A Better Cleansing

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Introduction

What do people do with their guilt and shame? How do they handle it?

Perhaps you’ve seen a movie like this. Imagine a character in a movie has just committed an awful crime, perhaps it was somewhat unintentional or maybe it wasn’t, but like us, this person has a conscience, so once they have committed this crime, what do they do?

Usually, you get a scene of them in the bathroom with a scrub brush trying desperately to wash away the blood and any evidence of the crime. They are often seen as frantic and struggling to keep it together.

In one show I saw, the woman who had committed the crime, got frustrated because the blood stains weren’t coming off and she crumpled down to the floor crying.

What does this show us?

First, when we see, we will try to clean it up. We tend to focus on the outside. We want to wash ourselves clean.

Second, we see in instances like this, that even if the person does clean up the outside, they don’t actually get clean. They may have washed away the evidence, but the guilt remains. They are still guilty. They may feel shameful about what they did or what was done to them, but no matter how many times they wash, they do not get truly clean.

Today, we are continuing our series in Hebrews, called Jesus is Better and we are starting chapter 9. In this chapter, the big picture is how do we find relief from our guilt and shame.

If you want to follow along, notes are the back table and the app. Words will be on the screen.

Main Text

Hebrews 9:1–15 ESV

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

If the idea here is what do we do with our guilty consciences, let me first explain the problem more fully. The reason guilt is a problem, is that we instinctively know that we cannot stand before a Holy and Righteous God while being guilty of crimes against Him. In fact, we couldn’t even worship him properly without first dealing with that sin and guilt.

We need to be redeemed. We need to be made right. This passage tells us how to that’s possible, but first let’s look at the big ideas that it presents starting with the first…

I. God Determines How We Are To Worship Him

We Worship God According To How He Wants To Be Worshipped, Not Our Own Whims. Throughout Scripture we see that God is particular about how he is worshipped. In the New Testament, Paul says church worship should be done decently and in order. There are regulations surrounding how we are to prophesy or speak in tongues. These are not just good ideas, but guidelines we are to follow.

The Old Covenant Had Regulations For Worship (v.1). The author goes on to talk about these regulations in verses 2-10.

The Tabernacle is described. Two main sections - The Holy Place where there was a lampstand, the table and the bread of the Presence (v.2). The Most Holy Place which was separated by a curtain, held the ark of the covenant (v.3-5).

The curtain was created to teach us holiness. God, who is holy, was separated from mankind. Only one person could approach God and that was only once per year and that was the high priest (v.7).

The design was patterned after what Moses saw in Heaven. What was happening here on earth, was meant to be a reflection of the heavenly pattern that God showed Moses.

The Old Covenant set that pattern for how God was approached. The priests could minister in the first room, the holy place, but they could not go into the Most Holy Place. Only the High Priest could do that, and it was once per year on the Day of Atonement.

The process that he could approach God was very detailed. He had to sacrifice bulls and goats before he could enter in and he had to throw blood on everything in the room as he entered. But there was also washings and other regulations that he had to follow first.

The Old Covenant was full of regulations on what to eat, when you could eat, types of washings and other things that you had to do to be clean before God. And this is the point, we need to be clean before we can approach God. There is only one problem, and that leads us to the second big idea in this text…

II. The Old Covenant Dealt Only With The Externals

The Outside of the Cup - To use the language of Jesus, the problem is, these things are only washing the outside of the cup, they are not fixing the big problem, a dirty conscience.

Hebrews 9:9 ESV

…According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper…

In other words, the animal sacrifices, the washings and rituals of the Old Covenant, while they were great for the time, they couldn’t fix the real problem. We’ve washed off the stain from our sins, but what do we do with our guilt?

Religion without any consciousness of guilt is a false religion. If I come to Jesus Christ without any confession of guilt, simply to gain some benefit, I still have woe upon me, as did the Pharisees before me! - A. W. Tozer

Here are some ways that we as a society try to deal with this problem of guilt:

Alcohol, drugs (both legal and illegal btw), pornography, anger, television, video games, doom-scrolling, anything we can do to try and numb the pain.

What happens next? We run to these things and then what? We feel more guilty! Then what do we do? We run to them again, trying to find solace, trying to find peace, but we find none. And then guilt shifts to shame.

Guilt says “I have sinned.” Shame says, “I am my sin.” Or to put it in plain language. Guilt says “I did something wrong.” Shame says, “There’s something wrong with me.”

And under the Old Covenant system, there was nothing that could be done for someone whose conscience had been seared by guilt or shame. It only cleaned the outside of the cup.

If the Old Covenant cannot get rid of our guilt and shame, what about the New Covenant? Does it help us with our guilt and shame?

III. The New Covenant Cleanses Us From Guilt & Shame

Praise God For The Cross - But praise God for sending his Son Jesus to die on the cross and inaugurate a New Covenant in his blood. Every week at communion we are reminded of this New Covenant, or new agreement, that Jesus made with us that forgives us of our sins and sets us free from both guilt and shame!

“But When Christ Appeared As a High Priest Of The Good Things That Have Come…” Christ appeared and it changed everything. The places where we were powerless, he came and did what we could not do ourselves. Through His blood our guilt is washed away. Our shame was bore on the cross. You are now free!

Hebrews 9:13–14 ESV

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

How much more?? Jesus’ blood, the perfect and spotless lamb of God, his blood has cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. In other words we can break free from the cycle of guilt and shame.

For years I battled guilt and shame. As many of you know, I was married once before and my ex-wife left me for another man when I was 23. I lived in a place of shame for many many years. I thought something was wrong with me. I looked at everything I did wrong in that relationship with a fine toothed comb, trying to explain why she would have done that sort of thing to me. And what I came away with was this, something must be wrong with me. I felt shame, both for what had been done to me (I didn’t really have control over) and for what I had done (every problem I had brought into the relationship. It took God speaking to me at my first Souly Business retreat in 2018 to really break that shame off of me. God’s love broke me free from it. But some of it still lingered and eventually I ran into a Bible verse (from Hebrews) that changed my life. I saw in that verse that Jesus bore my shame on the cross and I didn’t need to bear it anymore.

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV) Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Now What?

Because of the Cross, now, you need to release any guilt or shame that you are feeling. All of us come from different backgrounds. Maybe the guilt you are feeling comes from a personal sin:

Pornography, abortion, adultery, some sort of addiction…

Or maybe it’s something different like a parenting failure or a break in a relationship with a family member or friend. Guilt can come from many places. Jesus died to cleanse us from our guilt.

Perhaps you are carrying shame. This shame could be coming from unresolved guilt or it could be from something that was done to you. Do you want to be free from your shame today?

How do we do that? How do we receive the cleansing offered by Jesus?

First, if you aren’t a Christian. You need to repent today and put your full trust in Him. You need to boldly profess Him before others. Matthew 10:32 “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,”

You need to boldly profess your salvation, confessing to all that Jesus is Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If that’s you, I want you to start making your way up front. Today is your day for salvation.

If you are a Christian, but you have never been baptized, you need to be obedient to God and be baptized. We baptized 12 people a few weeks back and I’d love to baptize some more before summer is out. If thats you the Bible says in Acts 22:16 “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’” It’s talking to you. Why wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away all of your guilt and shame. Come forward this morning and let me know of your decision to be baptized and receive the gift that God gives you in the washing of the water.

Finally, if you are a Christian and you’ve been baptized but you are still carrying around guilt and shame for things that you have done, even things done recently, there’s a simple process that we can participate in that will free us from our guilt and shame.

Confess your guilt or shame

Ask For The Lord To Take It Away From You

Believe That He Loves You And Wants You To Be Set Free!