Free Your Conscience

Hebrews 9:13. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The power of the knowledge of the blood to purge the conscience of believers many times goes overlooked in the body of Christ today.  Saints of God have read this scripture many times and it still doesn’t profit them, not being mixed with understanding. When I ask believers what this means they often draw a blank. But I want you to be enlightened today in the eyes of your understanding.

To truly grasp the significance of this scripture we must have knowledge of a couple of things. First, the meaning of dead works and conscience must be understood. Conscience is simply a fancy way of saying self-knowledge. The conscience is the part of the mind that is used to measure ones self as pertaining to righteousness, good and evil. Your conscience is an internal judge. It is the place in your heart where you feel guilt for the bad things that you do or abstain from doing. It also commends you for those things that are good. The conscience is the ruler by which men measure themselves.

Now going deeper into our study, we must grasp the concept of dead works within the context of the script. Dead works are not simply bad things done. It isn’t bad works he’s speaking of but good works that can’t deliver you from death. Simply put, dead works are another way of saying ‘observing the law of Moses’.

Many don’t realize that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is rooted as much in good as it is in evil, yet the whole tree produces death. This is a picture of the Law of Moses, which gave men the knowledge of good and evil. Though the law could define and identify good and evil it couldn’t make those who observe the law righteous. So regardless of the works that were done under the law all men died. No one could produce works good enough under the standards of the law that could take away their sins.  So then with the penalty of sin being death and all men being sinners, the scripture concludes that all the good works that the Jews rigorously observed under the law of Moses were all in vain and classified as dead works.

Now, without the shedding of blood, no sin can be taken away. Death is the justice that sin demands. This is a fundamental principle of our faith.The blood of animals being sacrificed regularly cleansed the people from sin for a short span. But Jesus through His one sacrifice and through the shedding of His most valuable, sinless human blood paid for the sins of all men forever, providing forgiveness, pardon, and cleansing for all those who would believe.

But this scripture signifies even more than this! Cleansing from sin is not all that His sacrifice provides. The knowledge of the blood of Christ also purges the conscience from dead works! This simply means it removes religiously inspired guilt! This is speaking in regard to the Jews that began to follow Christ. Though they became free from their mosaic religious observances through the knowledge of Jesus Christ they still felt guilty in their consciences. They were continuously tempted by feelings of guilt to go backward in subjecting themselves to those old rigorous religious observances again.

God didn’t require that they follow these rituals. He required that they only believe on Jesus. But these Jews were raised and taught from birth that those things were necessary to please God. They were pressured and ridiculed by family, friends, and religious leaders in their community to come back under the bondage of the law. What pressure they were undergoing! Not only were they exiled, disowned, persecuted and even killed for forsaking those dead works, the inner turmoil they faced daily within their mind was enormous. They had to go against everything that was within them and that they had observed from birth to lay hold of Christ. It was truly a new identity in every way. They forsook all, even their own internal inclinations. Some backslid and returned to Judaism not retaining in their minds the knowledge and power of the blood. But some overcame in this psychological war to lay hold of their salvation; everlasting life!

What a great and glorious thing that means for us. All of us have some form of religious indoctrination. Whether it is Protestant or Catholic, superstitious or orthodox, we are free from all observances of any kind to gain acceptance with God.God’s love is free! God’s acceptance of you is here and now! You can leave your past behind and all guilt! The Lord wants you to believe and know that He has taken care of your mistakes and sins through the blood of Jesus. All rituals and abstinences or observances are no longer necessary. He wants you to know this and believe this. No rules given through dead letters written by dead men written on ink and paper should govern or control your life any longer. The scripture wasn’t written to bind you to scripture, but to set you free into a new life, a new walk, and a new relationship with a living God. He will put within you His Spirit and will live in you and lead you in and through your own heart and mind.

As you meditate and pray these things(remembering that the power of the blood will purge your guilty conscience full of dead works) I believe that all that God has not truly commanded will fall away from your heart. I believe you will get freer and freer everyday and the guilt you feel over those old traditions will diminish and you will only know the true direction that comes from the Spirit of the Lord. Submit yourself to spiritual authority and let your spiritual leaders help you as you stay teachable, and our Father by His Spirit will insure that you: Be free. Stay free, and Live free.

Your Servant,

Dr. Nathaniel Duffey III