Necessity of a Good Conscience

Introduction and Review of Perseverance

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, September 19th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us again seek the face of God in prayer.

0:20 Our Father, we have not asked you to give us a visible or an audible manifestation of the presence of your Son, but in the hymn we have sung in your presence, we have cried and yearned that we would by the Holy Spirit know the nearness of Christ in his word. Our souls cannot be fed upon the mere shell of truth. We long that Christ, who is the very kernel of that truth, shall be our portion this morning. Lord Jesus, come to us. Come to us in your own word, by the ministry of the Spirit.

1:15 Hear the cry that many have sincerely and earnestly brought into your presence. Hear that cry on behalf of those who are so besotten in their sins and so dull to spiritual reality that they have no heart. Let us pray that prayer for themselves. We pray on their behalf.

1:42 Draw near, Lord Jesus, and arrest them by your grace. Hear our cry for your name's sake and for our good. Amen. Now we return this Lord's Day morning to our consideration of the vital biblical teaching concerning the perseverance.

2:12 It is a subject of the true people of God, a subject often described in the terminology the perseverance of the saints, and the word saints being used in its biblical sense of all of God's true people. Now because six weeks have passed since we last took up this subject, let me attempt to capture in just a few minutes the major thrust of our study up until now. In going over this in my study, it took me four minutes and twenty-two seconds. So when I say a few minutes, I mean just that.

2:53 And having briefly reviewed and sought to focus upon where we have been in this series of studies, we will then press on to another dimension of this weighty biblical theme. Now the first thing we did in approaching this subject was to come to the conclusion that the Bible is not the only thing that is important to us. The first thing we did in approaching this subject was to come to the conclusion that it is a necessary that the Gospel of Paul be heard. And we will now concentrate our attention upon those passages in the Word of God which clearly establish the necessity of the perseverance of the people of God.

3:25 We examined approximately thirty texts from Matthew to the book of Revelation, all of which joined in underscoring the truth expressed in such a passage as Hebrews 3.13 and 14, that we are made to partake in the Bible. The first thing that we are doing is to concentrate our attention upon those passages in the word of God, which clearly establish the necessity of the perseverance of the people of God. of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. We discovered in these passages that continuance in a life of faith and holiness and obedience unto the end of our days is essential to the attainment of eternal life. It is not merely desirable and commendable it is absolutely essential not as the ground of our acceptance into the presence of God but as the fruit and the inevitable issue of our acceptance in the beloved one. Then having established the necessity of the perseverance of the people of God we then proceeded to consider some of the

4:38 means which God has ordained by which his people are preserved. And I suggested that those means as they come to us described in the word of God can be arranged under two major categories. The first being the social or corporate means those means connected with the life of the church of God as it is regulated by the word of God and then the private or the individual means. Those means where the child is able to be a part of the church of God and the child is able to be a part of the church of the church of God and the child is able to be a part of the church of God and the child is able to be a part of the church of God is carrying on his own walk with God as an individual not so much viewed in connection with his corporate life amongst God's people. Now under the first heading we saw from the scriptures that there are at least four means ordained for our perseverance. The preaching and teaching of the word of God by our appointed overseers, mutual exhortation and encouragement thirdly corrective church discipline and finally the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper. And then under the second category the private or individual means of perseverance we have taken up only one such means namely the constant and careful guarding of our hearts.

The Inseparable Relationship Between Perseverance and a Good Conscience

6:04 Proverbs 4 and verse 23 guard thy heart above all that thou guardest for out of it are the issues of life. Now this morning we come to take up a second of these private means of our perseverance and I am describing that means in this language keeping a good conscience before God. Keeping a good conscience before God. Now as we think our way through this tremendously important subject I want you first of all to turn to your Bibles with me and to see the inseparable relationship between perseverance and a good conscience. We shall establish first of all the inseparable relationship between perseverance and a good conscience. Whatever conscience is whatever a good conscience is the word of god clearly demonstrates that it is there is an inseparable

