The Only Cure for a Guilty Conscience: Understanding Christ’s Superior Sacrifice

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
... ... ... ... ...
[00:01:02] Let us pray.

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning, everyone.
[00:01:34] Welcome to First Presbyterian Church of Mooresville.
[00:01:37] Our mission is loving God, loving people, and making disciples.
[00:01:40] It's my joy and pleasure to welcome you here today.
[00:01:43] Please join me now as we begin our time of worship with our call to worship from Psalm 51.
[00:01:50] Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
[00:01:56] Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
[00:02:02] Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
[00:02:08] And please join me now in our prayer of invocation.
[00:02:12] God of mercy, you know us better than we know ourselves, and still you love us.
[00:02:19] Wash us from all our sins, create in us clean hearts, and strengthen us by your Holy Spirit, that we may give you praise.
[00:02:28] Through Jesus Christ our Savior.
[00:02:31] Amen.
[00:02:32] Please stand as we sing our first hymn.

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Alleluia, sing to Jesus, His whole scepter, His whole throne.
[00:03:14] Alleluia, His the triumph, His the victory,
[00:03:23] Jesus, God of every nation, has redeemed us by
[00:03:53] Are we there in sorrow now?
[00:04:20] Alleluia!
[00:04:20] He is near us.
[00:04:20] Faith he leads, no questions now.
[00:04:21] Though the doubt of sight receding,
[00:04:56] Alleluia!
[00:05:19] Hear the sinful cry to you from day to day.
[00:05:20] Intercessor, Friend of sinners, first Redeemer,
[00:05:25] We have one more verse.
[00:05:47] We have one more verse.
[00:05:48] Sing verse one again.
[00:05:48] I will sing to Jesus.
[00:05:49] He is the center.
[00:05:59] He is the victor in the Lord God from stars of peace, Josiah God the light, the mighty God Jesus
[00:06:23] Amen.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
And let us now affirm our faith together using the Apostles' Creed.
[00:06:44] And I ask you, O Christian, what is it that you believe?
[00:06:48] I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and buried.
[00:07:07] He descended into hell.
[00:07:09] The third day he rose again from the dead.
[00:07:12] He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
[00:07:17] From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
[00:07:21] I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
[00:07:33] Amen.
[00:07:34] You may be seated.

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Let us pray.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
What can wash away my sin?

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:08:34] What can make me whole again?
[00:08:35] Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:08:36] Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
And now I know nothing but the blood of Jesus
[00:08:57] For my pardon this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:09:22] For my cleansing this I plea, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:09:23] Jesus is the Lord of all, precious is the Lord of all.
[00:09:24] That makes me cry, has no hope.
[00:09:24] Christ has come, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
[00:09:49] This is all my hope and peace Nothing but the blood of Jesus This is all my righteousness
[00:10:18] Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus Nothing but the blood of Jesus
[00:10:43] Nothing but the blood of Jesus, Jesus.
[00:10:57] Oh, precious is the flow that makes me bright as snow.
[00:11:02] All things but the blood of Jesus All things but the blood of Jesus All things but the blood of Jesus
[00:11:33] Nothing but the blood of Jesus

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Amen.
[00:12:17] Just a few announcements for us to highlight this morning.
[00:12:21] This Wednesday night, for Wednesday night together this week, we will be having our dinner as normal, but instead of our regular classes and groups and studies, we'll be having our first worship night for this semester.
[00:12:33] and so at 5 30 we'll come we'll have dinner we'll fellowship but then at 6 30 we will go over into the 143 where me and other musicians and singers we will lead us in just a time of worship a time of prayer a time of scripture reading a time for us to come together to intentionally love on the lord and to raise our voices together
[00:12:52] and so I hope to see you all there again 5 30 we'll still have dinner we'll have child care up to kindergarten if that is helpful for you to know and for all the other little ones we invite them to come together as families we come to worship the Lord together so that's this week October 15th
[00:13:10] As well, I'd like to emphasize our church picnic that is coming up on October 26th.
[00:13:14] So after the third service on that Sunday, we'll go over to Cornelius Park, and that'll be at 1230.
[00:13:20] The membership and outreach committee, they are preparing hamburgers and hot dogs.
[00:13:25] All we ask is that if you come to participate, that you just bring a side.
[00:13:29] It can be a big side, it can be a small side.
[00:13:31] I would only add that you make sure it's a good side.
[00:13:36] You can define whatever that means.
[00:13:38] So just for us to come together, that's what it is.
[00:13:41] If we are having a worship night to love on God, these are opportunities to just love on people, to come and connect and spend time with the body outside of these four walls as God intended for us to do so.
[00:13:51] So I highly encourage you, that's October 26th at Cornelius Park at 1230.
[00:13:55] And don't worry, we'll be sure to remind us each Sunday leading up to it.
[00:14:02] And then lastly, as you have in your bulletin, Mark Ramsey asked me to share about the mission team that is going out later in November, on November 8th.
[00:14:11] It's an opportunity to assist a family in completing a new house that is being constructed.
[00:14:16] We all remember the devastation of the floods last year, and there are still so many people that are left without permanent homes and housing.
