Conscience Void of Offence

Introduction: Paul's Conscience Void of Offense

0:06 Will you turn, please, to Acts chapter 24 tonight? Acts chapter 24.

0:15 We want to read just several verses from this detailed account of Paul's testimony and Paul's defense before Felix.

0:32 You'll remember this is the passage in which Paul supposedly is on trial, but before he threw it, it's quite obvious that Felix is on trial. For as Paul reasons to him of righteousness and judgment and temperance, Felix trembles. He becomes a little bit aware of what it would be like in that day when he must stand before his God. But I want to read verses 14 and 15 and 16 of Acts chapter 24.

1:02 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are true, which are written in the law and in the prophets,

1:15 and having hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there should be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. In the midst of his defense or his testimony before Felix, Paul speaks, he speaks here of the resurrection of the just and of the unjust, and he follows close on the heels of that with this phrase, and herein, or and because of this,

1:55 I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.

2:05 Paul is saying, in essence, in the light of this resurrection and judgment, when I too must stand before God, I exercise myself. Now the word exercise, is the word which has the same root as the word aesthetic. When you think of an aesthetic, you think of someone who has put himself under strict, rigid rules of discipline, keeping under his body and the activities of his life. A person who was an aesthetic is one who lived under very rigid, self-imposed rules and disciplines.

2:40 Paul said, and herein do I exercise myself. I employ rigid rules of self-discipline. This is a matter of exertion in the realm of a spiritual exercise. Herein do I exercise myself to have always, note the little word always, and the Greek word means in every time, at every time I am exercising myself, I am employing spiritual diligence that at every time, early in the morning, late at night, in every place, to have a conscience void of offense

3:23 toward God and toward man. The goal of this spiritual exercise, in which Paul was constantly employed, herein do I exercise myself always, here's the goal of it, to have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. In other words, Paul said, I exercise myself, that at any point in my life, I can look upward into the face of my God, uncondemned, and outward into the face of my fellow man, unembarrassed.

4:03 Do you get that? I exercise myself. I employ spiritual diligence that at every point I may look upward into the face of my God, uncondemned, and outward into the face of my fellow man, unembarrassed. I wish to speak to you tonight on this subject of a conscience void of offense toward God and man, a necessary exercise of practical godliness.

The Original Principle: Creation and the Fall

4:37 Some of you who've been here in past nights have heard me use the little phrase again and again, I am amazed. I don't believe it's merely become a trite little phrase with me, but I am amazed at how little understanding there seems to me to be among God and man. To be among God's people of this exercise of having a conscience void of offense to God and man as a very practical element of everyday godliness that is well-pleasing to our Lord. And so in order to set this truth before you, I want us to consider the whole principle as revealed in Scripture, the basic principle of our relationship to God and man and how they are linked together.

5:23 Now let's look at the original, the original creation. When God made man in his image, what kind of a man did he make? Above all and supremely, God made a man in his image with whom he could have fellowship. And so as we open up to the book of Genesis, and let's open there for just a moment, if you will, please.

5:45 We'll be referring to several verses here in the first three chapters of Genesis.

5:51 As one reads Genesis 1 and 2, he finds God the Creator standing in the presence of God. Standing in a position of perfect relationship with his creature. And we find the creature, man and the woman, in perfect relationship to their Creator God. There is no rebellion in their hearts to his authority.

6:13 There is no sense of cringing distance. Apparently it was their habit to walk together in the garden and to have sweet communion together. There is no evidence that there was anything of a cringing fear. There was a blessed openness and sharing and an intermingling of heart and affection and desire.

6:36 There was, as we look into this picture in Genesis, evidence that man stood in proper relationship to his God. But it doesn't stop there. For we find the creature living in proper relationship one with another. And so as we read what little bit we do of Adam and Eve, there is no trace, of anything but perfect love and confidence and trust and sharing together.

7:06 There is no evidence of friction. Adam had a perfect wife. The only one. Eve had a perfect husband.

7:17 The only one.

7:20 Now you may think yours is perfect. But if you're honest, you'll admit it. And that mate will be the first to admit that they're far from perfection. But there was this relationship between Adam and Eve.