7:21 relationship between perseverance and a good conscience if you and i are to continue in faith and holiness and obedience unto the end a good conscience will be our constant companion and when you no longer have as your companion a good conscience you are out of the way of perseverance it's just that simple and i want first of all to demonstrate that inseparable relationship between these two things and i do so by directing your attention to two portions of paul's first letter to timothy first timothy chapter one now hold back all of your questions about what is the precise function of conscience what is a good conscience i'm driving at one thing in our first heading this morning i want to convince you that you cannot persevere to the end unless you do so in the company of a good conscience that's the one thing i want to establish in our first heading this morning and then we'll begin to address ourselves to those other questions in our first heading this morning our second heading and then god willing answer all the basic questions as we come to the third

8:50 heading next lord's day morning now notice first timothy chapter one in verse three paul writing to timothy says as 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 neither to give to fables and endless genealogies which minister questionings rather than a dispensation of god or a stewardship of god which is in faith but the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned from which things some having swerved have turned aside unto vain talking now it's not my purpose to give an extensive and a detailed exposition of this entire passage what i do propose to do is to lay before you what it says

10:09 about the inseparability between perseverance and a good conscience here the apostle reminds timothy that the reason for which he left timothy in ephesus while paul himself went on to macedonia was that timothy might charge certain men not to teach a different doctrine that is there were certain men who were deviating from apostolic doctrine and paul is so concerned that apostolic doctrine reign in the churches that he leaves his beloved church and leaves his beloved church companion and spiritual son and co-worker timothy there at ephesus in order to charge these men not to teach any other doctrine but the wholesome apostolic doctrine now these particular men were being seduced into teaching doctrine that had some semblance of relationship to the word of god but it was doctrine that was not unto any other doctrine but the wholesome apostolic doctrine and the wholesome apostolic doctrine of the edification it was playing head games with genealogies and jewish fables and these head games were not unto

11:29 edification and so the apostle paul very clearly underscores why he wants timothy to charge these men to come back to pure apostolic doctrine why should timothy be charged to tell these men don't teach this devious doctrine teach only apostolic doctrine what end does paul have in view is it that there will be at ephesus a group of people who've got clear straight heads about apostolic doctrine and that's his only concern no he tells timothy very explicitly what the goal or the end of this charge is in verse five but the end of the charge is this this is what i have in mind timothy i want I want you to charge men to teach nothing but apostolic doctrine and the end I have in view is this, the maintenance of the grace of love in the hearts of the people of God, love from a pure heart, love to God and man, which is the very essence of the demand of the law.

12:39 And secondly, a good conscience, and thirdly, faith that is real, not fake, not the bogus product, but unfeigned faith, because he says, when people turn aside from these things, then they take up, what, empty talking. Their religion becomes the religion of talkative and pilgrim's progress. They'll talk about any subject as talkative. He says, you want to talk about regeneration, justification, I'll talk about anything you want to talk about, just so long as it does not touch these vital ethical elements, love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and real faith. So you see, according to this passage, if the people of God are to persevere in the gospel, in the grace of holy love, and in the grace of real faith, sandwiched in between, is this matter of a good conscience.

13:55 It is an inseparable accompaniment of perseverance in love and in faith. And it is for that very reason that Paul left Timothy at Ephesus to charge. He charged these men not to teach a different doctrine. It was not that Paul was just doctrinaire in his perspective and his concerns.

14:23 He was a man concerned with seeing the people of God at Ephesus going on with God in the way of true biblical perseverance, and understanding the connection between a good conscience and perseverance. He gives Timothy this explicit charge. But now, in the latter part of the chapter, he takes up this same emphasis and now turns it upon Timothy. In the opening part, he says, Timothy, this perspective governs your ministerial task as you labor to help others.

15:02 But Timothy, it must also regulate your perspectives with regard to your own soul's well-being. Now, notice this. Notice in verse 18, this charge I commit unto you, my child Timothy. In the opening part, he says, Timothy, I want you to charge others.

15:26 Now, Timothy, I charge you. I charge you. And this charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies which led the way to you. By them you may war against God.

15:41 And war a good warfare, now notice carefully, holding faith and a good conscience. Now that relative pronoun which in English could be singular or plural, but in the Greek it is a singular, and it agrees in number and gender with the word for conscience. So we could rightly translate it, holding faith and a good conscience, which thing? Singular.

