Having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

Hebrews 10:22

This is the secret!  The Jews knew they were to be good, but they always came up short.  God provided them a way, the way of the sprinkled blood, not their own blood, but that of an animal sacrifice.  So, their religious system revolved around offering sacrifices.  The center of their worship was not seeking perfection, but to obtain cleansing.  Of course, the Law stood firm with its insistence that we obey God.  But, who could do that?  So, the blood ritual was given to cover us human beings, frail as we are.

Then Jesus came!  He taught that we should be good, no doubt about that, but, aware of our inability to live in perfect obedience, He also became for us the Sacrifice for sin that acknowledged our inability to keep the Law.  That does not mean that we who follow Jesus may disobey the law and willfully sin, no.  In fact, as we try to live the most holy lives possible we need the blood to cleanse us.

We read in Hebrews, “You have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”  That is it!  There is no other way to follow Jesus, except through obedience and cleansing. The two are not opposite, but they reinforce one another.  There is a way, the way of Jesus.