7:31 No suspicion, no friction, no selfishness. A demonstration of pure, selfless love. And so the creature, in perfect relationship with his God, and in perfect relationship one with another. There was an unclouded conscience Godward.

7:50 Adam and Eve could look up into the face of their God and know that there was no condemnation. They could look into one another's countenances and know that there was nothing but love. Perfect, unspotted love. Then God gives to us the account of the entrance of sin.

8:10 And what was the effect of sin? The effect of sin is seen in both of these realms. Not only do we find man's relationship to his God broken and marred, but we find man's relationship to the creature is marred and brought into a state that is displeasing to God. . . .

8:31 Instead of the creature dwelling in confidence and in love, we find Adam and Eve running from God in seeking to hide. And God comes, seeking the creature, and says, where art thou Adam? There was a sense of fear, and a sense of distance and a sense of distrust. But not only did sin affect the creature and his God . . .

8:54 But I want you to lay hold of this. Immediately there's evidence that sin affected the creature and his relationship to his God. . .

9:01 fellow preachers. And so we find there is a subtle accusation, the woman thou gavest me. We find there is shame, and in the first son born of that union we find cropping out what is perhaps the worst sin that one man can commit against another. To commit adultery is to take someone's virtue. To steal is to take someone's property. To bear false

9:29 witness is to take someone's reputation, but to murder is to take his most precious possession, his life. And the first son born of that union gave evidence that the creature could not in the realm of sin stand in proper relationship one to another. And so sin marred this relationship of an open, uncondemned conscience Godward, and it marred the relationship of an open, unembarrassed relationship manward. For when God says, Where is thy brother? Am I my brother's keeper? Don't speak of my brother, for my conscience

10:06 blushes and my spirit cringes, for I know that I have slain him.

10:15 Then as we turn to the unfolding of the accounts of human sin, and then we see it summarized so clearly in Romans chapter 3, we find these two things are dealt with together and yet separately. Sin as it affects man's relationship to God, and as it affects the relationship to God. And as it affects the relationship to God, and as it affects the relationship to man. So what do we find as we read that summary description of the human race? Do you want to know what your biography is? God's written your biography. You can

10:43 read it in Romans 3, verses 10 through 18. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none like God. There is none that understandeth.

10:55 No one knows God. There is none that seeketh after God. No one loves God. Sin has perverted man in his life. Sin has perverted man in his life. Sin has perverted man in his life.

11:04 In his moral condition, he's not righteous. In his understanding, he understands not. In his affection, he seeks not God. Then the scripture goes on to unfold that sin has affected the relationship to the creature and says, the poison of ass is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Feet are swift to shed, to shed innocent blood

11:32 and hands and mouth that are defiled. Sin has perverted man in his life. Sin has perverted man in his life. Sin has perverted man in his life. Sin has perverted man in his life.

11:35 And their evidences of sin are found in the creature's attitude toward his fellow creature. Cursing, bitterness, murder, bloodshed, deceit. And so God shows to us in this passage that sin has affected not only man's uncondemned look godward, but an unembarrassed look manward. Someone has said, and I believe it's a very helpful illustration, sin has affected man's like a house. It has put a roof over his head that he cannot fellowship with God. It has

12:11 put walls about him so that he cannot walk in proper relationship with his fellow man. And if you're here tonight as an unrepentant sinner, and you've never known the supernatural work of God's grace changing you from a child of darkness to a child of light, you may think that you live in a world of freedom. But listen, you're bound in the prison house of your sin. You're dead to him who is God. You think not his thoughts. You seek not his wage. You

12:44 love not his person. And your little world that you think is so wonderful is a world in which you are hedged up from a proper relationship to your fellow man. You live in a state of total selfishness, and your happiness depends upon gaining what you want from other people. This is what creates murder. When I can't gain what I want, I can't gain

13:07 what I want. When I can't gain what I want, I can't gain what I want. When I can't gain what I want, I put them out of the way. This is what creates cursing. When they cross

13:12 me, I bring a mathemise on them. And all of these sins against the creature have their root in the fact that man as a fallen creature has not only been cut off from a proper relationship to God, a roof over his head, but sin has so perverted his heart that he's shut off from a proper relationship to his fellow man. Sin has put walls about him and a roof over him. If you've never seen that as your plight, you've never seen your heart. You've never