16:13 The reference is to a good conscience. In the opening passage, it's a plural relative pronoun, referring to all three things. They've turned aside. They've turned to vain talking.

16:25 But here it is an exclusive reference to a good conscience. Holding faith and a good conscience, which thing, some having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning the faith. Now, this is a reference to a good conscience. Holding faith and a good conscience, which thing, some having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning the faith.

16:43 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme. Now as he charges Timothy, he charges him in this figure, first of all, of the military conflict. And that's a figure he uses again and again with Timothy. He's told to endure hardness as a good soldier.

17:07 In a parallel passage in this very letter, chapter 6 and verse 12. He says, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. What's involved in this fight? Life and death.

17:20 Heaven and hell. Perseverance. We're right back to that fundamental theme. Lay hold on the life which is eternal.

17:28 Not as though Timothy was not yet saved, justified, accepted in the beloved. It's that dimension, you see, of the necessity of perseverance. And in this fight, Timothy must have the confidence. He must have the constant companionship of faith and of a good conscience.

17:48 And then the emphasis falls primarily now upon a good conscience. And he says, Timothy, this is no light matter. Because if you do not hold faith and a good conscience, you may join the ranks of Hymenaeus and Philetus. Hymenaeus, I'm sorry, and Alexander.

18:12 Holding faith and a good conscience. A good conscience which some, having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning the faith. Now, holding faith probably refers to the disposition of a believing posture before the great realities of the gospel. Timothy, hold faith.

18:34 Not the faith, the body of truth revealed about God in Christ, but hold faith. Hold to a posture of a believing posture. A believing response to all that God has revealed about himself in Jesus Christ. But, Timothy, hold a good conscience.

18:53 That is, yielding up every dimension of your life to the moral and ethical demands of the truth, which is the object of your faith. And if you don't. If you thrust aside a good conscience. You will then make shipwreck concerning the faith.

19:18 Now, remember, here's a man who according to 2 Corinthians 11.25 was shipwrecked 3 times. Thrice, he says shipwrecked. It was a vivid image to Paul.

19:32 He had entered a ship, which when it hoisted it's sails and set off, did so to the cheers and the well-wishers of relatives and friends and people on the shore. And he had seen a ship in its glory with the sun in its brilliance shining upon its sails going off into the sea. And he had seen that same ship become nothing but a pile of driftwood.

20:00 That was a very vivid image to Paul. And he said certain people have made shipwreck concerning the faith when they cast off or thrust away from them a good conscience. And some of the commentators suggest that Paul may even have in mind the imagery that the rudder by which the ship is steered is a good conscience. And when you take the rudder and throw it away, that ship then being rudderless is without direction, is at the mercy of the wind and can be driven upon the shoals and upon the rocks and utterly destroyed.

20:43 Wilson, in his excellent little commentary on the pastoral epistles, commenting on this very word says, As the need for a moral response to the gospel is here clearly underlined, it is perhaps preferable to take both references to faith in the subjective sense, though the first of these would undoubtedly include right belief. Paul's point is this. Timothy must be careful to maintain a good conscience if he wishes to retain his faith. This is precisely where the false teachers went wrong.

21:26 For when they violently thrust aside the claims of conscience, they inevitably made shipwreck of their faith. According to the apostle, the problems of unbelief, and hear this carefully, the problems of unbelief. Are not due to certain intellectual difficulties, but to moral failure. And this is because a bad conscience always brings forth the corrupt teaching which is congenial to it.

22:00 The truth is always according to godliness, Titus 1.1. Truth and godliness are handmaidens. Truth is the mother of godliness.

22:11 Godliness. Is the inevitable child of the believing embrace of the truth. When one moves out of the path of godliness, he moves away from truth. When he moves out of the path of godliness, he no longer has a good conscience.

22:27 He must now concoct a teaching that will make him comfortable in his devious path. So having cast off a good conscience, it isn't long before they cast off what? The faith that's revealed truth. And they take up a set of notions that at least attempt to make them comfortable in their sins.

22:50 The metaphor of a shipwreck is very apt, for it suggests that if we wish to reach port with our faith intact, we should make a good conscience the pilot of our course, or otherwise there is danger of shipwreck. Faith may be sunk by a bad conscience. Faith may be sunk by a bad conscience. Faith may be sunk by a bad conscience.

