PURGING DEAD WORKS
Thursday – January 25, 2018
Are our lives and our Church lives filled or consumed by dead works? This is a legitimate question that must be answered by each of us individually and then by the Church in which we believe God has assigned us. Dead works are a fools’ errand assigned of the devil and I don’t believe any of us are looking to be on assignment for the devil. Let us not be confused here, dead works are things we are doing that God did not assign to us, however, we and others may say they are good things to be doing. Well, let’s review our primary text and move forward with our study.
Hebrews 9:13-17 (KJV)
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
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?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Our text indicates that the blood of the innocent animals under the Old Covenant and the Blood of Christ under the New Covenant are to purge our conscience from dead works and turn us to serve the living God. Dead works whether we and others view them as good things to do are not pleasing to God and accomplish nothing for the Kingdom of God and may in fact hinder the true work of God. There are those who believe it is never wrong to do certain things like say witness to a nonbeliever. That is a lie, anything we are not led of God to do in the way God leads us to do it is sin and counterproductive in the Kingdom of God.
For a moment let’s look at this idea of the purging of our conscience. The text makes it seem like the blood of Christ automatically purges our conscience or consciousness from dead works. What the blood of Christ has done for us is allow us to be born from above with the abiding Holy Spirit and for the baptism of the Holy Spirit giving us access or to see clearly by the leadership of the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ. This gives us a clear-eyed view so to speak of what we are doing. We can then eliminate the things in our lives that are unproductive (not called of God) in our lives and choose to do the things that actually serve the living God. God does nothing in our lives without our invitation and consent and even then, generally requires our faith in acting upon His Word. This process of letting go of dead works and serving the living God is generally harder than perhaps it sounds.
Before we move off this idea of our conscience being purged of dead works let’s look at two separate scenarios. One is when we first receive salvation. There was likely a slew of things that could easily be identified as having to go however there may have been a few things that were more problematic. Let’s say you were volunteering at a homeless shelter. This would seem to be a good work and certainly God would have no objection to that activity however it is important that we determine if this is Gods’ assignment for us in the Kingdom. Staying with that “good work” may distract us from our true calling and assignment and be a hindrance to someone else who is called to the position we are in at the shelter. Jesus said that He did not say or do anything that was not directed of the Father (through the Holy Spirit) and we must do likewise. The second scenario would be following salvation and we are asked to do or participate in a certain thing. Do we inquire of the Lord or do we bow to peer pressure or even a misplaced obedience to authority? If it is not ordained of the Lord, no matter who asked you to serve, it is sin, will be counterproductive in the Kingdom of God and our personal lives.
Pushing forward in our primary text let’s look at the fifteenth verse. We see the phrase “for this cause”, what cause. Well, as we look back just a short way we find that the bringing of the Blood of Christ to the Mercy Seat in the Most Holy Place purchased our eternal redemption. We were sanctified, set apart for the Father’s use, we became the temple of the Holy Spirit with our bodies yielded to Him for His use. In view of these things let’s meditate on the following Scriptures.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (KJV)
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Romans 6:12-14 (KJV)
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
We are instruments of righteousness unto God when we are doing the will of God for us. The will of God for our cousin may not be the will of God for us. Each of us in our prayer closet with the Lord might want to do an inventory with Him of what we are doing and how much of it is God ordained, how much we ordained, and how much was ordained by others.
Until our next publication, I speak blessing into your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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