Essential Discipline – A Good Conscience

Introduction: The Foundation and Framework of Devotion to God

0:01 To me, namely, devotion to God. And I should say, by way of an aside, I am thankful that the elders did not write to me and say, well, choose a theme that you've preached on before so you don't have fresh work to do except the work of prayer. But they gave me a new theme, and it made me work to dig into the Word of God, and I believe my own heart has been enriched in the preparation as well as in the preaching of this material, and so I'm grateful to you, servants of Christ, for your perception in choosing this subject.

0:42 We have said in session after session, if devotion to God is anything, it is that disposition of heart and its fruits in the life in which God is regarded by a man or woman as a God of God. A woman, boy or girl, as worthy of supreme and unrivaled affection. And therefore, in our previous studies, we have sought to understand how it is that someone comes to such a life of devotion to God. We've looked at the foundation of a life of devotion to God, and we have seen from the scriptures that the foundation of such a life is a sound biblical conversion.

1:27 By nature, none of us is devoted to God. By nature, we are devoted to sin, to self, to the world, and to the devil. And it is only when God, in sovereign mercy, through the gospel, causes that gospel to come to us in power and in the Holy Spirit, and in much conviction, imparts his own life to the soul in what the theologians call regenerating life. And it is only in this sovereign grace that we will then experience a true and sound conversion in which, in the language of 1 Thessalonians 1,

2:07 we turn towards God from our idols with a disposition to serve him as slaves and eagerly to await for his Son out of the heavens, Jesus Christ, whom God raised from the dead, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Assuming that, by God's grace, that foundation has been laid in the hearts of many of you, we then went on to consider the framework of a life of devotion to God. And using the analogy of the house under construction, we said that once the foundation of a sound conversion has been laid,

2:50 then there is a framework for a life of devotion to God, which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God.

2:59 which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God.

3:03 which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God.

3:07 which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God. which determines the precise foundation of a life of devotion to God.

3:11 apprehension or laying hold of our true position before God. There can be no life of devotion to God unless we have some clear understanding and constant apprehension of our true position before God, which is the position of being justified, reconciled, and adopted. And it is only when the heart has believingly embraced the wonder of justifying, reconciling, and adopting grace that we can truly press on in a life of devotion to God. And then, as we considered this morning,

3:54 the second main structural theme in the framework of such a life is a clear understanding and a determined performance of our obligations to God. A clear understanding and a determined performance of our obligations to God. And then we looked at those obligations in terms of the obligations of the heart. Proverbs 4.23, guard thy

4:27 heart above all that you guard, for out of it are the issues of life, the obligations of the mind. We are to be transformed by the renewing of the heart. The renewing of our minds. Romans 12.2, that we may prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God

4:46 and the obligations of the body. Romans 12.1. Romans 6.13, we are to present our bodies a living

The Crucial Spiritual Disciplines for Nurturing Devotion

4:56 sacrifice to God. Now, what we're going to do tonight is to direct our attention to what I am calling in this final study the crucial spiritual disciplines essential to nurturing a life of devotion to God. The crucial spiritual disciplines essential to nurturing a life of devotion to God. Now, in using this language, I am not inferring that there was nothing crucial in the framework. Nothing crucial

5:34 in this constant apprehension of our true position before God. No, it is crucial. It is crucial that we understand our obligations and from the heart embrace them. But what I'm really doing is taking some of the specifics of the obligations and highlighting those that are of unusual importance in nurturing this ongoing life of devotion to God. Now, some might question the

6:05 crucial spiritual disciplines that I have chosen, and you might say, well, I don't know. I don't know. You might say, well, I believe there are others that are more crucial. And that's open to discussion since there is no chapter and verse that says this is the most important spiritual discipline in devotion to God, and I can't prove my case by turning to chapter and verse. But let me assure

6:29 you that I have not selected these things arbitrarily or carelessly. I have chosen them on the basis of the general teaching of the Word of God as I understand it. And I have chosen them on the basis of the general teaching of the Word of God as I understand it. Having seriously studied it as a Christian and a servant of Christ for 32 years, as I have personally sought to nurture my own life of devotion to God for 32 years, and as I've attempted to help other people nurture their life of devotion to God for over 30 years. So I'm not speaking arbitrarily, neither am I speaking infallibly, but I hope I am speaking as someone who's got his head screwed on straight.

7:11 straight. Can't say it's straight, but I hope it's on straight. And has had at least some experience of wrestling with my own heart and helping others to wrestle with their heart. So I speak out of the context, I hope, of fair and honest pastoral involvement with my heart and the hearts of others in the context of a growing acquaintance with the scriptures. Now then, to come to our

7:41 subject. What are the crucial spiritual disciplines essential to nurturing a life of devotion to God? If indeed the foundation has been laid in your life, you have indeed turned to God from your idols. You are no stranger to a sound biblical conversion. You've gone

8:06 beyond just being religious or making a decision or a profession, going through the motions. You know that you are a Christian. You are a Christian. You are a Christian. You are a

8:12 Christian. You know that God, by the power of the Spirit, through the gospel, has turned you from your sin, from the way of self in the world, and set your face toward Him through Jesus Christ. The foundation has been laid. Furthermore, you have a fairly clear understanding of and present grasp upon your position before God. The words justification, reconciliation,