[00:14:23] and so it is a this will be a labor of love to with the program that they are signing up with you have the Mark Ramsey's email there for more information to reach out if you're interested if you can provide even being able to carry some supplies if you are interested in doing a heavier manual labor this is just an invitation for us to go and to serve the oppressed and those in the suffering and to love on them as well without all that being said please join me now for a time of prayer
[00:15:03] Lord Jesus we come to you humbly this morning we thank you for the gift and the opportunity to come and to worship and to lift our voices and to proclaim that there really is nothing but the blood of Jesus that can save us that can cleanse us that can heal us and so Lord we we ask that you would bless our time of worship today
[00:15:26] that you would receive it that you would fill every blank space in this building and that all those who are present here today and those that are tuning in online that they we all would receive a portion of your grace that we all so desperately need and Father as we opened up this service with a reading from Psalm 51 a prayer of David an honest prayer of confession and repentance Lord create in us a clean heart
[00:15:56] We take this moment now to also pray that prayer and to silently confess our sins before you.
[00:16:21] Create in me a clean heart, O God,
[00:16:25] and renew a right spirit within me.
[00:16:30] Please cast us not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from us.
[00:16:36] Give us the joy of your saving help again and sustain us with your bountiful spirit.
[00:16:48] And Lord, as we confess and repent,
[00:16:52] We powerfully and lovingly and gratefully cling to the promise of Christ Jesus that all who place their faith and hope and trust in him have nothing to fear, for there is no fear in love, and you have poured out your love in us through the grace and mercy of Christ and the blood on the cross.
[00:17:14] And to that we say hallelujah.
[00:17:19] Heavenly Father, as a humble servant of this house,
[00:17:22] I lift up all these people present within the sound of my voice.
[00:17:27] O Lord, only you know their stories and their lives and all the things that have transpired that have led them to this place and this moment.
[00:17:36] Whatever darkness is happening, whatever pains and sufferings and trials they are undergoing,
[00:17:43] I trust in the mighty name of Jesus.
[00:17:47] I trust in the power of a God who raises the dead.
[00:17:50] I trust in a God who sees this sinner and says, mine.
[00:17:57] So Lord, I ask for your mercy over these men and women.
[00:18:01] Cover them in your grace and your mercy.
[00:18:02] Cover them in your light and overshadow them.
[00:18:06] Overwhelm them with your wonderful presence.
[00:18:09] Where there is sickness and pain and disease,
[00:18:14] Let there be healing.
[00:18:17] Where there is worries and anxieties and confusions, let there be your peace.
[00:18:25] Where there are those who are just exhausted and tired and weary, those that are just tired of the mundane, tired of the day-to-day cycles, tired that nothing seems to change in their lives,
[00:18:40] I ask, Lord, that they would remember the words of our Lord Jesus that say, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.
[00:18:53] This day, Lord, I pray your blessing over your people, that all those who look to you would not look in vain, that all those who trust in you would not be disheartened.
[00:19:08] And I pray, Father,
[00:19:09] that your grace and mercy would give them strength and power to remember how loved we are and how beautiful it is that we have a saving God who lives and reigns forever and ever please bless this place bless all places that call on your name bless this town and this community and all the surrounding areas
[00:19:34] That we would be a people, Lord, who shine your light wherever we go and that those who are lost, those who are oppressed, those who are brokenhearted would find rest and comfort and life in the name of Jesus.
[00:19:48] And we thank you for that name and it's in that holy name we pray.
[00:19:51] And let us now close by praying together what Jesus taught us.
[00:19:55] Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen
[00:20:23] Amen.
[00:20:24] Please stand as we sing our next hymn.

[00:21:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
I am so content of love I find Forbid it all that I should boast
[00:21:48] I sacrifice them to His blood Seed from His head, His hands, His feet Sorrow and love flowing o'er down
[00:22:18] He ne'er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a light.
[00:23:05] Please be seated.

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Our scripture passage this morning comes from Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 through 14.
[00:23:32] I open with
[00:23:36] It's kind of a heavy illustration.
[00:23:39] And I was reading an article from a Christian counselor who shared about meeting with a young couple.
[00:23:46] The wife had initiated it.
[00:23:48] She had been hoping to surprise her husband by cleaning his car, and in cleaning the car, she found a laptop.
[00:23:55] and in the laptop she found a picture of him with another woman and with other children that she didn't recognize.
[00:24:00] She found another bank account that she didn't know existed and she didn't know how to confront him.
[00:24:06] She contacted this Christian counselor.
[00:24:08] They had a session together and she shared her concern.
[00:24:12] She brought it out in the open.
[00:24:15] And the husband's response started with denial and then there was some blame shifting where he said, you know, how dare you look into my personal belongings and then eventually he owned a few things but wasn't really completely forthright.
[00:24:33] And this counselor in this article, a Christian counselor, wanted to give a biblical insight on the difference between being covert
[00:24:44] or overt as a person.
[00:24:47] We're all broken.
[00:24:48] We're all sinful.
[00:24:50] We all do things that we by nature want to cover up.
