22...

Now here is my point. The Bible tells us that God promised a New Covenant in which he would forgive our wickedness and remember our sins no more. This is why we have the New Testament. And Jesus came to bring us this new covenant and to save us from our sins... So, according to the scriptures, our greatest need of all is to be saved from our sins, to be legally forgiven of our sins and also to be delivered from the guilty conscience that comes with sin. This is the greatest human need.

I think one could easily argue from the Bible that perhaps the very greatest emotional and psychological human need is to have a clean conscience, and to be delivered from a guilty conscience. And the older I live and the more I watch people, I think I can see in real life that this is the greatest human dilemma and everyone chooses some way to rid himself of the guilty conscience we all have.

Some people:

  1. Deny their sin.
  2. Excuse their sin.
  3. Redefine sin.
  4. Run from their sin.
  5. Ignore their sin.
  6. Pretend they have not sinned.
  7. Lie about their sin.
  8. Cover up their sin.
  9. Justify their sin.
  10. Blame others for their sin.
  11. Drown their sin.
  12. Look for ways and for people who will make them feel comfortable with their sin.
  13. Try to pay for their sin.
  14. Destroy their conscience.
  15. Various forms of religion.

But there is only one way to deal with a guilty conscience. And that is Jesus' way. The Jewish religion was not sufficient to clear the conscience. Neither is the Moslem religion, or the Buddhist or the Hindu or whatever... Only Jesus can give people that which they most need emotionally, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, and physically!! Only Jesus can give a person a clean conscience.

One of my most vivid memories before I became a Christian is the memory of a guilty conscience... What a horrible burden! What a nightmare! And what a blessed cleansing and relief when I came to Jesus for the forgiveness of all my sins! And my conscience was clean! Can you remember when that happened for you? And aren't we here this morning to celebrate the fact that Jesus has given us a clean conscience? We have emotionally and psychologically and spiritually wholeness and healing because he has given us a clean conscience. And he continues to cleanse our conscience from all sin. 1 John 1:7-9. It is something to truly celebrate.

Now if you are not a Christian, then you are still in your sins, and you have yet to enjoy a clean conscience. You're gonna deal with this problem one way or another in life. The world's way or God's way. 1 Peter 3:21