8:40 and adoption are not theological. You have at least some fundamental understanding of what they mean. Furthermore, you have some present enjoyment by faith of your position as justified, reconciled, and adopted. Furthermore, you have a fairly good understanding of your duty and your obligations before God. Your

9:09 heart is set upon fulfilling those obligations. You are determined to keep your heart. You are determined that your mind will increasingly be transformed by the Word of God. You are determined that your body will not be regarded as your own, but as the purchased property of Jesus Christ, His possession. Now, if that

9:32 is so, then there are several crucial disciplines which, if you fall down here, you are not going to make the progress in your communion and devotion to God that you want. I want to direct your attention now to 2 of those crucial spiritual disciplines essential to nurturing a life of devotion to God. The first of them are the following, and I see that some of you are taking notes, the Keeper of Good. The keepers of good

The Vital Importance of a Good Conscience

10:17 Now, whatever conscience is, however it functions, I want you to see, first of all, how vital a good conscience is in maintaining a life of communion with God. Turn, please, to 1 Timothy chapter 1.

10:38 How important is this spiritual discipline of keeping a good conscience if I am to nurture a life of communion with God? Well, we read now in verse 3 of 1 Timothy chapter 1, Paul writing to his spiritual son and fellow Christian worker Timothy, I exhorted you to tarry at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia that you might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine. In other words, Paul left his companion Timothy there in Ephesus while he himself went into Macedonia,

11:19 and he left him with strict instructions as to what he was to do. And the first thing he was to do, he was to carry on an aggressive attack against false doctrine. I left you there to charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine, neither to give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questionings rather than a stewardship of God which is in faith, so do I now. But!

11:49 But the end of the charge, the goal I had in mind, Timothy, when I charged you to charge those men who are teaching false doctrine to be still and charge the church to be rid of their influence, this is why I did it. Notice the language. But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfamed.

12:22 They're faked, genuine faith from which things, notice, from which things some have swerved, having swerved, have turned aside into vain talking. When people turn aside from being concerned about the word of God producing in them love out of a pure heart, the message this morning, the heart's relationship. It's been devotion to God and a good conscience.

13:01 When they cease concerned about keeping a good conscience, then they start fooling around with error. They start fooling around with religious nonsense. And they've got a list of questions an arm long about who is the Antichrist and who is the beast and on and on and on they go. Questions that have nothing to do with how to live so as to truly please.

13:26 You see how vital a good, it's an integral part of a wholesome, Christ centered, Christian life. Look at the latter part of the chapter, verse 18, this charge, I commit unto you, my child, Timothy, according to the prophecies, which led the way to you that by them, you may war the good warfare. Now notice the two things he's to hold on to if he's to be a good soldier, making good warfare.

13:59 In the Christian life, holding faith and a good, which and that word, which the pronoun refers not to both faith and a good conscience, but it refers exclusively to a good conscience, which that is a good conscience. Some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith. Here are people who at one time were sailing high upon.

14:31 On the seas of Christian profession, and you looked at them and their sails were raised and were full, apparently of the wind of the spirit, and they were cruising along as mighty ships in the ocean of Christian profession. Now he says they are dashed upon the rocks and their ship of profession is beaten to all started when they cast off a good conscience. They took the first step to making shipwreck.

15:10 Concerning the faith, you see it in the text, you see it there, so whatever a good conscience is. I want you to see how vitally. It's unnecessary accompaniment of a heart in which there is true love. To God and his word.

15:28 And his ways. In which there is true faith in Christ and his grace and his forgiveness, love and faith. Or the two pieces of bread. On either side.

15:41 Of a good. conscience in verse number five and now we're told in verses 18 and 19 that unless we keep a good conscience we can make shipwreck concerning the faith throw over all communion with god all devotion to god and then even the profession of any attachment to god in the way of grace so my friend whatever it is you better understand absolutely now having established that now we ask the question what precisely is conscience if we're going to know what a good conscience is

What Conscience Is and How It Functions

16:21 we've got to know what conscience itself is what is conscience well i'm not going to give you any technical definition the bible doesn't the bible describes it by its function and basically conscience is god's own implanted monitor who who who who excuses us when we do what pleases god and who points the finger and accuses us when we do what displeases god and where do i get that notion right out of romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 this is the way conscience works even in the hearts of those who have never heard the gospel

17:03 who have never even received the written law of god romans 2 14 for when the gentiles who do not have the law that is the written revelation of god's will do by nature the things of the law these not having the law are the law to themselves in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience bearing witness therewith and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them conscience

17:42 functions as a little moral monitor in the mind and heart of all men saying right wrong excuse and you see conscience has a very limited vocabulary and he's the most stubborn little monitor you ever met you're all the time trying to teach him a third word in his vocabulary he says right and accuses or he says wrong and he excuses and we say you stubborn little fellow

18:18 why don't you learn another word neither and you say to him conscience i'm contemplating doing something and you're saying wrong wrong wrong wrong and i like that that's what destroys my joy as i anticipate doing it now conscience won't you just either shut up or learn another word i want to teach you another word neither now conscience can you say neither and conscience looks back and says right conscience listens don't you get the message it's not good to have so limited a vocabulary especially in the modern