[00:24:54] And he said a covert person loves darkness.
[00:24:59] They like to hide what they're doing so that they won't be found or exposed.
[00:25:03] They pretend to be someone they're not.
[00:25:05] They can be sneaky and dishonest, manipulative and controlling.
[00:25:10] A covert person does not come clean but must be caught.
[00:25:16] It's very difficult to have a healthy relationship when someone's being covert.
[00:25:22] Whereas an overt person loves the light, is more upfront, is more honest, is more forthcoming.
[00:25:28] When they're doing wrong, they're more apt to let others know, to get it off their chest, to come clean with their wrongdoing.
[00:25:36] In the same way, it's a lot easier to have a relationship with someone who's open and honest.
[00:25:42] Think about your and my relationship with God.
[00:25:47] Now, honestly, when you think deeply about this, you can't hide anything from God.
[00:25:55] But when we try to, it
[00:25:59] Can block us from having a healthy relationship.
[00:26:03] We're gonna look at this morning the problem of guilt.
[00:26:08] It's a universal problem among human beings.
[00:26:11] We experience guilt and we're gonna get to the root of that this morning.
[00:26:15] I remember as a young boy, second grade, I did something in my second grade class.
[00:26:21] It was on me.
[00:26:23] But it caused me to not be able to look at my teacher.
[00:26:27] This is a teacher I loved.
[00:26:28] I couldn't look her in the eye the entire school year.
[00:26:32] Something I had done and something I was hiding, trying to cover up.
[00:26:37] Mrs. Thompson was my favorite teacher.
[00:26:41] She went to our church.
[00:26:43] In class she set up a fun environment.
[00:26:46] In the back of the room there's a whole table with crafts and buckets of crayons and colored pencils and there were stacks of paper and one of my favorite things, if you can recall, this will date me but most of you probably will remember this, but do you remember when there were those sheets of paper in the elementary classroom where on the top half it's blank?
[00:27:10] You can draw a picture.
[00:27:11] The bottom half has lines where you could illustrate.
[00:27:14] You could say, if you had a picture of a house and a boy walking a dog, you could draw the picture and say, this is my house, this is me walking my dog, Rex.
[00:27:24] That was one of my favorite crafts, was to take that paper and to make a color and then write something.
[00:27:30] You always had to have permission to do that.
[00:27:34] If you got your work done, you could raise your hand, ask permission, she may let you.
[00:27:37] Well, I don't know what came over me that particular day, I was done with my work, I was sitting in the back seat, and I could reach over to the crayon box, I could reach it from my desk, so I grabbed a crayon when she wasn't looking, and I grabbed a sheet of paper, and I went to work, and I drew this picture, and then I began to realize, I might get in trouble for this.
[00:27:57] So I quickly, I flipped the picture over and when Mrs. Thompson wasn't looking I put it back into the stack and I thought, you know, this isn't worth the trouble.
[00:28:07] Well to my horror, about 10 minutes later, Mrs. Thompson is standing in front of the class holding up the picture saying, who did this?
[00:28:15] And right then and there I committed I am not giving myself up.
[00:28:19] And I was committed to not giving myself up.
[00:28:22] Who did this?
[00:28:23] And I put my head down and then she said, if you just confess, you won't get in trouble.
[00:28:28] Everything will be fine.
[00:28:30] She was trying to teach us honesty.
[00:28:32] But I had already committed, I was not sharing.
[00:28:36] And then she started going one by one.
[00:28:39] Was it you?
[00:28:40] No.
[00:28:41] Was it you?
[00:28:41] No.
[00:28:41] And she pointed at me, was it you?
[00:28:43] And I...
[00:28:44] I said no, and my heart was thumping, I was beginning to perspire, I was just like, this is the worst case scenario, and then, to top it all off, she tells the classroom, she's like, you had your chance, somebody's lying, and I have a gift, and I will find out who that is, and you are gonna be in a whole bunch of trouble.
[00:29:08] For the rest of the year, I couldn't look Miss Thompson in the eye.
[00:29:11] And some people, I forget to, sometimes at the end of the sermon, to come back to something.
[00:29:16] Just to let you know, because I'll get this question 10 times after the sermon, I did eventually confess.
[00:29:22] I believe I was a freshman in college.
[00:29:26] And I'd come home, and then guess what?
[00:29:28] Ironically, she felt guilt.
[00:29:33] She felt horrible.
[00:29:34] She was like, oh, you were such a precious second grader.
[00:29:36] I feel so badly.
[00:29:37] And so, again, we're looking at the problem
[00:29:41] of guilt.
[00:29:42] Sometimes you should be feeling guilty, sometimes there's a false guilt.
[00:29:49] It's a reality that human beings must deal with.
[00:29:51] Big idea I want to address from our passage, how to address the stain of a guilty conscience.
[00:30:00] How to address the stain.
[00:30:02] I'm going to say a prayer, we'll read the passage together.
[00:30:07] Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of your word.
[00:30:11] Lord, we are taking a look at a delicate topic this morning.
[00:30:15] For some people, it could cause some deep-rooted guilt to surface.
