Washed Clean [Part 1]

Alan White, pastor, Bible teacher and author of his latest book, the power to bless what would you try to work it might be a good thing to do me a very good thing. There are a lot of good things in the giving of your money praying and fasting's fellow shipping with others being faithful to be in charge of all of your doing them to try to soothe your conscience. Alan Wright into another message of good news that will help you see your life for no hold. I've been excited for you to hear the teaching today. In the series belonging to God as presented at renewal the church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright industries as you listen to today's message go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at pastoralan.org or call 877-544-4860 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching here is Alan Wright as a Christian, not just forgiven their clean or talk about how the blood of Jesus cleanses the conscience so that you can become totally free in the presence of the Lord of the blood of Jesus cleanses the content really to Scriptures in Hebrews, which if you're newer to your Bible can at first seem like it's a complex book and the fact today's message is sort of thick in its richness, but in every every place on your walk with Christ are to be able to connect and with this.

Hebrews chapter 9 and in the passage. Also in Hebrews 10 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 11 when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come in through the greater and more perfect tent speaking their of the tent of meeting, or the tabernacle which we are not look at little bit later on, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places may speaking here figuratively not talking about Jesus literally gone into the tabernacle timeout in the heavenly figuratively. Okay, so what we'll see today is the tent of meeting of the tabernacle. There was a physical structure in ancient Israel was actually a symbol foreshadowing. This spiritual reality that Jesus accomplished for us. Jesus is figuratively entered verse 12 once for all the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and cows not by the sacrifices, like the ancient Israelites would bring into the outer courtyard of the tent of meeting there upon the brazen altar.

Not like that but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption, not something that you have to keep repeating but eternal the whole scope of what Jesus did is like what was happening on the old, but it is categorically new and different eternal perfect. Verse 13 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 flash is talking about. If the Old Testament Levitical laws.

When a person who would been called ceremonially unclean for a variety reasons to be sprinkled with the ashes of a heifer that's been sacrificed in go through a ritual and at least for that time being would make them worthy of coming into the temple. How much more. Verse 14 with the blood of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. So in the blood of Jesus that something the writer Hebrews says cleanses the conscience purifies us from dead works works that have no life in them. They bring no life, and when you try to do them are actually deadening to the soul now look over in chapter 10 at verse 19, Hebrews 10, verse 19 therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus by the new and living way that he opened us for us through the curtain so there was a thick veil in the tabernacle, and that veil was rent asunder. When Jesus was crucified, and now we come in, not by bringing animals to sacrifice dead things we don't come by our dead works. We combine new and living way because Jesus is alive is way saying by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, the veil which is his flash, so again symbolically see this in a little bit later on the veil that was in the tabernacle was symbolic, pointing to the actual body of Jesus, which is torn asunder on the cross is a symbol of the fact that the veil would be torn open for all who are in Christ and sends verse 21 we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, let us draw near. That's what this is all about today. This is what he's talking about your confidence to draw near to God.

That's what we want to come to with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water was the best shower he ever had Yahweh like the time you are the dirtiest, or you just couldn't wait to get a bad way to get a shower. I can think of anything. What time were you just maybe it is working in the yard and it is covered with Veterans Day Wednesday that shower to steal through it for me. I often you will always be that some years ago my daughter had a chance to go to visit our mission. Jeff and Sissy to join us on the island off of thought the mainland of Papua New Guinea builds the world is very near the equator and we as a viable dedication didn't have electricity there any running water there.

They have no showers on the island. They have no way to bathe accept the local Papua New Guinea is a little trickle of water who came out of Kennametal rock down towards the beach and informed about a 2' x 10" deep pool and they would come down there with old bucket and they gonna like this and we if we went over there. We did not do it would muddy it up and so we we did name you so there was no there was no showing the and it basically 95° and 95% humidity every single day, every day is assigned or just about on the equator 95°, 95% humidity. Anytime you what you do and that swept all time you sweat while you sleep and add to it that my daughter and I were irrationally afraid of being bitten by malaria's mosquito and so we kept ourselves slathered in the mosquito repellent so only thing worse than sweating and 95% humidity and 95° is to do so with mosquito's lather all over you while you're doing it and just lie in this Stauffer three is only thing is you get out in the ocean to try to get a little cool off. Then you just come out and more salty than you were before and after we did this for three days in this line and we shuttle lateral flight back over to the mainland in the Highlands Ave., Carrabba where they had mission houses and we could take a shower and I got nice errands. I is the best shower I've ever had contact you about the best bath you could ever have. Were talking about something in the spirit were talking about the cleansing of the conscience is a chance that you've never heard a sermon on the conscience we talk about heart retirement, spirit, soul and body, but conscience is something that is meant to 22 times in the New Testament, and November.

Her sermon on the conscience before we talk today about what the conscience is why it's so important that the conscience is cleansed and how the blood of Jesus cleanses the conscience.

That's what were going to talk about so to be washed to be made clean have the fulfillment of what David prayed in Psalm 51 created me a clean heart, all of this is related to this concept in Hebrews. It was here in chapter 9, 10, that your conscience would be cleansed so that you could come into the presence of God with full assurance and confidence rather than a shadow of concern, doubt, worry or fear that you don't belong there, and so were talking about. What is the conscience.