13:40 seen your heart. And I pray in God's name that you fall before him and begin to search the Scriptures and ask God to show you that this is your case. Thank God God has not left us in this plight. God has chosen to call out of this prison house of sin a people for his name. And God has made no doubt as to his purpose in redemption. In creation man

God's Purpose in Redemption: Blowing Off the Roof and Knocking Down the Walls

14:05 stood, uncondemned Godward, unembarrassed manward. Sin has come, and man no longer has to look away. He ever seeks God. He knows nothing of a proper relationship to his fellow man. But God has pledged, and right there in the garden he pledged, that he would send

14:21 the Redeemer. And God has said that he will call out a people for himself. And what will he do? Now lay hold of this. He will bring to himself a people who now through his grace

14:34 manifested in his Son and applied by his Spirit can once again look up with an uncondemned sight. into the face of a holy God and say, I have a Father. But he didn't stop there. Who can look out with something of his love and say, Beloved Brother,

14:56 and the purpose of God in redemption is not merely to blow the roof off, it's to knock the walls flat. Do you hear me? The purpose of God in redemption is not just to get a soul in right relationship with himself. No, it's also to bring the creature in right relationship to the creature.

15:20 When we turn to the book of the Revelation and God, so to speak, pulls back the veil and gives us a little peek of that multitude which no man could number, will you notice something? Whenever you read of the redeemed in the book of the Revelation, you not only read of the people who are in proper relationship with God, you'll always read of a great multitude who with one voice cried out, Hallelujah, salvation and honor and praise be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the land. Every picture of the redeemed in heaven is a picture of a corporate body dwelling together in oneness with their God and with each other.

16:03 Heaven would not be heaven if there should be ushered into its courts one man or woman who had any subtle hidden area of rebellion to the authority of God.

16:17 Heaven, heaven is a place of men and women who've been subdued by God's grace and they bow to the scepter of the land and they gladly follow the land with us wherever he goeth.

16:29 Heaven would be hell if God allowed anyone into that place who did not gladly bow to the scepter of his son.

16:37 Heaven would be hell if God allowed one creature who thought he could have a little back room in a mansion over on third avenue in the glory and be all by himself. No, no. God will have a people who are in right relationship with himself and with one another and all that God brings to perfection in heaven in the work of grace he begins here on earth.

17:08 Did you get that? All that God brings to perfection in heaven through his grace he begins here on earth by that same grace.

17:22 No man will be confirmed in perfect holiness in heaven who has not been given a disposition unto holiness here on earth.

17:33 No man will behold him in his full beauty who has not begun at least here on earth to behold him through a glass of dark when that little glimpse so enamors him that Jesus Christ becomes the pearl of great Christ and for him is willing to forsake all and follow him. If you haven't seen the Lord in that light so that for him you gladly disobey your own righteousness and your own will and your own desires you've never seen him with a saving sight may God be pleased to cause his glory to shine in the face of Jesus tonight.

18:12 Now let's go to the scriptures to see a detailed unfolding of this principle. You follow me so far? I pray the Lord would help me not to be too classroomish class roomish tonight but I feel to get hold of this principle we've got to lay the proper foundation the word of creation man right with his dog right with the creature sin man's condition with his dog marred and destroyed man's condition to his fellow man marred and destroyed sin shutting him up like a house a roof above him no relationship to God walls about him no proper relationship with his fellow man

The Law and Repentance: Two-Fold Relationship

18:54 God's plan and purpose in redemption to blow the roof off to knock the walls flat this is the general principle now let's see it illustrated in the light of the word of God will you turn please first of all to Matthew chapter 22 Matthew chapter 22 our Lord Jesus was asked a very pertinent question in verse 36 Master which is the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22 now verse 37 Jesus said unto him

19:37 thou should love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it thou should love thy neighbor as thyself now notice verse 40 I must confess I read this for years I sound like an old man but for several years and never really laid hold of it look at the next verse now on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets now whenever you read this verse you find the phrase the law and the prophets it's referring to the whole body of the truth that God had put in scripture