[00:30:21] And Lord, may we not lose sight that although you're a God of justice, you're also tremendously gracious and merciful and you love us.
[00:30:33] So Lord, please bring this passage to light through your Holy Spirit.
[00:30:37] Please minister to our hearts.
[00:30:39] And through this time, may we draw closer to you.
[00:30:42] We pray all these things in Jesus' name.
[00:30:45] Amen.
[00:30:47] Hebrews 9, beginning with verse 11.
[00:30:50] But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the great and perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of his creation, he entered once for all into the holy place.
[00:31:05] Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood.
[00:31:08] thus obtaining eternal redemption.
[00:31:11] For if the blood of goats and bulls with the sprinkling of ashes of a heifer sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified 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 worship the living God.
[00:31:33] This is the word of the Lord.
[00:31:38] I want to start by just simply identifying the root of guilt.
[00:31:44] We'll take a moment to look at it from a secular mindset.
[00:31:47] You don't have to be a Christian or a religious person to experience guilt.
[00:31:54] But then we'll also take a look at it from a biblical perspective, a biblical mindset to really get to the root of this.
[00:32:02] You see, if you have an illness,
[00:32:08] You can't get the right solution without getting to the root of what's wrong.
[00:32:13] So you need to know you have cancer to get the proper treatment.
[00:32:16] So when it comes to our sin and our shame and our guilt and our shame, we must get to the root of it.
[00:32:23] From a simple, secular mindset, Sigmund Freud, I believe he was an atheist, he believed and he made the statement, he described guilt
[00:32:37] Quote, guilt is the price human beings pay for civilization.
[00:32:44] He called it the inner police.
[00:32:46] He believed it was his philosophy that human beings, inwardly, we are very selfish.
[00:32:54] And he said, so selfish that if we didn't have this thing called a conscience, it'd be like a jungle out there.
[00:33:02] But because something makes us feel bad, we want what we want,
[00:33:07] We're a little more civilized.
[00:33:10] Sure, there's still conflict and war, but again, our conscience that we battle with, because of that, we live in a civilization rather than a jungle.
[00:33:21] That's Freud.
[00:33:22] He's an atheist.
[00:33:23] That's a secular position.
[00:33:26] A modern culture, there's this concept of cultural relativism.
[00:33:32] You know, the moral, what's, we set our own morals.
[00:33:36] What's right for you is your thing, what's right for me is mine, and we all kind of determine, there's a cultural mindset, and you can, this is rooted, it goes back thousands of years, Book of Judges.
[00:33:50] There's a famous phrase from the Book of Judges.
[00:33:54] Remember when the culture was breaking down, it was like it was going down the toilet, just spinning,
[00:33:58] What was the phrase used by God?
[00:34:01] Everyone did in that culture what was right in their own eyes.
[00:34:07] So you have the breakdown of morals.
[00:34:10] People do what is right in their own eyes rather than acknowledging we have a Creator who set down a moral code to help make us live in accord with one another and with Him.
[00:34:23] So we have that.
[00:34:24] Tim Keller, I don't think you would, let me give this quote.
[00:34:28] I think you may agree with this.
[00:34:30] It's a bold quote.
[00:34:31] He says, today's parents are willing to move mountains not to let their children feel shame.
[00:34:42] Do you see that happening in our culture?
[00:34:44] There are parents willing to move mountains so their children won't feel shame.
[00:34:51] and you miss out on learning opportunities.
[00:34:54] And you explain away your child.
[00:34:56] You're mad at the teacher, you're mad at the coach, you're mad at the principal and you never teach your child to own their mistake that you can still work it through.
[00:35:06] You love your child unconditionally.
[00:35:10] But to call sin, sin.
[00:35:12] To allow them to feel uncomfortable but have the security of
[00:35:18] Your love.
[00:35:18] So from a secular mindset, that feeling of guilt and shame, you may try to suppress it, you may try to cover it, you may try to hide it, you may try to explain it away, but it pops up, even if it's subconscious.
[00:35:31] That's why people can become workaholics.
[00:35:35] You have this guilt, if you don't just put more time, you maybe won't be respected.
[00:35:40] There's some inner driver, maybe an alcoholic, to cover something up, to numb whatever you're dealing with.
[00:35:48] Have you ever served a committee or a board based on guilt rather than desire?
[00:35:59] You just didn't know how to say no?
[00:36:02] We don't want to make someone feel bad or we'll feel bad about ourselves.
[00:36:05] Sometimes we refuse to confront someone because we don't want to hurt their feelings, right?
[00:36:11] So we're non-confrontational.
[00:36:15] You feel guilty if you hurt someone's feelings.
[00:36:17] But on the flip side, sometimes there are people that are over-confrontational because you feel guilty if you're wrong, so you have to be right.
[00:36:30] Even atheists struggle with condemnation.
[00:36:35] Something just not quite right and you're suppressing it and you're pushing it down.
[00:36:42] Now there's a biblical mindset when it comes to our guilt.
[00:36:48] And it can be traced to the book of Genesis.
[00:36:52] When did human beings first start feeling guilty?
[00:36:56] I mean, God created this earth and it was perfect.