Will the conscience is that faculty that you have that well. I think we all know that is it is alerting you to what's right and wrong… Supposed to.

I chuckled see a man who wrote to the Internal Revenue Service any sin, in a check for thousand dollars. They said, to whom it concerns that some years ago I cheated on my taxes and my conscience has been bothering me ever since.

I've enclosed a check for thousand dollars in any said PS if my conscience continues to bother me, I'll send in the rest conscience is that thing that gives you a little voice that says you will else right now. When I had my preaching on Friday afternoon, which I do for video capture.

As I was leaving the house to get over to church and preach and I just been immersed, you know, in this word I step into change my clothes in the bedroom and heard a kind of fluttering sound in the bedroom and I thought what was that is either above or something in here and then, much to my chagrin, I discovered there was a word in the bedroom and I proceeded for the next 30 minutes making me late to my preaching assignment to trotting up the bird out of the bedroom.

You know with the broom and the she is in everything and the more I try to get them out, the crazier he got until finally I had to just go preach. My wife went around I had to just close them up in the bedroom knowing that he is in there while I'm gone.

After preaching I was scheduled to go and have some fun. I did have some coffee with a friend and I thought you know the bird is in the bedroom. How can I go drink coffee with a friend with a bird doing who knows what in the bedroom so I gave up the coffee and the friend and I went home to deal with the bird tonight so you have a conscience that says you got no business in around drinking Starbucks when you got a bird flapping around.

And worse, your wife's going to get home soon and if you leave her there alone with the bird. Well, we will have some discussions about that.

So is this is, how the conscience works in the Old Testament the word conscience is not mentioned. The closest thing is probably David's speaking about the heart. I don't think the conscience is the same thing is what the Bible means by the heart. But it's the closest thing in the Old Testament, like when David's heart troubled him in first Samuel 24 or he said created me a clean heart in Psalm 51 the word and the New Testament for conscience.

Soon a basis is a word that has a prefix soon or you might see it in English ISYN and it means with and the root of the word means to know our knowledge, so it is knowledge with an interesting and English.

The etymology of this from the Latin is the same conscience Seo and means with the prefix moves the image with accuracy SCI E. That route means knowledge. That's what that's what conscience is. It means joint knowledge. It means knowing the width it began to emerge during the time of Socrates. They would talk about conscience, but started out and according to ancient literature just like self-awareness, but soon the word B can be known like so admit initially like knowing within myself. Now, being aware of myself, but soon it began to be known as knowing right and wrong, and a faculty and so this is the word that comes and that Paul is using and that we see here in the writer of Hebrews no talent right will have more teaching moment.

Today's important series knocking for 99 days in a row.

Someone tells you, I love you my letter for site when you feel cherished. The what would happen if I'm hundred percent sad rushing to get enough for me to measure on the Colletti anymore. When that one day contaminate the meaning of the other 99 days when 1% of conditional love poison.

The other 99% will just 1% of lies enough to spoil grace instead of locking introducing unlimited capacity for fear if I don't measure up.

When my having rejected when the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church, the apostle policy outraged and read a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why am I snapping mixed with any form of Alan Wright's 12 message idea series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free, and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians and asked the gospel discover the purity and power the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today will send you pastor messages in an attractive CD album with your digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

Call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor and dialect. Today's teaching now continues once again is Alan Wright to know implies that the conscience is not functioning alone, so to speak, but it is a joint knowledge with something else and when I would suggest to you is that your conscience is a God given faculty. It is something that is different than who you are is a spirit living spirit and is not the same as your soul. Your mind but your conscience is in it of itself again because working with God's revelation of truth, the highest truth when your conscience is working with that then your conscience is serving you. Apart from just the promptings of the Holy Spirit just for you to inwardly know what is right what is wrong where to beware not to be with a problem with the conscience is that the conscience is not something that is utterly reliable because it is a joint knowledge, and if what's joined to the conscience is something that is just the natural mind that is not necessarily walking in spirit revealed truth of God's word, then it's something that could be unreliable to you.

Interestingly enough, both Christians and non-Christians have a conscience. Paul talks about this in Romans chapter 2 we won't go there.

But what he says is that the Gentiles the non-Jews had a conscience and at times just because of their conscience. They were being they were conforming more to God's standard that even the people of Israel were who had been given God's law. That's we talked about in Romans chapter 2. So this idea of a mystical yet real faculty. That is some part of the human makeup in which there is joint knowledge that is either agreeing with spirit revealed truth, the word of God or agreeing with natural thoughts that may not at all really be the revealed truth of God. The conscience is therefore relying on joint knowledge with.

Therefore, it can be that it's a wonderful gift, but not always reliable dream about this week by JD Crowley and Andrew Miceli written on the idea of conscience and Crowley said that the reason that he's decided to write this book was because of his hesitancy to step over someone's legs when they prop them up on the coffee table. He had been living in Cambodia and he came back home United States and was at a family gathering after years, meaning Imodium and he got up to get some chips and salsa and so my family would sit on the couch, had their legs propped up on the coffee table and he stood up and assume that they would move their legs, but they didn't and he eat his conscience wouldn't allow him to step over the person's legs because in Southeast Asia you wouldn't never do such a thing. It would be utterly disrespectful in the culture in which he been living for last year's and now is in America. No Americans freed up which don't you step over my legs home care. So one wrong for him to step over his brother because of the river legs.