19:02 world you've got to expand your vocabulary will you at least add a third word neither conscience look at me i'm gonna do it right and he says right wrong little conscience he's implanted in every one of us unless we've been totally given up by god to what the scripture calls a seared conscience now that's what conscience is and though conscience is not a word conscience is a word of God a perfect monitor because of the influence of sin sometimes conscience says wrong when he

19:43 shouldn't and he says right when he shouldn't he condemns when he shouldn't and he excuses when he shouldn't but by and large conscience still shows that he's been influenced by god's holy law the perfect standard of right and wrong you see that in the passage which show the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences so because god's law once inscribed on the heart of man in innocence has not been totally obliterated its remains are there conscience for the most part accuses when he should excuses when

20:27 he shouldn't he's not a perfect monitor but he is an authoritative monitor he is a god implanted monitor and further more whatever conscience accuses us you know what happens instinctively we draw away from god put conscience there what was the first thing Adam and Eve did after they sinned and conscience hollered in their ears ran from whom from god

21:12 when they heard the voice of god walking in the garden in the cool of the day what does the bible say they did And they ran to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord among the tree. You see, when conscience condemns, even though we might not think it through rationally, that conscience is God's plant, as it were, God's agent within our own breasts to remind us of our obligations to Him, and the fact that to disobey Him is to bring judgment and the frown of God, though we may not think it through clearly, it's so instinctive that when the conscience is guilty,

21:55 the spirit draws away from God and runs from Him. Now you see, our subject is what? Devotion to God. A life lived in delightful communion with God.

22:10 A life lived in the fellowship of God. A life lived in the enjoyment of God. Well, how can you have fellowship with God, communion with God, enjoyment? Enjoyment of God, while inwardly you're running away from God with the legs of your sword.

22:27 And you will always draw back and run from God when you have a guilty conscience.

22:42 That's why in the day of judgment, when men's guilt will come to its highest pinnacle of expression, what do they cry out in Revelation 6? In the day of judgment it says they will cry out to the rocks and to the hills, fall upon us and hide us. From the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. They'd rather do anything than look upon God with a guilty conscience.

Conscience Cleansed by Christ's Blood

23:12 Now, what happens when the gospel comes to us in power, and God is laying the foundation for a life of devotion to Him? Well, in that initial turning to God, whether it's dramatic, whether it's like the dawning of the day, God's ways are different with all. But whenever there is a true conversion to God, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our conscience from all of its accusations, and puts conscience at peace, and tells us God's controversies with us are over. Hebrews 9, 14 speaks of this very thing.

23:56 Look at the language of the text. Hebrews 9 and verse 14.

24:07 Back up to verse 13. For if the blood of goats and bulls, speaking of the sacrifice, is in the Old Testament, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctifies unto the cleanness of the flesh, in other words, if the blood of these goats and all this ritual could make someone ceremonially clean externally, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, be cleansed? How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanses us from all of our sins, cleanse your conscience from dead works, now notice, to do what? To serve the living God.

24:51 And that word serve in Hebrews has the connotation of the service of a priest. And the picture is this. There was a time when involved in our sin, our works that were marked by spiritual death, we were at a distance from God. We had an aversion to God, like Adam and Eve did, in their guilty conscience.

25:15 But when we have turned to God through Jesus Christ, and have come to understand that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, we turn to serve Him as a slave, that's the word used in Thessalonians, but here the word is, to serve, as it were, a priest in His temple. You see, the priest had nearness of access among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the people, among all the peoples of Israel, it was only the priest who drew near to the immediate presence of God in the holiest of holies once a year. Now that's the privilege of everyone who comes to God through the blood of Christ.

25:59 Our consciences are cleansed to do what? To serve God. To turn face to face to God. To be devoted to God.

26:09 To experience communion with God. To experience communion with God. To experience delight. To experience the light in God.

26:14 And that only happens when the conscience is purged. The language of Hebrews 9, notice it again in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 19. Hebrews 10, 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for us, a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having a great high priest, a priest over the house of God, let us draw near.

26:48 Not run away like Adam and Eve did, but let us draw near to this God. Let us draw near. How? With a true heart, in fullness or full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.

27:08 We can only draw near when our consciences have been sprinkled by the blood of Christ. So that the guilt and the condemnation of an accusing conscience is put to silence by the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses from all sin. Now, you get a little feel for the general biblical doctrine of what conscience is, and how conscience functions before and after we're saved? That's what I've been trying to do.

27:42 Now, what I've said is, if we are to enjoy increasing devotion to God, joyful, real communion with God, we've got to keep, jealously, what God gave us on the threshold when He brought us in. What did He give us? When by grace, the Gospel came in power, and we turned to God through Christ. Well, according to Hebrews, He gave us a good conscience sprinkled through the blood of Christ, sprinkled through the blood of Christ, sprinkled through the blood of Christ, And for the first time, many of us can remember what it was like to think of God without dread.

28:23 Can you remember that? Some of us reared in a Christian home who knew about God from our infancy. We can remember how any time we thought of God, it terrified us. Because we knew from the teaching we had received in the Bible that God was holy.