20:21 up until the time of our Lord what we call our Old Testament now Jesus said the first commandment is perfect love or right relationship to God and the second is like unto it right relationship with man and on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets what does it mean? it means that the undergirding structure of everything that God revealed in the Old Testament what was his purpose in giving the law and in sending the prophets why those purposes were many but there is a two-fold hanger upon which all revealed truth may be hung God spoke through the law

21:05 and the prophets why? that he might bring man into right relationship to himself and in right relationship to one another on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets some people have the idea that the Old Testament religion was nothing but God imposing on some people a strict form of a legalistic system that was a burden to everybody if that's all you've seen you've never read your Old Testament for by his grace God in the Old Testament opened the eyes of men to see that through the sacrifices which were types of that coming one and through the message of the prophets

21:49 who preached on right relationship of man to God and man to man how they cried out against social injustice how they cried out against the bickering and the divisions and the sins man to man and the Lord Jesus said the whole soul of the Old Testament revelation is this God bringing the people into right relationship to himself and in right relationship to one another now there's another second very basic thing that will help us to understand this principle that is not only the revelation of the first command the great command but the work of God in salvation now whenever God

22:33 brings a soul to himself and there's a work of his grace there is always involved in that a genuine work of repentance except he repent he shall perish I need not sound that note too emphatically here for I believe that note has gone out faithfully from this pulpit it is not true in some places I've had to take a whole hour just to prove to people from the scriptures that no one gets saved without repentance I haven't even begun to tell them what repentance is but just to demonstrate that it's true but I believe most of you are thoroughly convinced of that but now when you go a step further what does repentance involve repentance involves the turning from sin to God what sin what is sin

23:17 sin is the transgression of the law and that law of God was divided into commandments which dealt with relationship to him and relationship to the creature the old writers called it first table commands and second table commands the first table proper relationship to God thou shalt love the Lord thy God have no other gods before him take not his name in vain honor him honor his appointed authority honor thy father and thy mother many believe the first five deal with our relationship to God the last five or six if you take the fourth as the fifth as the other honor father and mother thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not cover

24:01 thou shalt not bear false witness what are these they are dealing with our relationship to the fellow man now when we come to God as convicted sinners the spirit of God having opened our eyes the law of God being our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ there is a work of repentance repentance repentance is turning from sin what sin first table sins we'll all know second table sins as well can any man be saved who comes deliberately willfully resolutely refusing to submit to God's commandment that he keep his day holy no that man will perish in hell can a man come and truly be saved if in his heart he determines

24:46 to cling to his idols what's the answer of course not Paul said of those testimonies you turn to God from your idols can a man be saved who comes with a resolute determination to continue to steal no he comes with a resolute determination to continue to covet to bear false witness no in the work of true repentance there is not only a turning from first table sins so that our whole attitude to God is changed but there is a turning from second table sins so that our whole attitude to man and our responsibility to him is changed and this is illustrated so wonderfully in several little introductions of the epistles of Paul to two of his

Conversion: Faith and Love Joined

25:31 two or three of the churches will you turn please to the book of Ephesians the book of Ephesians in the work of conversion which involves true repentance the roof goes off the walls go flat Ephesians chapter 1 verse 15 wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayer now you see what he's saying Paul is going to unfold

26:15 to these Ephesian Christians his prayer to God on their behalf now in verse 15 he tells them when he began to pray this prayer for them verses 16 and onward he tells us what he prayed now Paul when did you begin to pray for these people at Ephesus now listen carefully wherefore I also after I heard two things your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love unto all the saints now look up in your Bibles what do you have here Paul said I began to pray for you like God had done a real work in your hearts when I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus the roof went off and your love to all the saints the walls went flat

26:58 and both are joined together he did not say I began to pray for you when I heard of your faith or just when I heard of your love any professed love to the saints that does not flow out of a living faith in Christ is the sentiment of human affection any professed faith in Jesus Christ that does not produce a vibrant demonstrated love to the saints is a mere notion what God has joined together let not man put aside Paul recognized that in the work of the Holy Spirit in true conversion there would not only be the roof off faith in our Lord Jesus Christ opening the way into a vital experience

27:42 of the knowledge of God but there would be the walls going flat bringing us into a love relationship with his people the same thing is repeated in the book of Colossians chapter 1 I'll not need to go over this just simply read it the other verse having expounded it will suffice verses 3 and 4 of Colossians 1 we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since here's when we began to pray for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have to all the saints