It was, but his conscience was down and don't you do that, hey, wait a minute that's not necessarily reliable in the situation. My conscience has been condition it it's it's it always has to do with the context. So for example I was preaching last week in Salt Lake City and the Presbyterian Church, where Prince was a little bit more formal than what we are accustomed to. They had a little hole young guy came in as an acolyte for the service and lit the candles they had more written prayers of confession they had more written liturgical elements & it was a little bit more formal.

I didn't know fully the culture of the church. Someone had provided for me when I preached a couple water and it was one of those red plastic cups and after I preached I was standing out front and I was talking to people after the service.

I drank some of the water and I set it down on the communion table and when I said it on the communion table. All of a sudden a memory came back to me from 20 years ago or 25 years ago that a friend of mine, very casual and informal pastor was speaking at an Episcopal Church and he was speaking casually and standing in front of the communion table and in the Episcopal Church.

The sacrament is held very, very highly, and he leaned back against the communion table and next thing you know without thinking, he hoisted himself up and sat on the edge of the communion table in the place did what you did that story was 25 years ago and when I set the red plastic cup on the communion table. He came back to me and I picked up the red plastic communion cop and I put on the plastic cup of water in a put it somewhere else would allow thought in this culture, probably there holding this this table in a more high view and I don't want to offend somebody that was my conscience. That was it in that particular context. You see how complicated it is in first Corinthians chapter 8 and in first Corinthians chapter 10 talks about matters of conscience and interestingly he said you can have a week conscience which I think by this he means an undeveloped or immature conscience so the conscience is something is not always reliable in some people's conscience is going to be more clear and more mature than others. And yet, in the sense in which what he teaches years you gotta go with the conscience that you have because what he says in first Corinthians chapter 8 is is talking about this this issue that they had an early church in which Paul teaches that we are free in Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter the rituals that you do doesn't matter.

The things you eat or drink.

That's not what makes you closer to God or not. Closer to God. But there was food that would be offered to pagan idols and then would be eaten and Paul is talking about.

Is it okay to eat this food and what he says of her strength in chapter 8 verse seven he says not all possesses out with something for associate will idols eat food is really offered to an idol in their conscience be in week is to file.

So if you think that it's wrong to eat food that's been offered to an idol, even though it's not wrong to eat food that's been offered to an idol because pause and listen. We are free.

We are set free by the blood of the Lord Jesus, you're not going to be defiled by something that you eat, but if you think that you are being defiled and then you violate that you violate your conscience or if the person that you're with things that it is wrong and you know that they think that it is wrong and you still do it. You are now violating conscience because it's going to of them even though it's not all. Do you understand what I'm saying that there are times in which there is something that is not wrong and yet because somebody thinks that it is wrong. You have to pay attention to anything even saying that you have to pay attention to your own conscience. Even though you know your own conscience is not reliable because until your conscience matures and until you become more in-line with the knowledge of the gospel, and until you see it at that level, then you still have to heed your conscience, which is an odd thing to say because on the other hand, the conscience is not always alive to give the daisies a mind blown.

Okay, it's a part of our teaching is called washed clean in the big series belonging to God. Alan is back in a moment with additional insight on this for your life in a final word stick with us just 1% of lies enough to spoil grace lock in introducing unlimited capacity for fear if I don't measure up. When my heavy rejected when the Judaizers infiltrated the Galatian church a possible policy outraged and read a letter that describes the essence of the gospel of grace and why it must not be mixed with any form of Alan Wright's 12 message idea series trumpets the power of the gospel in order to set you free, and empower you with pure grace. It's called Galatians and asked the gospel discover the purity and power the grace of God. When you make your gift to Alan Wright ministry said I will send you pastor outlines messages in an attractive CD album with your digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4861 come to our website pastor and got work. I do think it becomes a situation and you have another message for another day that you did you bit is titled a why would anybody want be filled the Holy Spirit and I often think of that email, fill in the blank there. Why would everybody want to be washed clean and and and yet the transformation is happening yeah well I think that is one thing to say okay have been made holy is another to begin to have a sense that I am clean and that what God's done is so thorough that I can have a clear or a clean conscience and you know and I give this along with other illustrations but will be talking about in this message night by Kim think of the time. If you go to sporting events like I do.

Or maybe you didn't have a good seat and then you move down to a better sleep because some I didn't show up for their seat but the whole game.

You know you can be sitting there going at any moment. So I get at me on the shoulder and say this is my theme you'll feel really good right well that's where you don't have that totally clean concentrate is not totally clear. It's like you know the other shoe could drop something off.

God wants every believer to not only know that they're forgiven before the man absolutely clear concept. And that's what were talking about the day how much different rear life is with a conscience that's been washed clean today's good news message is a listener supported production Alan White ministries