334. Purge Conscience
Hebrews 9:14 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 blood of Christ purges the conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from every sin. A purging is even more complete than a cleansing; purging implies a deeper and more complete cleansing. The Sin is not only washed away, it is also scrubbed and dug out leaving no vestige whatever. Any invisible bacteria left over in any wound can grow to become a horrible infection.
If any small bit of sin is left over in the soul it may receive an inordinate amount of focus and attention. The devil will use that to keep us in guilt, shame and even despair. And it doesn’t take much leaven to leaven the whole lump. Therefore, purging is critical to spiritual health.
For vital spiritual health and an abundant life it is the conscience that must be purged. The conscience is an impartial judge (though it may be flawed) and an unrelenting accuser. The conscience has a long memory and it does not forget. Conscience is a gift of God that the Lord uses to control coarse outbursts of violent sin and general rampage. The conscience is able to deter and hinder humans from doing something they would regret later. Conscience does not normally encourage good behavior; it usually prevents bad behavior. Conscience will condemn us when we act against it. Thus, following the conscience is the safer way. The good news in the promise of purging the conscience is that the conscience can no longer rightly condemn the heart because the sin has been forever forgiven. Accusations of guilt do not ever have to be received by the believer in Jesus. The conscience is purged. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The conscience is purged from “dead works.” All humans try dead works to try to appease an accusing conscience, but it doesn’t work. Works cannot cover sins or quiet the conscience; however, the blood of Christ does. Dead works are like doing penance; penance does not pay for the sin, only Christ does that. Humans are deceived into thinking that they can make up for mistakes by doing good works, but they are only “dead works.” Jesus purged the dead works by His Good Work.