[00:36:59] What can we trace human guilt to?
[00:37:03] Garden of Eden, right?
[00:37:05] The forbidden fruit, disobedience to God.
[00:37:07] How did Adam and Eve feel?
[00:37:10] I mean, they were guilty, for sure.
[00:37:12] How did they feel?
[00:37:14] Yeah, they felt that guilt and that shame.
[00:37:18] That's where it all originates.
[00:37:22] Human depravity.
[00:37:25] Because sin entered this world, you and I have inherited a sin nature.
[00:37:30] I've shared this on numerous occasions.
[00:37:32] I have never had to teach my six daughters how to sin.
[00:37:36] My wife and I did not need to teach them how to be selfish.
[00:37:39] We did not need to teach them how to lie.
[00:37:42] We didn't need to teach them how to punch or scratch or bite.
[00:37:49] And I blame my parents for that.
[00:37:53] And you can trace that all the way to Adam and Eve, yes?
[00:37:58] David, the psalmist, put it this way, Psalm 51 5, as he was grieving over his guilty conscience,
[00:38:07] He said this, quote, Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
[00:38:15] The Apostle Paul dealt with this.
[00:38:18] He had once persecuted the church.
[00:38:21] Woe is me, I'm the worst of all sinners.
[00:38:24] How could God use someone like me?
[00:38:27] The Apostle Paul.
[00:38:31] So God demonstrated his plan
[00:38:35] In Scripture, you can trace it through the Old Testament to cover guilt.
[00:38:41] Genesis 3.21 is the first example of death.
[00:38:47] Death first entered this world.
[00:38:49] We see it alluded to in Genesis 3.21. Who or what was the first to die?
[00:38:57] Human being.
[00:38:58] I heard someone from the choir, Abel.
[00:38:59] True, but there was death before Cain murdered his brother.
[00:39:05] The first death was an animal death.
[00:39:10] Yes, yes, right from the front row here, the skin.
[00:39:13] So, Adam and Eve, in their shame, they recognized that they were, they felt guilt, and they covered themselves.
[00:39:20] And it wasn't just the physical nakedness, they felt this deep-rooted shame, but they were ineffectively covering themselves, and what did the Lord provide them?
[00:39:29] A better covering.
[00:39:32] Animal skin.
[00:39:33] Well, to have animal skin, there was a sacrifice, right?
[00:39:39] An animal had to die.
[00:39:41] And we see later in the book of Genesis a whole sacrificial system being set up by God and the blood of animals would cover the guilt or the shame or the sin of a human being.
[00:39:58] Now, obviously that leads to the ultimate sacrifice we'll look at this morning.
[00:40:03] That was just the animal sacrifice.
[00:40:06] The covering for sin was foreshadowing the ultimate gift, the ultimate blood sacrifice we find from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
[00:40:22] Ultimately, guilty feelings, the Bible tells us guilty feelings are useful
[00:40:28] when they drive us to repentance.
[00:40:32] Guilty feelings are useful when they drive us to repentance.
[00:40:37] Getting to the root of an illness is key.
[00:40:39] It's essential to finding hope and healing.
[00:40:41] I'm gonna read this to you.
[00:40:44] Well, let me give you on the flip side.
[00:40:46] However, Satan can also use guilty feelings.
[00:40:52] It's important to understand this.
[00:40:54] Satan can also use guilty feelings to drive us away from God.
[00:41:00] So I'm gonna read this, 2 Corinthians 7 10, quote, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.
[00:41:12] But worldly sorrow brings death.
[00:41:16] Worldly guilt is filled with condemnation and hopelessness.
[00:41:20] It tells us that we are worthless.
[00:41:22] It lies about God's character.
[00:41:23] It causes us to either second-guess God's moral law or make us feel like we can never measure up to God's standard, that we can't be accepted by him.
[00:41:35] So there is a thing called false guilt, and Satan can lay that on you, but there is genuine guilt that should lead to repentance.
[00:41:43] So we're gonna take a look.
[00:41:44] Acknowledging the reality of guilt.
[00:41:46] Chapters 9 and 10 is kind of the culmination of Hebrews.
[00:41:50] Chapters 9 and 10, we're getting to a place where the old covenant, what you read about covenant can be translated testament, the old covenant is being compared to the new covenant.
[00:42:01] New Testament, good news of Jesus Christ, there's the old, there's the new.
[00:42:06] The old is described as good, but the new is described as superior, better, more effective.
[00:42:15] So with this comparison, let's just take a moment.
[00:42:19] There's just four verses here.
[00:42:21] I'm gonna do this very briefly and right to the point.
[00:42:24] Take a moment to show how the Old Covenant pointed towards a solution.
[00:42:29] The guilty conscience is nothing new.
[00:42:31] Adam and Eve, they felt guilt.
[00:42:33] Cain felt guilt.
[00:42:34] That's what led to his murder of Abel.
[00:42:36] What was he feeling guilt about?
[00:42:39] His offering.
[00:42:41] He didn't give the right offering.
[00:42:43] Joseph, remember the story of Joseph and his brothers?