28:41 That God hated sin. That there was a judgment and there was a hell. And we couldn't think of God without terror. I can remember years when I wanted to put God out of my mind.

28:52 Because when I thought of God, my conscience would scream, guilty, guilty, guilty, wrong, wrong, wrong. And I knew even as Paul says the pagans know, that when we're guilty and wrong, those things deserve death and the judgment. And one of the greatest joys for me as a new Christian, was the wonder of delighting to draw near to God.

29:22 The delight of prayer was a delight. To think of God became the most precious exercise on the face of the earth. This God is no longer angry with me. This God no longer has a controversy with me.

Paul's Discipline: A Conscience Void of Offense

29:40 My conscience had found peace through the blood of the cross. Now, if you and I are to grow in our devotion to God, we must maintain and keep what God gave us on the threshold. And now the text we want to examine together that speaks to that very issue is Acts 24 and verse 16. Acts 24 and verse 16.

30:08 We're going to see how important this issue was to the Apostle Paul. You say, oh, I wish I could be devoted to God like the Apostle Paul was. I wish I could know and walk with God. Do you think he knew what he did?

30:26 Well, let him tell you what was a crucial spiritual discipline in his devotion to God. Let him tell you, his own testimony. He's speaking now before the governor. He's giving his testimony, and in the midst of his testimony, he says this, verse 15 and 16 of Acts 24, having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there should be a resurrection, the just and the unjust, herein or on this account, in the light of that coming day of judgment upon all men, on this account, in the light of the accountability to God that

31:06 will come to full expression in the day of judgment, on this account, I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense toward God and men always. What a statement. In the light of my accountability to God, an accountability that registers again and again where? In my conscience. When I do what is pleasing to him, my conscience excuses me.

31:43 When I do what displeases him, my conscience excuses me. When I do what displeases him, my conscience accuses me. Conscience is God's monitor in my breast. And now that I'm a Christian, conscience is speaking more and more accurately according to the law and will of God as I meditate in the scriptures. In the light of

32:02 that accountability, I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense to God and man always. Notice three things in this text. Number one, this was a conscience void of offense. Two things came to light in just a moment or so that we must exercise ourselves as a does or skillful and ähnlich the word in the Here's one more to the text, in the following or

32:46 word asceticism is a transliteration, that is, taking the Greek letters and putting them over into English equivalents, Paul is talking about a conscious spiritual discipline. This is not something that just happened. Though he was an apostle, though he had heard the voice of Christ from heaven, he did not float into this spiritual state. It was a matter of a conscious spiritual discipline. Secondly, it was a continuous spiritual discipline.

33:22 Look at the text. I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense to God and men always, not just when the going gets rough. And if ever I need to be on praying terms, it's when the going gets rough, so I better get my act together, get my conscience sorted out, so I can pray to God when things get rough. Uh-uh.

33:46 He said, good times, bad times. Sunny days, cloudy days. It makes no difference. He said this was a constant spiritual discipline. Not only conscious, but constant. Constant.

34:01 Always, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, I am consciously undergoing this spiritual discipline. So it was a conscious spiritual discipline. I exercise myself. It was continuous.

34:17 Always. But now notice, thirdly, it was a clearly defined spiritual discipline. Notice what it was. He said, I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense. That is

34:31 a conscience that does not cause me to stumble, that does not cut me off at the knees in my pursuit of a life of devotion to God. A conscience that does not cause me to stumble with reference to God. A conscience, notice now, toward God and also towards men. It was a clearly defined spiritual discipline. He had this conscious, continuous discipline in which

35:03 he was determined that at any point, in any circumstance, he could look up into the face of God and know that there was no unresolved controversy with God. Conscience would not cause him to stumble. He had this conscious, continuous discipline in which he was determined not to stumble, whether to stumble or not, to stumble does nothing. He strongly believed that that would quáош him to want to run from God, but let him be comfortable in the presence of God. But now notice, he said, Not only do I want to be able to look up into

35:27 the face of God with an uncondemned conscience, but I want to be able to look out into the face of any fellow human being, saved or lost. But he said, I couldn't be able to look out not only, unless I wanted to be able to face him as well but be able to face, let him be able to see him as anything. I can solve things kaufen. I can make sure I can be Veep communities to be able to be able to say, I am a hypocrite. At the wheel of luck. But the verse that I

35:46 wrote that made him cry, He said I am not Just��. Remember, God didn't make an un certified That I wasn't sincere, I could look at any man in the light of the demands of God's law and know that to the extent that I had broken them, those issues had been made right with God and with man. A conscience void of offense to God and to man. In other words, he didn't have to avoid certain people because when he was in their presence, conscience would say, wrong.

36:12 Wrong. And remind him of the ugly words he said behind that person's back. The nasty words spoken to that person's face. The ugly feelings entertained towards that person for one reason or another.

36:28 He said, I have this constant spiritual exercise to have a conscience continually void of offense to God and to man. And he said, I do so in the light. In the light of the coming day of judgment, when God, the judge who's put his little echo in my heart called conscience, will deal with me in truth. Now, my dear friends, listen to me.

Application: Keeping Short Accounts with God

36:57 As I have opened up the text, I've labored quite long to lay out the case, but I had to do it.