23:13 As by a whirlpool in a stormy sea.

23:18 The last sentence was from John Calvin's comment on this passage.

23:25 Now do you see the inseparable relationship between perseverance and a good conscience according to these two passages? You cast off a good conscience and you've put yourself in the way of spiritual shipwreck.

23:46 Do you see that relationship? Do you see it established? In these two passages? If so, do you see why any ministry concerned with getting you to the desired haven and destination will constantly go after your conscience?

24:07 Do you see why any ministry committed to seeing you make it to heaven will never be content short of having a grip upon your conscience? Do you see this? There's one old writer. He said, what we desperately need is preachers who can dive down into the consciences of their hearers.

24:30 For unless preaching dives down into the conscience, it doesn't go deep enough to help people to heaven.

Defining and Describing the Fundamental Function of Conscience

24:37 There is an inseparable relationship between a good conscience and perseverance. I hope now we've established that relationship. Having done so, let us now in the second place, seek to give a definition and description. Of the fundamental function of conscience, a definition and description of the fundamental function of conscience.

25:05 Now the word conscience as such is not found in the Old Testament, but the concept of conscience is there. It is subsumed under the general word for heart. You remember those incidents where it said of David that his heart smote him. You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10.

25:26 You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10. You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10. You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10.

25:26 You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10. You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10. You have such an example in 2 Samuel 24.10.

25:27 Job could say in Job 27.6, my heart does not reproach me. Obviously that's used as a synonym for conscience. But the word translated conscience in the New Testament is found in approximately 30 passages.

25:42 And it's a very interesting word. The word itself in terms of the stuff of which it is made is a compound word. And it means to know with. You have at the beginning of it a preposition which means with.

25:56 You have at the beginning of it a preposition which means with. You have at the beginning of it a preposition which means with. And then a word which means to know. And then a word which means to know.

25:59 And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, And although it is difficult to understand precisely how that etymology flowers out into its full significance in its usage, flowers out into its full significance in its usage, there is no debate as to the fundamental definition and function of conscience. Let me try to give a working definition, and then we'll move into a biblical description of the function of conscience and then make some applications. Conscience is that innate faculty by which man distinguishes between what is morally right or wrong. Now, that's the most general sense in which you will find it used. That innate faculty by which man distinguishes between what is morally right and wrong. Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 4, 2, commending ourselves to every man's conscience.

26:59 In the sight of God, commending ourselves to every man's innate sense of what is morally right or wrong. As we preach the truth, we dare to commend ourselves as living embodiments of the truth so that every man's conscience will pass sentence upon us. These guys are for real. They're not fakes. That's the broadest sense. But the sense in which it is used in the Timothy passages that we've expounded briefly, the sense in which it is used in the Timothy passages that we've expounded briefly, the sense in which it is used in the Timothy passages that we've expounded briefly, the sense in which I'm using it in this part of our study of the doctrine of perseverance is a bit more narrow. We're thinking of conscience as that innate faculty by which man distinguishes between what is morally right or wrong in his own thought and conduct. We are thinking of conscience in terms of that internal personal monitor watching over all of my own actions. It is a faculty which urges us to the right, a faculty which restrains us from the wrong.

28:11 Conscience is not a neutral observer of ethical behavior. Conscience predisposes us to avoid the wrong and to choose the right. And furthermore, conscience is a faculty which condemns wrongdoing and approves righteousness. We may say in summary that conscience is that innate faculty of self-judgment by which a man tries the moral rightness or wrongness of his own thoughts and actions. It is an innate faculty of self-judgment by which a man tries the moral rightness or wrongness of his own thoughts and actions. Now let's move to a description. Turn to Romans chapter 2. For here we have not formal definition, but as is so often the case in the Bible, we have living description. In this section of Paul's letter to the Romans, he is

29:24 demonstrating the universal reality of sin and therefore the universal need of divine grace for sin. And at this part of the Epistle, it says, And at this part of the Epistle, it says, And at this part of the Epistle, it says, He is demonstrating that even those who've never had God's written revelation, they've never had the law of God written in their hands. Yet they are sinners. And not only are they sinners, they know themselves to be sinners.

