Our Spiritual Health: Maintaining a Good Conscience

In this part of the sermon: He situates the sermon within his 'Back to the Basics' series, reviewing previous points on the source of spiritual strength (Christ) and means of spiritual health (Scripture…

Conscience is described as a 'little man, little woman, little boy, little girl' dwelling within, with a long pointing finger, oversized pressuring hand, and thundering voice, accusing or excusing moral choices. This metaphor helps visualize the internal function of conscience.

Acts 24, 16, 1 Timothy 1, 6 and 1 Timothy 1, verses 18 and 19. We then moved on to consider secondly the biblical teaching concerning the identity and function of conscience. And there we parked primarily on Romans 2, 14 and 15 and then we moved on to the biblical teaching and I introduced the rather grotesque illustration of the little man, the little woman, the little boy, the little girl who dwells within each of us that has the long pointing finger, the oversized pressuring hand and the thundering voice. Conscience being that God implanted moral monitor within the soul that points with its...

5:43 - 7:09 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He situates the sermon within his 'Back to the Basics' series, reviewing previous points on the source of spiritual strength (Christ) and means of spiritual health (Scripture…

The analogy of maintaining a car or good health is used to explain that one cannot maintain what they do not first possess. This sets up the distinction between attaining and maintaining a good conscience.

and function of conscience. We took up the third line of thought, the biblical directives for the maintenance of a good conscience. And we had occasion to assert that you cannot maintain what you don't possess. You can only maintain a car if you possess a car.

7:09 - 7:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He situates the sermon within his 'Back to the Basics' series, reviewing previous points on the source of spiritual strength (Christ) and means of spiritual health (Scripture…

The conversion of Zacchaeus (Luke 19) is cited as an example of the necessary 'thorough, righteous adjustment of rectifiable moral wrongs against our fellow men' for initially attaining a good conscience.

And we looked at Hebrews 9, 14, Hebrews 10, 22, and 1 Peter 3, 21, where in these three texts there is this most intimate connection between the attainment of a good conscience, a conscience that is no longer a good conscience, but a conscience of good conscience. and evil, condemning, galling conscience in the presence of real guilt before the living God, the only way to attain a good conscience is to appropriate Christ in His saving work. And in those three texts, the Scripture is clear that it is by the blood of Christ, it is through the resurrection of Christ alone that we attain a good co...

8:11 - 9:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He situates the sermon within his 'Back to the Basics' series, reviewing previous points on the source of spiritual strength (Christ) and means of spiritual health (Scripture…

The situation of Onesimus, the runaway slave, is used to illustrate the vital need for horizontal moral issues to be righteously adjusted for a converted person to have a good conscience when returning to a former master.

We looked at the incident of the position and the subsequent responsibilities of this runaway slave called Onesimus. And how the Apostle Paul clearly indicated that it was vital that some horizontal moral issues be righteously adjusted if this converted slave was to go back and take his place with his former master with a good conscience. And then we looked at Acts 19, 18 to 20 as a further example. Now this morning we come, having considered the biblical directives for the attaining of a good conscience, to take up this second line of thought that is so critical, the directives for the contin...

9:29 - 10:56 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin provides three New Testament witnesses (1 Peter 2:18-21, 1 Peter 3:13-16, Hebrews 13:18) that explicitly link a good conscience with a life of universal obedience and…

The example of a servant with a 'scolios' (crooked, perverse, unreasonable) master from 1 Peter 2:18-21 illustrates how universal obedience, even in the face of injustice, maintains a good conscience toward God, which is more valuable than any satisfaction from grumbling.

Crooked, perverse, unreasonable, harsh masters. Nonetheless, be subject towards them because, listen carefully, the revealed will of God for every servant is submission to his master. And if you do not walk in universal obedience at this point, you will lose a good conscience toward God. Of all the reasons he could bring forward, he says, this is acceptable if for conscience towards a servant with an unreasonable master. He gives him the most demeaning He never commends him. He is in every sense a scolios master. What is it that keeps this servant dutifully, cheer-fungering obedience, still re...

32:40 - 33:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Identify and address the specific issue(s) concerning which you do not have a good conscience, as this is a root cause of chronic spiritual sickness.