37:05 Now I come to application and I want you to follow me closely. If you're serious about nurturing a life of devotion to God. You have got to determine that you're going to undergo this crucial spiritual discipline of keeping a good conscience at any price short of sin. At any price short of sin.

37:30 Now, what will that mean specifically? Well, it will mean number one. You will have to keep short accounts with God. Your accounts with God should never knowingly have more than one issue.

37:45 In them at a time.

37:49 No Christian's account should ever have two issues.

37:56 Unless the two are placed there immediately. There should never be an accumulated account of unresolved controversies with God. And what do I mean by that? I'll get specific.

38:13 You're in the home. You're rushing to come out to church. And as you see, the time is getting away from you. And you're going to be embarrassed if you come in.

38:21 And late, you say to your wife in a moment of irritation, Honey, why in the world don't you hurry up? And the moment you speak to her that way, conscience says, wrong. And you grab conscience by the throat and say, you stubborn little critter. Haven't I tried to tell you?

38:36 Not everything's so black and white. Don't you know that she should have done this? And if she hadn't, I wouldn't have. And after you're all done giving your speech to conscience, he looks up and smiles and says, wrong.

38:49 Wrong.

38:54 You're arguing.

38:57 And you come and you sit. And you try to worship. And you worship God. And your praise gets stuck in your throat.

39:03 Oh, yeah, you mumble the word, but there's no heart. Why? The thought of drawing near to God is one that produces discomfort. Why?

39:13 You've got something on your account that you haven't settled. Those ugly words. Then the pastor says, let us pray. And instead of bowing your head and whispering an inward prayer, Oh, God, by the spirit, help the pastor to lead me to your throne.

39:29 Help the pastor as he prays to have the spirit of prayer upon him, Lord. I want to know communion with you as he prays. No, no. You just can't wait to hear him say his amen.

39:40 Why? You feel uncomfortable at the thought that you're coming into the more immediate presence of God. Why? There's that issue on your account that didn't get settled.

39:51 And then you know what happened? On the way home, your wife said to you, you know, honey, it really hurt me the way you spoke to me. She wasn't. She wasn't sinning in the way she spoke to you.

40:01 She was telling you she had ought against you. And you know what you did? You answered and said, look, this has happened too many times. And you deserve to be spoken to that way.

40:11 Now, that's the end of the issue. Now, what did you do? You added a second sin. Self-justification and conscience said wrong again.

40:19 And you leaned over your shoulder and said to conscience, shut up.

40:23 All the while, you're justifying yourself out of the right side of your mouth. You're trying to tell conscience out of the left side, shut up. And you go home that night. And go to bed.

40:31 And what happens? You go to bed with two things on the account. Your angry words that were sin and conscience smote you. And now your self-justification, it was sin and conscience smote you again.

40:45 Now you get up the next morning. You normally have devotions. What happens that morning? You get up and say, you know, I feel unusually tired.

40:53 I'll just roll over and sleep a little more. Or you get up and you say, well, you know, my head's unusually thick this morning. And though I normally go to read and pray. And the rest, I think it'd be better if I, it would certainly dishonor the Lord to come so dull and lifeless.

41:08 I'll just go and read the paper this morning. You know, a Christian ought to be well informed. You never know when you might get a chance to witness to someone using what happened in the news as a springboard. And so you rationalize.

41:20 Because you know if you go and you try to get on your knees and talk to God, what's going to happen? Come on, what's going to happen? That whole conscience is going to remind you you've got two things on your account that you ain't settled yet. And you're too full of stinking rotten pride to get on your knees and say, oh, God, forgive me for the angry words to my wife.

41:43 Forgive me for my self-justification. And then go up and gently shake your wife and say, sweetheart, I'm sorry to wake you up. But I want you to know that I've gone to the Lord Jesus and sought cleansing in his precious blood for my sin of my angry words and my self-justification. And he's forgiven me.

42:06 Honey, will you forgive me for my sin? And what's she going to do if she has any grace in her? She's going to look up and say, nah, stew in your juice for a while.

42:19 Now, if she does, now she's got something on her account.

42:25 But if she treasures a good conscience, what will she do immediately? The Bible says forgive one another as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven. When you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any, that your heavenly Father may forgive you your sins. For if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive yours.

42:50 If she's a gracious and godly wife who treasures a good conscience, she'll look up to her bleary eyes and say, honey, of course I forgive you. I love you. Goodbye and go back to sleep. Now, what happens?

43:05 Now, suddenly. Suddenly he can go out and he can pray now. He can read his Bible. He can go off into his car and in the midst of traffic or in the midst of all other kinds of pressures, he can be conscious of communion with God.

43:22 Why? He now has a what? A good conscience toward God and toward man. Now, my friends, listen.

43:30 If you're serious about devotion to God. A life of devotion in which communion and fellowship. With God is a constant, precious reality. You have got to keep short accounts with God.

43:46 There are no little sins. Every sin is like a cinder in the eye and you don't talk about, well, it's just a little cinder. Of course, it's made my eye all bloodshot and I can't see, but it's just a little one.

44:00 Anything that causes conscience to condemn must lead us to the blood of Christ. Keep short accounts with God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

44:25 Why allow any sin fester in your conscience one moment longer than you've discovered it? Why? It's the most stupid, spiritually insane thing to do. The moment we're prepared to confess it.