[00:42:48] Joseph with the multicolored robe, and they beat him up, and it was their conscience that kept them from actually killing him.
[00:42:55] They sold him into slavery, and I'm sure they had suppressed that over the years, but then it came back to haunt them later on.
[00:43:03] Remember, Joseph's now number two in the land, and they're humbly approaching him at his mercy, and all this guilt is coming out.
[00:43:11] And they're not just feeling guilty, they were guilty.
[00:43:16] We see guilt with King David.
[00:43:20] It's important to understand this, King David described as a man after God's own heart.
[00:43:25] When he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he felt guilty enough to try to cover it up, right?
[00:43:32] He didn't repent, he tried to cover it up by sending her husband to the front lines.
[00:43:39] It looked like he was naturally being killed in battle, but it was a cover-up.
[00:43:45] Who called him out?
[00:43:47] Prophet, yeah, I heard someone in the back, but Prophet Nathan calls out King David.
[00:43:51] That's where Moses read today, Psalm 51, his response.
[00:43:55] He could have put Nathan to death, like, get out of my face.
[00:43:58] I'm the king, who do you think you are?
[00:44:00] Instead, it led to that beautiful prayer, create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.
[00:44:11] David was not only an adulterer, but a murderer, yet he came clean.
[00:44:17] He got to the root of his guilt.
[00:44:19] There were still consequences that affected his family.
[00:44:22] But the Lord describes him.
[00:44:24] I love how the Bible shows us flawed people.
[00:44:29] And he's all about restoration and redemption.
[00:44:33] So you can just trace.
[00:44:34] Isaiah, when the Lord just simply revealed his holiness, Isaiah felt so small and he felt so dirty and he didn't feel worthy.
[00:44:41] That's that famous quote, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips.
[00:44:45] How can I be the mouth of God when he saw God's glory?
[00:44:50] On and on.
[00:44:50] The guilty conscience is nothing new.
[00:44:53] And from these four verses, the old way of dealing with guilt again pointed towards a solution.
[00:44:59] Verses 11 and 12 speaks of an earthly place of holiness, the Tabernacle.
[00:45:06] God gave instructions built with human hands, later became permanent in the temple.
[00:45:13] And there's the holy place where the priest could go and then there was the most holy place, the Holy of Holies.
[00:45:20] It speaks in verse 11 of a human priest.
[00:45:23] Human priests in the Old Testament were from the line of Levi.
[00:45:28] And they would intercede on human beings' behalf to God.
[00:45:34] They were the go-between.
[00:45:35] Verse 12, we see annual access towards forgiveness.
[00:45:39] Today, you've heard the term Yom Kippur.
[00:45:42] That was the Day of Atonement.
[00:45:44] Once a year, the high priest would enter the Most Holy of Holies.
[00:45:48] The common priest could not, but the high priest would.
[00:45:52] The Holy of Holies was God's presence here on earth.
[00:45:57] Only one person could enter and he went with fear and trembling.
[00:46:02] Verses 13 and 14, the sacrificial means, it says here, the high priest would enter once a year, quote, by means of the blood of goats and calves.
[00:46:13] It's to cover his own sin and the sins of the people.
[00:46:17] And then verse 13, we also see the
[00:46:19] The purification of flesh.
[00:46:21] All was done to sanctify those who had been defiled.
[00:46:27] This was the old way.
[00:46:29] The old covenant.
[00:46:30] We find it in the Old Testament.
[00:46:33] It's quoted a lot in the New Testament.
[00:46:37] And there were limitations.
[00:46:39] It didn't solve the problem of human guilt.
[00:46:43] It pointed to a solution, but it didn't solve the problem of human guilt.
[00:46:47] It was external, it was temporary, it was incomplete, it was ritualistic, repetitive, it was an annual reminder of the stain of sin that people couldn't get rid of.
[00:46:58] Here's how Hebrews 9.9 describes the old system.
[00:47:03] This, quote, the old system, is an illustration for the present time.
[00:47:09] Indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
[00:47:20] The old way did not clear the conscience.
[00:47:24] I think there are a lot of people today who still, whether it's conscious or subconscious, we're living by the old way.
[00:47:32] We walk around feeling the burden of guilt and pain because we're not perfect.
[00:47:36] There's no one in this room, myself or Moses included, we're not perfect.
[00:47:41] We can carry those burdens, yet we've been told we can live victorious lives.
[00:47:46] But if you live the old way, you go to church, you do good deeds to try to please God.
[00:47:51] That's the old way.
[00:47:53] And you never quite measure up.
[00:47:55] And the priests are constantly standing because the work is never finished.
[00:48:01] We have insight here in these four verses this morning how the new covenant solves the problem.
[00:48:10] New covenant.
[00:48:12] Whenever we take communion, you'll notice when Moses or myself, when we hold the cup, we call that cup the cup of the new covenant.
[00:48:20] It's part of the good news.
[00:48:22] When we talk about new, it's not like new and improved.
[00:48:26] It's not like an adaptation of the old.
[00:48:28] We're constantly updating things to make them new and improved.
[00:48:32] No, it's a completely new covenant.
