The Blood has satisfied God; it must satisfy us also. It has therefore a second valuethat is manward in the cleansing of our conscience. When we come to the Epistle to theHebrews we find that the Blood does this. We are to have "hearts sprinkled from an evilconscience" (Hebrews 10:22).
This is most important. Look carefully at what it says. The writer does not tell us thatthe Blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses our hearts, an then stop there in his statement. Weare wrong to connect the heart with the Blood in quite that way. It may show amisunderstanding of the sphere in which the Blood operates to pray, `Lord, cleanse myheart from sin by Thy Blood'. The heart, God says, is "desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9),and He must do something more fundamental than cleanse it: He must give us a new one.
We do not wash and iron clothing that we are going to throw away. As we shallshortly see, the `flesh' is too bad to be cleansed; it must be crucified. The work of Godwithin us must be something wholly new. "A new heart also will I give you, and a newspirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26).
No, I do not find it stated that the Blood cleanses our hearts. Its work is not subjectivein that way, but wholly objective, before God. True, the cleansing work of the Blood isseen here in Hebrew 10 to have reference to the heart, but it is in relation to theconscience. "Having our hearts sprinkled from a evil conscience".
What then is themeaning of this?
It means that there was something intervening between myself and God, as a result ofwhich I had an evil conscience whenever I sought to approach Him. It was constantlyreminding me of the barrier that stood between myself and Him. But now, through theoperation of the precious Blood, something new has been effected before God which hasremoved that barrier, and God has made that fact known to me in His Word. When thathas been believed in and accepted, my conscience is at once cleared and my sense of guiltremoved, and I have no more an evil conscience toward God.
Every one of us knows what a precious thing it is to have a conscience void of offensein our dealings with God. A heart of faith and a conscience clear of any and everyaccusation are both equally essential to us, since they are interdependent. As soon as wefind our conscience is uneasy our faith leaks away and immediately we find we cannotface God. In order therefore to keep going on with God we must know the up-to-datevalue of the Blood. God keeps short accounts, and we are made nigh by the Blood everyday, every hour and every minute. It never loses its efficacy as our ground of access if wewill but lay hold upon it. When we enter the most Holy Place, on what ground dare weenter but by the Blood?
But I want to ask myself, am I really seeking the way into the Presence of God by theBlood or by something else? What do I mean when I say, `by the Blood'? I mean simplythat I recognize my sins, that I confess that I have need of cleansing and of atonement,and that I come to God on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus. I approach God through His merit alone, and never on the basis of my attainment; never, forexample, on the ground that I have been extra kind or patient today, or that I have donesomething for the Lord this morning. I have to come by way of the Blood every time.
Thetemptation to so many of us when we try to approach God is to think that because Godhas been dealing with us -- because He has been taking steps to bring us into somethingmore of Himself and has been teaching us deeper lessons of the Cross -- He has therebyset before us new standards, and that only by attaining to these can we have a clearconscience before Him. No! A clear conscience is never based upon our attainment; itcan only be based on the work of the Lord Jesus in the shedding of His Blood. I may be mistaken, but I feel very strongly that some of us are thinking in terms suchas these: `Today I have been a little more careful; today I have been doing a little better;this morning I have been reading the Word of God in a warmer way, so today I can praybetter!' Or again, `Today I have had a little difficulty with the family; I began the dayfeeling very gloomy and moody; I am not feeling too bright now; it seems that there mustbe something wrong; therefore I cannot approach God.'
What, after all, is your basis of approach to God? Do you come to Him on theuncertain ground of your feeling, the feeling that you may have achieved something forGod today? Or is your approach based on something far more secure, namely, the factthat the Blood has been shed, and that God looks on that Blood and is satisfied? Ofcourse, were it conceivably possible for the Blood to suffer any change, the basis of yourapproach to God might be less trustworthy. But the Blood has never changed and neverwill. Your approach to God is therefore always in boldness; and that boldness is yoursthrough the Blood and never through your personal attainment. Whatever be yourmeasure of attainment today or yesterday or the day before, as soon as you make aconscious move into the Most Holy Place, immediately you have to take your stand uponthe safe and only ground of the shed Blood. Whether you have had a good day or a badday, whether you have consciously sinned or not, your basis of approach is always thesame -- the Blood of Christ. That is the ground upon which you may enter, and there is noother.
As with many other stages of our Christian experience, this matter of access to Godhas two phases, an initial and a progressive one. The former is presented to us inEphesians 2 and the latter in Hebrews 10. Initially, our standing with God was secured bythe Blood, for we are "made nigh in the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13). But thereafter ourground of continual access is still by the Blood, for the apostle exhorts us: "Havingtherefore...boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus...let us draw near"(Heb. 10:19,22). To begin with I was made nigh by the Blood, and to continue in thatnew relationship I come through the Blood every time. It is not that I was saved on onebasis and that I now maintain my fellowship on another. You say, `That is very simple; itis the A.B.C. of the Gospel.' Yes, but the trouble with many of us is that we have movedaway from the A.B.C. We have thought we had progressed and so could dispense with it,but we can never do so. No, my initial approach to God is by the Blood, and every time Icome before Him it is the same. Right to the end it will always and only be on the groundof the Blood.
This does not mean at all that we should live a careless life, for we shall shortly studyanother aspect of the death of Christ which shows us that anything but that iscontemplated. But for the present let us be satisfied with the Blood, that it is there and that it is enough.
We may be weak, but looking at our weakness will never make us strong. No trying to feel bad and doing penance will help us to be even a little holier. There is no help there,so let us be bold in our approach because of the Blood: `Lord, I do not know fully whatthe value of the Blood is, but I know that the Blood has satisfied Thee; so the Blood isenough for me, and it is my only plea. I see now that whether I have really progressed,whether I have really attained to something or not, is not the point. Whenever I comebefore Thee, it is always on the ground of the precious Blood. Then our conscience isreally clear before God. No conscience could ever be clear apart from the Blood. It is theBlood that gives us boldness.
"No more conscience of sins": these are tremendous words of Hebrews 10:2. We arecleansed from every sin; and we may truly echo the words of Paul: "Blessed is the man towhom the Lord will not reckon sin" (Romans 4:8). To understand The Sermon on the Mount we must reckon both God's role thru Christ Jesus, and our role thru Christ Jesus.