44:44 He. Is there ready to forgive and to cleanse. The psalmist said, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, who could stand? Oh, God, if you were prepared to write an indelible link, every deviation from your law, who could stand?

45:03 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Now you determine now and not audibly in my ears, but in God's ears. Answer. In your.

45:15 Heart. Are you determined to keep short accounts with God, no matter what it costs you? If so, then you can have a conscience void of offense to God. And you can go on and grow in devotion to God and communion with God.

Application: Keeping Short Accounts with Man

45:35 But it involves a second thing. You've got to keep short accounts with man as well. Paul said, I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense. It's always not only to God, but to man.

45:49 Well, wait a minute. Why is man so important? Well, for this simple reason, remember what we read in the law of God this morning, all of God's laws are summed up in this love. God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the second is like unto it.

46:08 Thou should love thy neighbor as thyself. Men are made in the image of God, and that's why it's impossible to be rightly related to God. Not rightly related to man who is made in God's image. Look what John says about that in first John chapter four.

46:27 Here are people bragging about the depth of their devotion to God. Oh, they're devoted to God, but they have a few problems at the horizontal level. They're having a fuss with this one and they've got suspicions about this other one, animosity and bitterness and rancor and poisonous attitudes in their hearts to others. Listen to what John says in first John 420, if a man say, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for he that does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God

47:08 whom he has not seen. You see, man is made in the image of God. If you say you love the unseen image while you hate the visible. And I mean the unseen.

47:19 The unseen. God, while you hate the visible image of God, God says it's impossible. And if you have hatred toward man, it's impossible to have love to God. That's why Paul was concerned to have a conscience void of offense to God and to man.

47:38 Now that's not only true in general, in terms of our relationship to all men, but it's especially true with our relationship to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25? Record this. According to the day of judgment, he said, certain ones are going to say, Lord, when did we see you sick or hungry and in prison and visit you?

47:59 And Jesus said, in as much as you did it unto the least of these, my little ones, you did it unto who?

48:08 And when some say, Lord, when did we see you sick? When did we see you hungry or in prison? You say that we didn't respond to your needs. We never saw you in need.

48:17 He said, in as much as you did it not unto the least. These, my little ones, you did it not unto me. Depart from me, ye cursed. That's an amazing passage.

48:28 People are sent to hell for what they didn't do. And it's for what they didn't do, not to God directly, but to his people.

48:39 It's an amazing thing, isn't it? Now, are you sitting here tonight saying, oh, yes, I have a conscience void of offense to God. What about the horizontal?

48:49 You know what I'd love to do if we had the time to do it and I got the permission of the elders to do it? You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to take every member of this church who's here tonight and have you come one by one, stand right up here in the pulpit, and starting with this first row to my left, look every person straight in the eye and say, in the presence of almighty God, I can look you in the eye with a conscience void of offense. I do not knowingly have any ill will to you.

49:19 I do not knowingly entertain any duty I owe to you that I've not been prepared to fulfill. Any confession to you that I owe, any seeking from God an attitude that should be rooted out of my heart to you, and to look at every single one and say to one member after another, in the presence of almighty God, my conscience is without offense as I look at you with judgment day honesty. Now, that was Paul's ambition, to be able to do that. Can you?

49:53 Can you?

49:56 Suppose the elders gave me permission to do that. And suppose we did it, and you were to stand here tonight. Could you start at the left, front row, second row, third, fourth, fifth, and then come right across and say, in the presence of God, my conscience is without offense. Not because I'm sinlessly perfect, but because to the best of my present knowledge, every controversy with God and with his people has been dealt with biblically.

50:29 What needed to be confessed to God has been confessed to God. What needed to be confessed to man has been confessed to man. And don't you have any silly notion that when you openly, knowingly sin against your brother or sister, your work is done when you've asked God to forgive you. The scripture assumes that we will be seeking each other's forgiveness daily.

50:52 If that were not so, why did Jesus say, after this manner, pray ye, forgive us our sins as we forgive those. Who sin against us. The indication is that in the community of God's people, it would be common practice to confess sin one to another. Isn't that the command of God?

51:11 Confess your sins one to another. James 5, 16. Isn't it God's word? Ephesians 4, 32.

51:19 Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. How can I forgive you unless you're asking my forgiveness?

51:27 I can only confer forgiveness when you seek it. You can only confer it. It's upon me when I seek it from you. The assumption is that amongst God's people, there's a lot more of this kind of honesty than we see in the average, even good, reformed church.

51:47 And that's why perhaps there's such a low level of devotion to God. Because there are varying degrees of distance from God. Because we are not right only with God, but we're not right with his people. Therefore, if you're...

Application: Humbling Yourself Before God and Man

52:04 To undergo this crucial spiritual discipline of keeping a good conscience, you must keep short accounts with God. You must keep short accounts with men. This means, parents, you've got to be willing to confess your sins to your children. I'm amazed how few parents are willing to do this.

52:23 If you've blown your cork in front of your children, even though it wasn't at your children, they saw your sin. And you might go into your place of prayer and weep before God. And plead for his mercy. But they're not there to hear you weep and hear you plead.