28:25 you have the same thing in the book of Philemon will not bother to turn to it but this is not accidental God has put this here for a purpose and I believe if not in these words the Apostle Paul recognized this that not only is the whole essence of Old Testament revelation that man might be brought into right relationship to God in one another but the whole essence of God's grace working with us in the heart is to actually bring a man into right relationship with God through faith in Christ and a right relationship into God's family demonstrated in love to all the saints then our Lord Jesus gave as the mark of true discipleship

29:10 what was it by this shall all men know that you're my disciples the roof is off you stand in a proper relationship to me you are submitted to me you are my followers you are my flock you are my disciples by this shall all men know that the roof is off if the walls are flat if you have love one to another there it is the land says I have faith in Christ our Lord has demonstrated by love to the breath as I was meditating on this today I want to share something that was precious to my own heart God has not merely commanded this proper relationship to himself and to one another

29:54 and then left us at the mercy of our own divinings to bring it about but in the shedding of the blood of his son and that blood ever speaking before the throne of God and in the giving of his spirit God has made full provision that the roof might go off and stay off and the walls might go flat and remain flat but when I come to God as a smitten sinner my conscience alive with the sense of guilt and the thunderings of the holy law rising up before me and I say where can I hide and the Holy Spirit points to that finished sacrifice then the scripture says my conscience is purged through the blood of Christ

30:39 and I can look up into the face of God uncondemned why? because of the blood that speaketh better things than that of evil then God has said if we're his he sends forth the spirit into our hearts and not only does the spirit cry Abba Father but the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and people that we found unlovely and hard to love suddenly we find we love them why? because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and the walls go flat the blood that I might have an uncondemned conscience the spirit that I might have an unembarrassed relationship with my fellow man

31:23 Hebrews deals with the conscience need of the blood to look up uncondemned to God the book of 1st John deals with the provision of the spirit to be in proper relationship with the brethren the message of Hebrews is let your smitten conscience rest where God rests in the sacrifice of his son but John comes along and says that which we've heard from the beginning which we've seen with our eyes and our hands have handled with the word of life for the life was manifested and we bear witness and declare unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and then he goes on to tell them why he writes these things what does he tell them that ye may have fellowship with us

32:06 walls flat and truly our fellowship is with the Father the roof off and with his Son Jesus Christ if we walk in the light as he is in the light roof off we have fellowship one with another walls flat this is precious to my heart that God has made such abundant provision that me we might dwell in proper relationship with himself and in proper relationship one with another now I want to make some practical applications of this concept tonight I trust that by God's help you've laid hold of it no one else has God's made it precious to my heart tonight most of us realize

Application 1: Conversion and the Conscience

32:51 that we can expect nothing if first of all we do not know that our sins have been pardoned young man young woman father mother listen to me tonight if your conscience is not fast asleep if your conscience is at least a little bit alive and at least a little bit sensitive you know that you've sinned even the conscience of the heathen accuses him we read in Romans 1 now what are you going to do with that sin dare you appear in the presence of a holy God and have an infinite God who knows every thought thoughts that you've long since forgotten who's heard every word words that you've longed for that you've longed for that you've longed for since forgotten who has seen every deed

33:35 dare you appear before God that infinite God of knowledge and have him spread your sins before you and have him make your conscience come alive and face those sins with nothing between you and a holy God but the naked foul stench of your sin dare you appear before God that way I dare not for I know then I must hear those words depart from me but ah sinner listen there is a sacrifice there is a sacrifice God has set forth his son and in him he has given a fountain open for sin and uncleanness and you can plunge your troubled conscience in the blood of Christ

34:19 and you can know the blessed reality of that hymn which speaks of five bleeding wounds he bears received on Calvary they pour effectual prayers they strongly plead for him for me forgive him oh forgive they cry nor let that ransomed sinner die that's the starting point dear child of God you know we're going a step further that there'll be no real liberty in prayer if your conscience is not void of offense toward God you ever try to pray when your conscience is troubling you you ever try it you ever try to argue with God your conscience is a very stubborn little fellow he knows only two words right and wrong

