“steps toward God keep us turned away from sin”

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[I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.]

Our discussion of this passage was more spontaneous (and a bit shorter) than some of our other conversations.  We met for dinner and the conversation led to taking a look at the text in Hebrews.

Cleansing The Conscience

Our focus was almost entirely on the idea of a cleansed conscience in verse 14.  What does it mean to have a “cleansed” conscience? That seems to be the main deficiency of the old covenant and the triumph of the new covenant: “sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience” (Hebrews 9:9) versus “having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:22).

Several people commented on wrong ways which we deal with sin.

• • We don’t “draw near to God” in spite of the repeated exhortations in Hebrews (4:16, 7:25, 10:1, 10:22, 11:6). We don’t to go Him so He can change us.  Instead we withdraw from Him (and from each other).
  • We repeatedly rehearse our failure and resolve to do better. One person suggested that “guilt feels good” – it gives us a sense of control, that we can clean ourselves up.
  • At our deepest level we can’t really believe God forgives us completely and absolutely. We think of His willingness to reach out to us like someone tentatively and reluctantly touching a slimy slug[1] (a graphic illustration from a book several of us have been reading).
  • We focus more on what we can do (or at least what we need to do) more than on what God in Christ has already done for us.
  • Ultimately, another member concluded, we engage in idolatry. We worship something other than the true Living God.  Whenever we ascribe false characteristics to God, or when we fail to appreciate His true attributes, we have (inadvertently) made an idol.  We have assumed God is only a little better than we are.  We can forgive others (within limits), so we suppose God just has limits to His forgiveness that are a little (or even a lot) better than ours – but still finite.

The need for cleansed consciences was summed up by one comment: “How do I turn away from thirty-nine years of dealing with sin the wrong way?”  We are often tempted to turn back to the unhealthy (but very natural) ways of dealing with our sin.

Back to Egypt?

The Hebrew congregation was warned against the disobedience of the Israelites (Hebrews 3:7-11, 15; 4:3, 5, 7).  The disobedience, or “unpersuadableness”[2], was their choice of the familiar in place of God’s better promise: “in their hearts turned back to Egypt” (Acts 7:39).

Likewise, many commentators suggest that at least one of the issues (if not the main issue) addressed by the pastor to the Hebrews was the temptation to return to the Jewish sacrificial system of the old covenant.

A suggestion in our discussion group was our similarity to the Hebrews and to the Israelites.  We are prone to return to our old ways of dealing with sin and guilt and shame.  God promised the Israelites a better future – the Promised Land in place of Egyptian slavery – but they were unpersuaded, unconvinced of God’s trustworthiness.  God promised the Hebrew congregation a better way to deal with their sin, a new completed covenant of grace in place an old covenant of continual reminders of sin.  He has provided that same promise to us, drawing near to Him in place of working harder to win His approval.

While we can always take commonsense steps to avoid sin, the real victory over sin is won when we give God space in our lives and actively pursue God. Whether serving others or devoting time for prayer, these steps toward God keep us turned away from sin. Repentance is turning away from sin, but holiness happens in our daily interactions with God. There is freedom in the pursuit of God that conquers sin.[3]

Reminders

The book of Hebrews is known for its exaltation of Jesus and His work, and for the so-called “warning passages” about the consequences of ignoring His work.[4]

A theme not as frequently discussed is the writer’s repeated pastoral exhortations for the many to look after individuals.  In the following verses the entire congregation is to act out of concern for any individual who may be struggling (Hebrews 3:12-13; 4:1, 11; 6:11; 10:24; 12:15).

• • 3:12-13 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
  • 4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.
  • 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
  • 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end,
  • 10:24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
  • 12:15 See to it (plural) that no one comes short of the grace of God

Those exhortations are scattered like practical productive seeds throughout this theologically dense document.  The writer repeatedly reminds the readers that this New Covenant life is a corporate process.  All of us together have a responsibility for one another’s spiritual formation.  And each of us has the opportunity (sometimes difficult) of looking to the believers around us for spiritual direction.  On our own we will often turn back to our years of wrong responses to sin.  We need each other to point us to the amazing grace of God and to the sacrificial work of Jesus our High Priest.  He died to cleanse our conscience.  Let us trust in Him and not go back to the slavery of shame.  Rather, let us draw near to God.

[1] Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Wheaton, Illinois, Crossway, 2020), 24.

[2] John Owen, Exposition on Hebrews; The AGES Digital Library PDF (Rio, Wisconsin:  AGES Software, 2004), 328;
also, John Owen, Hebrews:  The Epistle of Warning (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Kregel Publications, 1953), 60.

[3] https://edcyzewski.com/2014/06/02/if-you-want-to-stop-sinning-stop-trying-to-stop-sinning/ (accessed 20230610)

[4] e.g. (2:1-4; 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:12; 10:19-39; 12:14-29); see Herbert W. Bateman, Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Kregel Publications, 2007).