52:39 You've got to come out of your closet and gather your children together and say, Kids, Daddy spoke in such a way when speaking about Mr. Jones at work in a way that was not like the Lord Jesus. And Daddy's gone to Jesus and asked Jesus to forgive him. Will you kids forgive Daddy for not being like Jesus?

52:59 Oh, you say, that's extreme. Is it? Is it? In church it's extreme.

53:09 If you don't care about having communion with God, it's extreme. If you don't care that your kids grow up cynical, it's extreme.

53:19 But if you're concerned to walk with God, concerned that your kids see reality,

53:26 and I don't speak out of theory, I'll say something that I've never said publicly before. When my own son turned his back upon God and his ways and went into the far country at age 19 and a half, God brought him back two years ago from the far country into himself.

53:48 He's talked very little about the details. He's so ashamed of what went on in the far country. But he said this to me. He said, Dad, one of the reasons I went so deep into my sin was that if I wasn't strung out on dope or if I wasn't blown out on booze, he said I would think of home and I'd think of the life that you and Mom lived before us and I would...

54:13 try to find something that would indicate it wasn't real, it was a sham, it was fake. He says that's when I would remember the times when I had done something wrong and you spanked me and then you came back to me and said, Son, forgive me. Not that I spanked you, but I spanked you with anger in a manner that wasn't glorifying to God. Will you forgive me?

54:37 And he said, Dad, I'd remember your tears and then I'd remember that you'd come to me sometimes for two or three days, and say, Son, is that issue forgotten and dealt with? I'm really sorry. Every remembrance of it grieves me. He said, Dad, I'd think of that and I knew it was real and then it would drive me on another three-day drunk.

55:00 Now, I'm not proud that I had to go and confess my sin to my son. I'm just telling you I'm not whistling Dixie and playing games and talking theory. You want your kids to believe that your religion is real? Then stop this.

55:17 This proud unwillingness to confess your sins committed before your children to your children and do it with tenderness and gentleness.

55:30 You want a conscience void of offense to God and man? You've got to keep short accounts with God and man. You've got to continually humble yourself before God and man. It's a humbling thing to come before God as a penitent.

55:46 I mean, what kind of goodies can you bring to God? You can show off when you've sinned.

55:53 No, you've got to take the posture of a publican. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Lord, I did it again. After all my prayers and vows and efforts, did I never do that?

56:07 Lord, I did it again. What can I plead? I've got no good record to plead. Lord, have mercy.

56:16 It's a beautiful text in Isaiah 57, 15. Thus saith the High, I am lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite. You want to dwell with God?

56:42 You want to know real devotion and communion with God? He dwells with the humble and the contrite, those that are willing to humble themselves and say, Lord, I've got no...

56:51 I've got no claims, but I can only plead your merit in Jesus Christ. Nothing to claim, but only plead that you'd cleanse me. You've got to be willing to humble yourself before man as well. Humble yourself before your wife, some of you men.

57:09 You're never going to get the first base in spiritual progress until you get down off your high male horse and learn to dwell humbly with your wives. You swagger around like King Tut. And anyone with half an ounce of discernment can see clean through you. There's nothing real about your prayer life.

57:34 There's nothing real about your devotional life. Why? Because you've been a proud man to confess your sins to your wife and your children.

57:45 You say, Pastor, you're leaving the women alone. You're going after the men. Well, only because that's the greater sin of the men. The greater sin of the wives often is nursing hurts from past wounds and really not forgiving and forgetting.

57:58 Huh, wives? Hmm?

58:02 Say, how do you know us so well? I've lived with one for 28 and a half years.

58:08 A godly woman who loves Christ and wants to keep a good conscience. But you see, the woman's tendency is not so much to be proud and unwilling to forgive, but to be so hurt that she's unwilling truly to forgive and forget. Hmm? When God forgives, He forgets.

58:28 He puts our sins behind His back, never to be forgiven. He remembers. So, dear women, if you're going to have a conscience void of offense, you don't keep that unwritten list. Say, there you go again, bucko.

58:42 And then you remind Him of all the times He... No, no.

58:45 If those things were forgiven, when He comes perhaps for the same thing, and He's come the fifth time that week, it's as though He were coming the first time to ask your forgiveness.

58:58 You say, Pastor, this is radical. Is it? Is it? It's not radical, my friend.

Exhortation to the Unconverted and Backsliding

59:04 If you're determined to grow in devotion to God, you've got to constantly humble yourself before God and humble yourself before man. Now, let me ask you, sitting here tonight, in the presence of Almighty God, do you have a good conscience?

59:27 Do you have a conscience void of offense to God and man? Now, do you? Maybe some of you have never had a good conscience at any time in your life because you've never been...

59:37 You've never been converted. Your conscience is laden down with all the sins of your lifetime, and you've never gone to that fountain open for sin and uncleanness that is the Lord Jesus Himself. My friend, listen to me. Will you listen while I speak softly, while I speak gently, while I speak with earnest entreaty?

60:02 Will you listen to me? You need not go one more moment limping along with that conscience that is like a thousand pounds of lead in your soul,

60:17 fearful to go to sleep at night, wondering if God will take your life and cause you to drop straight into hell. Young person, child, teenager, young adult, hear me, hear me. You need not go a moment longer bowed down with that awful weight of a guilty conscience. Go flee to Christ.