[00:48:37] The cup represents the new covenant.
[00:48:40] Through faith, what Christ has done on our behalf.
[00:48:45] With these same four verses, here's new covenant solution.
[00:48:50] We see in these four verses a superior place.
[00:48:53] The old way was the tabernacle and the temple and the most holy of holies.
[00:48:58] The new way is speaking of verse 11, the greater and perfect tent, not built with human hands.
[00:49:05] It's heaven.
[00:49:07] The new covenant's speaking of heaven.
[00:49:10] The earthly tabernacle was simply a copy and a shadow, again, made by human hands.
[00:49:17] We see here in verse 11 also a superior priest.
[00:49:19] Jesus is the great high priest.
[00:49:21] He is not from the line of Levi.
[00:49:23] He's from the line of Judah.
[00:49:25] He's the Son of God, and he's in heaven, seated next to God, interceding on our behalf.
[00:49:36] The great high priest.
[00:49:40] There's better access.
[00:49:41] It's not once a year.
[00:49:43] We have 24-7 access, yes?
[00:49:48] It's not once a year with just one person representing.
[00:49:50] It's Jesus, the Son of God himself, representing, advocating on your behalf.
[00:49:58] Better access by more costly means.
[00:50:02] Verse 14, it says, Jesus sacrificed his own blood.
[00:50:05] It was voluntary offering.
[00:50:06] Animals had no choice in the matter.
[00:50:09] Jesus offered his own blood.
[00:50:11] The unblemished sacrifice, meaning he was without sin,
[00:50:16] and it was the ultimate gift on our behalf.
[00:50:18] Death on a cross.
[00:50:20] Once for all.
[00:50:23] And he's seated.
[00:50:26] And the superior effect is Christ's offering didn't simply purify the flesh.
[00:50:31] It's not simply external.
[00:50:33] I'm gonna read verse 14.
[00:50:35] It's what it says here.
[00:50:36] He did so, the effect is, to purify our consciences.
[00:50:40] Verse 14, right here in our passage.
[00:50:43] To purify our consciences from dead works
[00:50:46] To worship the living God.
[00:50:50] To purify the conscience from dead works.
[00:50:53] So if you're trying to earn God's favor by going to church, by memorizing scripture, by doing good deeds, that's just dead works.
[00:51:06] But because of what Christ has done on our behalf, if you have the right posture,
[00:51:13] The worship, coming to church is about worshiping rather than obligation.
[00:51:20] Every time we take communion, I say come forward not because you must, not because it's a ritual and something we religiously do and you gotta do this.
[00:51:29] It's because you may.
[00:51:32] It's worship out of gratitude, not out of obligation.
[00:51:39] There's a superior effect
[00:51:42] secured by Jesus.
[00:51:45] The ultimate sacrifice.
[00:51:48] The price which was beyond what we can calculate.
[00:51:51] The price of his own blood.
[00:51:55] He's now 24-7.
[00:51:56] We have complete access.
[00:51:59] You don't have to go to a Catholic church and find someone behind a covering and go to a confessional booth.
[00:52:06] You can, right here in this room, you can kneel down, you can close your eyes,
[00:52:12] Pray directly to the great high priest.
[00:52:14] 24-7.
[00:52:17] And he advocates on your behalf and mine.
[00:52:23] So the old covenant provided something that was good, it was temporal, it was external, it was incomplete though.
[00:52:30] It was pointing towards something better, superior.
[00:52:34] The new covenant, completely permanent, internal, solved the problem of our guilty consciences.
[00:52:39] When you come to faith, when you confess
[00:52:43] I can't do this.
[00:52:44] I am a sinner, Lord.
[00:52:45] I have fallen short.
[00:52:47] You take ownership.
[00:52:50] When you're told you let go and whatever else was first in your life, if Jesus becomes first, Lord and Savior, we're told you're forgiven, retroactive, past, present, future.
[00:53:02] I think it's beautiful on a Sunday when we have a time in the pastoral prayer to confess you're already forgiven, but you're reaffirming.
[00:53:10] Sometimes we need to have those conversations with people here on earth or with the Father.
[00:53:21] I'm going to leave you with an image.
[00:53:26] We're told there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[00:53:31] Even though you and I are sinners, there's no condemnation because of what he's done on our behalf.
[00:53:35] We're told, Matthew 11, 28, Come to me, those who are weary.
[00:53:38] Sometimes we get so burdened we can barely crawl.
[00:53:42] Come to me.
[00:53:44] I'll give you rest for your souls.
[00:53:47] So on Wednesday night, we had a reading in our Discipleship Essentials, and it tells the story of a young boy
[00:53:55] who had the gift of craftsmanship and he created a little sailboat.
[00:54:01] And he loved his sailboat.
[00:54:03] He'd spent great time just perfecting it and then he'd take it everywhere with him and if there's a little pond or a stream he would take the opportunity to just put the boat on the water.
[00:54:17] And one day, it was a beautiful day, and he was at the beach, and he had the boat out on, just a little sailboat, kind of like when we do Camp Greer, when they make their little, but you know, but real, he spent time, he spent days working on this, and there was a current that day, and it swept his boat out at sea, and he was unable to retrieve it, and he was devastated.