35:02 and we try to teach him a third one all the time neither but he's very ignorant and stupid he won't learn conscience is very stubborn very stubborn little fellow you get down to pray and conscience smites you that you've spoken an unkind word that you've been critical that you've judged hastily that you've fought an unclean thought conscience is wrong and we try to get conscience to say neither conscience won't ever try to pray while conscience is lively and conscience is accusing you have a conscience full of offense for a dog can't pray you have a conscience can't pray ever try to witness why your own conscience is condemning you for defeat and barrenness

35:46 in your own life you ever try it you've tried it haven't you you've tried it have you tried to testify while conscience is testifying saying wrong because of some unjudged sin in your life most of us as Christians recognize that if we do not have a conscience void of offense to God if there has not been a confession of all known sin and by faith an application of the blood that there can be no effective prayer no effective witness no victorious living but I want to submit to you tonight that it is just as necessary to have a conscience void of offense to man if we are to walk in the power of the spirit of God and have the blessing of God upon our lives

36:31 most of us would not question the fact that we must have a conscience void of offense to God but I find so few Christians who've come to the place that Paul came when he said I exercise myself I exercise myself I exercise myself not only to have a conscience void of offense to God but to man to look up uncondemned into the face of God and unembarrassed into the face of man and so I want to apply this in the realm of a conscience void of offense to man first of all your professed conversion if it's devoid of the evidence of love is a mere delusion the book of 1 John tells us herein are the children of God manifest and the children of the devil he that practices

37:15 not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth his brother now we should have no doubt if a person came into this fellowship made a profession of faith in Christ and went out and persisted in open known unrighteousness and it became the pattern of the life we would all say that person is a foreigner and a stranger to God's grace God takes the openly deliberate sinful person and takes he that doeth not righteousness is not of God and right alongside he classes another man and he says that his condemnation is written in these few words he loves not his brother

38:00 that's it there may be no open immorality there may be no negligence in the house of God there may be no great gross ignorance of Bible truth but there's an absence of a principle of divine love and God says he's getting sick just as much as a man who lives in open rebellion to the laws of God now beloved I didn't put that in the book God did he that loveth not knoweth not God and remember get your description of this love from 1 Corinthians 13 love suffereth long in its kind love envieth not love seeketh not her own

38:44 love is that divine disposition that seeks the well-being of others even at personal cost God so loved that he gave herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and gave love is love perverted to take instead of to give love is that principle that delights in giving even at personal cost that it may satisfy the object of his love now God says if you're devoid of this principle of love you know not God for God is love brethren let's examine ourselves let's not be content that we

39:28 merely see an absence of the gross sins of the flesh and the presence of a little bit of religious discipline and a religious attendance upon church and Bible reading let us ask ourselves is my life a demonstration of a principle of divine love he that loveth not knoweth not God the second practical application I want to make of this truth is this our prayers will be hindered our prayers will go on unanswered yea our prayers will go unreceived unreceived unless this principle of love is producing a constant spirit of forgiveness to our brethren

Application 2: Prayer Hindered by Unforgiveness

40:12 will you listen carefully as I quote some very familiar verses our Lord gave what we commonly call the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 in it are involved all the essentials of the whole scope of true prayer at the end of giving these petitions our Lord goes back and expounds one passage and one petition of the prayer you know what it is we should think he would take the passage hallowed be thy name and speak on the glory of God but he didn't is any of that driving in is that going to be a distraction at all so we can get those fixed

40:55 let's have prayer and ask the Lord to help us that this won't in any way be a distraction I feel this is the vital part of our message together and the enemy would love to get our minds distracted shall we pray now our Father's we are seeking by thy spirit to lay hold of thy truth and we recognize that our minds can so easily be diverted and so we come in the name of the Lord Jesus and we ask thee Father that thou will to thy praise even now cause that this storm shall quickly pass over us thou art the Lord who rebuked the wind

41:40 and the waves and the angry storms and grant that we might be able to attain to thy word together undisturbed and undistracted captivate our minds minister to our hearts we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus trust in thee our Father to undertake for thy glory Amen and as our Lord went over this thing he did not take out any other petition to enlarge upon it but one you know what it was the petition forgive us our debts as we are we forgive our debtors and at the end of that outline of prayer