Martin compares his pastoral application to a surgeon's knife, cutting deep and long on a tender spot for the patient's healing, emphasizing the necessity of addressing difficult truths with faithfulness and love.

And I ask you sitting here this morning, has this become, as it was with the apostle, a kind of holy obsession to maintain at all times a conscience void of offense to God and to man. If you are not diligently pursuing a life of universal obedience to God, in terms of your present understanding of what is pleasing to God, you will not know the maintenance of a good conscience. And here I want to apply, I trust with pastoral love, compassion, but with the faithfulness of the surgeon who when he knows the knife must be placed on a tender spot, subdues every bit of human sympathy and all reluctan...

43:26 - 44:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the 'scalpel of holy resolution' and 'tweezers of true evangelical repentance' to remove the 'festering splinter' of unaddressed sin from your spiritual foot.

Unaddressed areas where one lacks a good conscience are likened to a 'festering splinter in the ball of one of your spiritual feet,' causing spiritual 'limping' and hindering progress, even if not leading to amputation.

And how can you persist in that sin of omission and maintain a good conscience to God? You simply cannot. And the reason some of you limp in your Christian life and may go limping all the way to heaven is that those areas where you don't have a good conscience are like a festering splinter in the ball of one of your spiritual feet. Ever get a festering splinter in your foot?

48:37 - 49:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the 'scalpel of holy resolution' and 'tweezers of true evangelical repentance' to remove the 'festering splinter' of unaddressed sin from your spiritual foot.

The analogy of runners in the Milrose Games, who would remove any splinter to run effectively, is used to challenge believers who claim to be running to heaven but tolerate 'splinters' (unaddressed sins) in their spiritual lives.

Not limp. I will your commandments. Some of us saw the Milrose games Friday night. There was nobody on the track with a festering splinter in the ball of the foot.

49:55 - 50:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Because whenever you go to Christ in His saving work, you go as a beggar and you come away as a debtor. And nobody likes to be both beggar and debtor all the time.

Peter's question to Jesus about forgiving a brother seven times (Matthew 18:21-22) is used to illustrate the continuous, ledger-book-free nature of forgiveness, implying God's even greater readiness to forgive us repeatedly.

He said, If my brother sinned against me seven times, shall I forgive him? What did the Lord say? Not seven. Until 70 times seven.

56:54 - 57:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Because whenever you go to Christ in His saving work, you go as a beggar and you come away as a debtor. And nobody likes to be both beggar and debtor all the time.

Coming to Christ in His saving work is described as coming as a 'beggar' and leaving as a 'debtor,' highlighting the humility required and the constant dependence on God's mercy, which pride resists.

Or it's your stinking rotten pride. Because whenever you go to Christ in His saving work, you go as a beggar and you come away as a debtor. And nobody likes to be both beggar and debtor all the time. But if you're going to get to heaven, that's how you're going to get there.

57:46 - 58:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Because whenever you go to Christ in His saving work, you go as a beggar and you come away as a debtor. And nobody likes to be both beggar and debtor all the time.

Zechariah 13:1's prophecy of a 'fountain for sin and uncleanness' is applied to Christ's vicarious suffering, emphasizing that this fountain of cleansing blood is always open and continually cleanses believers from all sin.

And if you're going to keep a good conscience, dear child of God, you and I must continually engage in penitent and believing appropriation of Christ in His saving work. When the Scripture says in Zechariah 13, 1, that under the days of Messiah there shall be opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness. That fountain was opened in the vicarious curse bearing and the goring of the Son of God. And it has never, never been closed.

58:52 - 59:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared to pursue and keep a good conscience at any cost, even if it means humbling yourself and confessing long-held sins.

Martin shares a personal anecdote of someone confessing a 25-year-old lie to him, illustrating the profound relief and joy of rectifying long-standing moral wrongs and the pastor's readiness to forgive.

And until you deal with God at that point, this day, say, Oh God, at any cost, I'm prepared to pursue a good conscience in the way of your appointment. And having attained it, I'm ready I'm prepared to keep it no matter what the cost. For some of you it may be humbling. I had someone come to me this week and look me in the eye and say, 25 years ago you asked me a question of a very clear pointed nature.

70:01 - 70:34 Read in full sermon