Keeping a Good Conscience

Driving home: Conscience is that innate faculty of self-judgment by which a man tries the moral rightness or wrongness of his thoughts and actions.

Conscience is described as an 'uninvited moral monitor' with a limited vocabulary ('right,' 'wrong'), which either accuses or excuses, passing judgment on thoughts, deeds, and words.

conscience is that innate faculty of self-judgment by which a man tries the moral rightness or wrongness of his thoughts and actions. We considered conscience as that uninvited moral monitor with his very limited vocabulary. He says right, he says wrong. He either accuses or he excuses us and he passes judgment upon thought and deed and word.

5:01 - 5:32 Read in full sermon

The point: If you have viewed a good conscience as a luxury or unattainable ideal, understand its necessity for perseverance, lest you risk shipwreck concerning the faith.

Unresolved guilt is likened to the 'inflammation of a boil on the arm,' indicating an underlying problem and irritation. A good conscience is one without 'festering boils.'

as stamped upon our consciousness or as found in his written word. A good conscience is a conscience that says there is agreement between what I am and do and what God says I ought to be and what I ought to do. A conscience in which there is no present irritation and inflammation of unresolved problems and unresolved guilt. Unresolved guilt is like the inflammation of a boil on the arm.

33:00 - 33:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He uses an illustration of a man stealing a lead bar he believes to be gold to demonstrate that choosing what one regards as sin, even if it's not objectively sin, proves a…

A man, thinking a lead bar painted gold is real gold, steals it. This illustrates that if one chooses what they believe to be sin, even if it's not objectively sin, it proves a willingness to sin when it truly is, highlighting the danger of violating conscience.

You see the argument? Here's a man who wants to have some fun with his neighbor. He thinks he has a thieving spirit. He's not sure.

48:42 - 48:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, let us draw near.

Martin describes how children, once affectionate, begin to draw back from him as their consciences are awakened by the preached Word. This illustrates how a defiled conscience leads to aversion to God's ministers, who symbolize the truth that makes them uncomfortable.

I have seen that through the years as a pastor. Those of you who frequent this place know that I love children. And I accept every child in this place as a challenge to win his confidence in love. Some of you who are visiting may wonder, Well, if someone preaches like that and thunders, kids will be scared.

53:34 - 53:50 Read in full sermon