42:24 he goes back in Matthew 6 14 and 15 and says for if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses now anyone who is a child of God is aware of his daily need of cleansing and forgiveness I think there's not a one of us here tonight who's a true Christian who would doubt the truth that a true Christian feels daily his need of forgiveness is that true Amen alright now the Lord Jesus said as you come praying for daily bread

43:09 as you come praying for daily as you come praying for daily submissiveness to my will remember this as you come praying for bread and for submission and for forgiveness when you pray for forgiveness and say Father forgive my debt if you have anything but forgiveness to your brother our Lord says your prayer for forgiveness will go absolutely unheard and unheeded if words mean anything words mean that

43:53 there is another passage in Mark chapter 11 where our Lord gives a wonderful promise concerning prayer he says what things whoever you desire when you pray believe that you have received them and ye shall have them you know what the next verse is but when ye stand praying forgive for if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive yours why do we put those two things together I think the answer is obvious our Lord is reminding us that one of the greatest hindrances to effectual prayer is the absence of a spirit

44:37 of forgiveness we think that we can come to God and have the roof off while we deliberately tolerate some rising up of a wall between us and our brothers the Lord says this is impossible for if we're not willing for the wall to go flat neither will we know the blessedness of forgiveness an uncondemned conscience because of present forgiveness is based upon a willing to have an unembarrassed attitude of forgiveness to our brethren now you may do what you want with God's truth dear fellow believer in Christ

Application 3: Unacceptable Worship

45:21 but I soberly charge you don't mock God one prayer more by asking for forgiveness if you have anything in your heart but forgiveness to your brethren the third application I want to make of this truth is found in Matthew chapter 5 where our Lord in essence tells us that no worship is acceptable heavenward unless we stand in a proper relationship to our fellow man on the human relationship Matthew chapter 5 verses 22 and 23 I believe are the verses

46:06 23 and 24 therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift a Jew was coming to bring his gift this gift was an expression of his love and his worship to God the Lord Jesus said when you come to bring your gift an expression of a proper relationship Godward

46:49 and if it's any true worship at all it will be worship from a sensitive conscience follow me now no worship is true worship while our minds and hearts are insensitive and dull and fritting about to a thousand things but here comes a man to bring a true expression of worship he comes to offer a gift and because his conscience is sensitive he remembers that he hath ought against his brother you come to bring your gift to the altar and there at the altar you remember that thy brother hath ought against thee now what did the Lord say leave thy gift before the altar not upon it

47:34 when the gift was placed upon the altar it was sanctified and it was accepted not before then remember Jesus said thou fool which is which is greater the gold or the altar that sanctifies the gold or the gift when the gift was placed upon the altar it was sanctified and accepted by God Jesus said leave your gift before the altar get right with your brother be reconciled to him then and always then come and bring your gift and will I accept it what's he saying he's saying that no worship

48:19 this way is acceptable unless we stand in right relationship to our fellow man this way what's that do to a lot of our prayers what does it do to much of our worship and we have dared to come and appear in the presence of God and sing praises and worship to him while in our consciences we know there are brothers and sisters and sisters and people into whose face we cannot look with an unembarrassed love it takes the totality of that worship and that praise and spikes it up as unacceptable to God

Application 4: Mockery of Testimony and Corporate Unity

49:03 I tell you these words so that I believe that the Lord looks down upon his church and says with something of the brokenness and the tenderness and yet a holy wrath what unto me is the multitude of your sacrifices as he said in Isaiah 1 the keeping of new moons and of sabbaths and of the solemn assemblies when you stretch forth your hands and make many prayers

49:48 I will not hear why because we're trying to make expressions of worship Godward and we do not stand in proper relationship to our fellow man in our relationship one to another fourthly our testimony is a mockery if I am not of our dealings with our fellow men not only our brethren if our dealings with our fellow men are not above reproach God says in Philippians 2 that we should shine as lights that we should be blameless and harmless

50:33 the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation I am to be so above board and honest and ethical and true to my word and my faith and my commitments in all of my dealings with the unsaved that they shall be forced to confess I hate his God I don't want anything to do with his religion but his life is pain listen to me men are your lives blameless in the place of work do men know that you're thoroughly honest do they know that you're as good as your word do they know that you can be trusted do you know