[00:54:39] He loved this boat.
[00:54:40] He created this boat, and he was absolutely devastated.
[00:54:43] And then several weeks later, he was downtown, and years ago, I don't know if our culture's quite the same, but a lot of stores had the storefront.
[00:54:54] And he was downtown, and at one of the storefronts at the window, he saw his little boat.
[00:55:02] And he knew it was his, because he had made it.
[00:55:05] And he sees this boat and he, oh my goodness, that's my boat.
[00:55:08] And it's on sale at this store.
[00:55:11] So he goes inside and he asks the clerk, he's like, I'm not sure where you got this boat, but I made it.
[00:55:16] And the fellow's like, okay, well, whatever you say.
[00:55:19] And he goes, can I have the boat?
[00:55:22] And he goes, well, it's gonna cost you.
[00:55:25] You can buy it.
[00:55:27] What do you think the little boy did?
[00:55:30] He bought back his boat.
[00:55:33] And he treasured that boat.
[00:55:35] Can you see how that fits into the gospel message?
[00:55:39] We serve a God who loves us, who created us.
[00:55:42] We, in our brokenness with the fall of humankind, we're prone to wander, yes.
[00:55:47] We can be swept away.
[00:55:49] But he loves us so much that he's willing to buy us back.
[00:55:56] And that's a costly purchase.
[00:55:59] He bought us back with his own blood.
[00:56:04] You can't put a price tag on that.
[00:56:07] So I don't know where you stand or sit in your faith right now and if you struggle with a conscious or you try to suppress it and just bury things under a rug, but we serve a God who loves you, who's willing to deal with you.
[00:56:21] We can be overt, we don't have to be covert.
[00:56:23] He can see your heart anyway.
[00:56:27] And he loves you deeply enough to pursue you and buy you back.
[00:56:31] Again, it says in Scripture, you and I, we've been bought with a price.
[00:56:35] I'm going to close this time in prayer.
[00:56:37] I hope this passage has encouraged you.
[00:56:41] It's a heavy topic.
[00:56:43] But I hope it's encouraged you.
[00:56:44] Let's close this time together.
[00:56:49] Heavenly Father, your word can be convicting.
[00:56:54] And Lord, Satan loves to use conviction to drive us away from you.
[00:57:00] May any conviction this morning drive us towards you.
[00:57:06] May we not be deceived that you hate us because of our sin.
[00:57:11] No, you hate the sin, but you love us.
[00:57:17] Like a father and Lord, we're told not only by grace that we've been saved through faith, but we're also told that we are your workmanship, created to do good things.
[00:57:31] We're your masterpiece.
[00:57:35] Lord, I pray for the one person this morning who might be struggling, feeling unworthy, feeling worthless, feeling guilt that can be crippling.
[00:57:48] May they not buy into the lie.
[00:57:49] May they embrace that free gift of grace that comes from you.
[00:57:55] May they recognize that
[00:58:00] Sin and shame cannot be defeated by the, is defeated by the victory purchased through your son's blood.
[00:58:09] So Lord, may we live victorious lives.
[00:58:12] May we lift up our heads.
[00:58:13] May we be gracious to others in the same way that you've been gracious to us.
[00:58:21] We close this name in the precious name of your son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.
[00:59:28] So as we leave, I invite you, I think Moses already made the announcement, Wednesday night together, and we invite you to dinner this Wednesday.
[00:59:34] If you haven't been, we encourage you to try it out.
[00:59:37] And this week, reminder, there's not Bible class.
[00:59:41] There will be the childcare open for those up to kindergarten.
[00:59:45] And Moses has pulled together a little worship team.
[00:59:48] It's like a blend.
[00:59:50] So it's a little bit of a choir end.
[00:59:53] So it's a blend of contemporary and traditional.
[00:59:56] And so we invite you, if you can come for the dinner, and that's it, great.
[01:00:00] If you can't quite make dinner but can come for the worship, it'll be in the other building.
[01:00:04] We invite you to join us.
[01:00:05] And also, we're told, 1 John 1, the invitation, when you confess your sins, he's faithful to forgive.
[01:00:14] and cleanse you.
[01:00:15] And one thing God can do that we have trouble with each other, He forgives and He forgets.
[01:00:21] So if that's something you're struggling with, bring it to the Father and allow Him to give you that healing and that wholeness.
[01:00:30] As we leave this place, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, may the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each and every one of you now and forever.
[01:00:38] Amen.

[01:00:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus' name On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
[01:01:29] When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace.
[01:01:55] In every eye and sore begin, A lager of truth in the veil.
[01:01:56] On Christ the solid prophet stand, All other crowned he stands.
[01:02:08] All other ground is sinking sand All other ground is sinking sand
[01:02:43] of Christ Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic Church of Latter-day Saints, Catholic Church of Latter-day Saints,
[01:03:11] All is seeking sound.

[01:04:02] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
God Bless!
[01:04:42] The Gospel of the Lord
[01:05:24] What?

[01:05:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
In books.