A Worthy Conscience

Question 1

Scripture

Answer

CENTRAL TEXT: Hebrews 9:1-14

Heb. 9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. 2 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. 3 Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, 4 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. 5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Heb. 9:6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 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. 8 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 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Heb. 9:11 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) 12 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. 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 flesh, 14 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.

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 139:13-14; Proverbs 1:7-9; Psalm 27: 3-4

LEADER: For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

ALL: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,

and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

for they are a graceful garland for your head

and pendants for your neck.

LEADER: One thing have I asked of the LORD,

that will I seek after:

ALL: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD

and to inquire in his temple.

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: Luke 18:9-14

LEADER: He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Question 2

Resources

Answer

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 32

Psalm 130

John 1:14

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

What is your earliest memory of anything you might’ve associated with your conscience? A moment of decision about whether something was right or wrong? What happened? What effect did that moment have, if you can remember?
The author is making distinctions between the sacrifices of animals and the sacrifice of Jesus. What are those distinctions?
We said that a conscience perfected and purified–we might speak of them as being perfected and purified–have certain features: rest in the grace of God, wrestling to know the true foundation of conscience, and resolve to keep our consciences supple, “tenderhearted.”
How would knowing deeply today that no sin–past, present, or future–will end your peace with God change your moment?
What else competes with your sense of conscience? Can you detect it? How does it shape you? How might you need to release that?
What’s the last sin you’ve confessed to someone? How did it help?

ILLUSTRATIONS:

May 11, 2025

Quotes:

people’s sins no longer bite or make them uneasy, but rather that a joyful confidence, that God has forgiven them their sins forever, overwhelms them.

it’s not the mere fear of punishment that restrains him from sin. [Rather,] loving and revering God as his father, honouring and obeying him as his master, [even if] there were no hell, he would revolt at the very idea of offending him.

- John Calvin

“Because of Christ - or rather, the whole mystery of Christ - all the ages of time and the beings within those ages have received their beginning and end in Christ. For the union between a limit of the ages and limitlessness, between measure and immeasurability, between finitude and infinity, between Creator and creation, between rest and motion, was conceived before the ages. This union has been manifested in Christ at the end of time, and in itself brings God’s foreknowledge to fulfillment…”

- St Maximus the Confessor