60:42 You don't pick off those weights a pound at a time by doing this and doing that. You go to Christ as a weighted down sinner with real guilt pressing down upon that conscience. And you say, Lord Jesus, who died for sinners such as I, forgive this sinner. Wash me in your own precious blood.

61:08 Take me by the hand and bring me into the Father's court that I may be saved. That I may hear his word justified. Bring me to the Father's face that I may hear his word reconciled. Bring me into the Father's house that I may hear his word adopted.

61:25 Lord Jesus, I put the case of my guilty, weighted down conscience in your hands. Deal with it by your blood and your righteousness. And you know what the Lord Jesus will do for you? He'll do exactly what you asked him to.

61:40 He says, Him that comes to me, I will in no wise.

61:49 And dear child of God, you've said, Oh, that I might know a deeper level of devotion to God. That I might know more reality of communion with God. Could it be that this is the problem? There are issues you should have settled years ago.

62:04 Maybe I'm speaking to a man who was unfaithful to his wife five, ten, fifteen years ago. And your conscience has been eating like a worm. You knew you should have made it right. Not only with God, but with your wife.

62:18 You violated the marriage covenant. And every time you look at her, your conscience screams. And when you pray with her, your conscience screams. Oh man, go home tonight and settle.

62:36 Maybe goods were confiscated at your place of business five, ten years ago. And your conscience has been gnawing and gnawing. Deal with the issue. Make restitution.

62:49 Get it settled, man. So you can begin to draw near to God. With a good conscience. My dear friend, earnestly go on limping with a conscience that causes offense, that causes you to stumble.

The Value of a Good Conscience in Affliction

63:10 You can never run the Christian race unless your spiritual legs are healthy and you're cut off at the knees because of your guilty, guilt-laden conscience. I had hoped to get on to another area, but your preacher can preach on that as well as I. I'll leave that to him. I've been drawn out on this matter, and I believe, all I can believe, is that God has something he wanted to say on this point that needed to be fully and thoroughly dealt with.

63:41 And you sit there and say, oh God, oh God, that was for me. God, if that was for no one else, it was for me. I got a lovely letter the other day from one of our church members. He and his wife had been put through an unusual baptism of affliction.

64:01 She's about to have a hip replacement, or she should have had it this Friday after a serious automobile accident some two years before and gone through great suffering. And just as she was about to go into hospital for her hip surgery, he fell off a one-story building in his plumbing job and tore up his ankle, needed surgery that involved plates and pins and all the rest, and had a lovely visit with him in the hospital. Like Job, they're praising God in the midst of their afflictions. And he wrote to me and spoke of the tremendous, tremendous blessing in the midst of all of these things,

64:45 of having a good, of having a conscience void of offense to God and to man. There are some of you, if serious affliction came upon you tonight, your first thought would be, oh God, that's chastisement for, and then what comes next? For what? For what?

65:09 For what? What's the thing? What's the thing? What's the thing?

65:13 My friend, deal with it tonight. Deal with it tonight. Deal with it here and now. And whatever you've got to make right with wife, husband, children, don't pillow your head until it's dealt with.

65:28 A life of devotion to God, we've looked at its foundation, we've looked at its two main beings, we've looked at this crucial discipline of nurturing such a life, keeping a conscience void of offense. If your conscience is not void of offense, my dear friend, go right now to the Lord Jesus and then go to those people you must go to to deal with the issue. And then when you get a good conscience, you know what you'll say? Nothing's worth losing it again.

66:06 Nothing's worth losing. We have a young man in our church who sat in my study a few months ago and said, Pastor, it took me six years to get a good conscience. I had so many things to make right, but he said, now that I have it, I will not relinquish it for anything. You think he's growing in devotion to God?

66:31 You think he's growing in communion with God by leaps and bounds and it oozes out all over him? Whatever it costs, get a good conscience. Get a good conscience and then keep it by the grace and spirit of God and through the blood of the Lord Jesus. Let's pray together.

Closing Prayer

67:03 Our Father, we thank you that once again you have heard our cry and you have drawn near to us in the study of your word. We have felt and tasted a little bit of the power of the world to come. You have made real to us that we are accountable to you. That we never planted conscience in our own breast.

67:28 If we could, we would have long ago torn him out and cast him to the four winds. But we thank you that you've implanted conscience within, ever to remind us that we are your creatures, accountable to you. And we thank you that for those of us who are your children, conscience has been quickened and you are educating conscience to speak more and more accurately according to your law. May we never treat him as our enemy, but always as our friend, pointing us back to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, pointing us to the place of taking the posture of the humble and the contrite,

68:12 that we might dwell in communion and fellowship with you. Lord, you know who's here tonight. You know the issues that have come to the minds of everyone in this place. And we pray that the devil will not be allowed to snatch away the seed of the word, that issues that must be dealt with will be dealt with, and that some who have not known, perhaps for weeks or months or years, a good conscience will pillow their heads tonight with a conscience void of offense to you and to their fellow man.

68:49 Lord, do this for your glory, for the advancement of the gospel, for the good of the souls of this people. Hear our plea as we offer our petition and make this earnest prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.