51:18 something they don't know that makes you uncomfortable around them lest they find you do you talk out of both sides of your mouth and have to jockey whom you see lest the stories that have been a little bit different somehow get together and you be shown to be unproved do you have a conscience void of a premise toward everyone with whom you do business listen to me men and women can you walk into any shop downtown unembarrassed knowing that you're paying your bills according to your contracts you fellas and girls can you look unembarrassed into the faces of those with whom you've gone on dates can you look unembarrassed into the faces of their mothers or dads and know

52:02 that you've conducted yourself with that son or daughter in the way that would make you unashamed in their presence this is what it means to have a conscience void of offense to man so that I can look outward with an unembarrassed conscience knowing that my relations and my dealings and my words have been honest and ethical and above board then I shall make just one or two other briefings and applications before we close not only is our conversion false if there's no love our prayers hindered if love does not express itself in forgiveness our worship unacceptable Godward unless we're right manward our testimony a mockery

52:47 in the name of God brought into reproach unless our dealings manward reflect that we're in communion with the God of truth and the God of honesty fifthly our corporate believing God depends upon a right relationship Godward and manward study carefully Matthew 18 will you on your own and the scripture speaks of one brother offended and someone seeks to go he's sinned against the brother and he tells him it's sin and he will not confess it he takes a witness and he will not hear it then he brings him before the church and he will not hear him you say why all that theft about one brother in the church and sin why not just let him go the next verse is revealing Jesus said if two of you

53:32 shall agree on earth is touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done of my father which is in heaven for if two of you agree on earth is touching anything that they ask it shall be done of my father you get the connection the Lord Jesus said there must be a corporate oneness at any price listen carefully for we cannot exercise as a body of believers our most holy privilege in that in and I say it reverently but I believe it's the teaching of scriptures to pray down the blessing of God to pray down his blessing

54:15 upon our community one thing I'm sure of God wants to get this truth to us I'm glad the enemy is troubled at this I don't fear him my only fear is that some of us yield and not lay hold of the truth by these distractions

54:54 just meditate on what I've said this will give us a good chance to meditate I can make you believe only if you're and I'll let you know and I'm not you can so it's not it's not it's it's not it's not it's not it's not

55:38 it's it's a it's it's not it's it's not it's and it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's is it's unless we have not only the roof off but the walls flat and outpouring of the Holy Spirit is unlikely it is unlikely that there will be a Holy Spirit outpouring, or an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, unless we stand together as they were in Acts 2, in one place of one accord, then suddenly there came from heaven. That's been repeated time and time again. When God has had a people in one place of

56:20 one accord, then God has come suddenly from heaven. Psalm 133, that beautiful psalm, a little psalm about the brethren dwelling together in unity, it concludes with these words, There the Lord commandeth a blessing. Where? Where the brethren dwell together in unity. There the Lord commandeth a blessing, even life forevermore. My exhortation to you

Concluding Exhortation: Seek a Conscience Void of Offense

56:49 tonight is that you seek by God's help to have a conscience void of offense toward God and man. To those of you among us who are strangers to the experience of the new birth, forsake your sin. Look to the mercy of God in Christ. Look to the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel. If your conscience tonight is troubled, unconverted, friend,

57:17 if your conscience is alive with a sense of guilt, don't look to yourself for forgiveness. Don't look to your church. God says, look unto me, O ye ends of the earth, and be saved. The only way the condemnation of conscience will cease is if you look unto me.

57:34 If you find your conscience purged by the blood of Christ, if you're an unconverted person, I'm sure you feel uncomfortable around God's people. You don't love the people that praise him. You don't love the people that speak about him. You don't love the people that laud his name and glorify his person. How can you love them? There's only one way

57:59 for that wall of bitterness and hatred to go down, and that's to experience the new birth. So that by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the love of God will be shed abroad in your heart. Dear child of God, can you look up tonight into an unclouded face? Do you have an uncondemned conscience godly? Any unconfessed sin that hinders prayer, that dulls the edge of spiritual

58:28 appetite, that causes your prayers to turn about and mock you and ring like empty words in your own ears? Then deal with your sin. Deal with the doubtful things. Deal with the hidden things. God says

58:44 put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes. Is there anything that keeps you from looking out into any of them?