29:55 And he's arguing from the conscious experience of people who have never seen the lids of a Bible, to use current terminology, to use current terminology, and demonstrating not only that they are sinners, but that there is a consciousness of that sin as well. So let's pick up the reading in Romans chapter 2 and verse 14. For when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, notice it doesn't say they keep the law, they do some of the things of the law, they make moral distinctions and choices, they make moral distinctions and choices, not having the law, that is the written law, are the law unto 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. Now you see, Paul brings together these realities. They show the work of the law. They show the work of the law written in their hearts.

31:08 Though they've never had God's written law brought to them, yet they manifest that there is a law that has been written upon their hearts, the work of the law written in their hearts. And how does this manifest itself? Well, not only in the moral choices that they make with moral consciousness, but in the functioning of conscience. Notice, they show the work of the law written, in their hearts, their consciences, accusing or excusing them.

31:46 There is this innate function of conscience. And when they violate that law, there is accusation. When they comply with it, there is approbation. There is this internal moral monitor, who accuses or approves of their ethical behavior.

32:12 And I like to think of conscience in this working description as that non-sleeping internal monitor continually passing judgment upon all of our thoughts and actions. He's a very strange character. He never sleeps. Always awake.

32:36 And he has a very limited vocabulary. He says right, he says wrong. And so often, particularly in our unregenerate days, we try to teach him at least a third word in his vocabulary. But he's so stupid, he only knows two words.

32:57 Right, wrong. He accuses, or he excuses. And we try to teach him the word neither, and we say, Mr. Conscience, look at me.

33:09 You're smart enough. To say right and wrong. Aren't you smart enough to frame the word neither? Look, you do it like this.

33:18 You go, mmm. And conscience looks at us and says, Can't you go, mmm? And conscience shakes his head. What can you say, conscience?

33:32 Is that all you can say? And shakes his head. That's all I can say. Right?

33:38 Wrong. Accuse. Excuse. Furthermore, he's got bad manners.

33:44 He comes uninvited. You never ask conscience to come in and take up his permanent, non-sleeping residence in your heart. He just showed up and stays. Bad manners.

34:01 Comes uninvited. And he's terribly thick-skinned. You insult him. He never puts his tail between his legs and runs away.

34:10 Stays. You tell him to shut up. And he keeps talking. You stick a rag in his mouth.

34:17 And through the muffled tones of the rag in his mouth, he continues to speak. And you put tape across his mouth. And he still mumbles. He's a strange creature, isn't he?

34:32 But he lives in you. And he lives in me. Yes, he does. Innate moral consciousness.

34:47 God made us that way. And this non-sleeping monitor with his limited vocabulary and bad manners is in a sense God's constant reminder of his own claims over us and his rights with respect to us. Now I fully understand that the Bible teaches that conscience can be defiled. Titus 1.15 Conscience can be seared. 1 Timothy 4.2 The conscience of a Christian can be weak. 1 Corinthians 8.7 and 8.10 And I'm also aware that in the unconverted and follow me closely now, conscience receives one of two kinds of treatment with two very differing results. Some of you sitting here this morning, you're not Christians. You have never owned your sinfulness and turned in repentance and faith to the Lord Jesus. Yet you have a conscience.

Conscience in the Unconverted: Terror and Stifling

35:56 And furthermore, by a combination of government and external influences and above all, by God's own prevenient or common grace, you have not tried to stifle conscience. The first time you told a lie to Mom and Dad and conscience thundered in your ear and said, Wrong! You heard conscience and you felt so dirty and rotten and unclean. You had no rest till you told Mom and Dad and you lied.

36:31 And if you didn't tell them, the thing haunted you. Every time you looked at Mom and Dad and glanced over at conscience, he had a frown on his face and you felt miserable. Because his words were ringing in your ear, Wrong! Wrong!

36:45 Wrong! Wrong! You knew that lying was wrong. The first time you stole some money out of your mom's pocketbook.

36:52 The first time you told a dirty joke. The first time you told an untruth about someone. The first time you took that pot. The first time you sneaked that beer.

37:05 The first time you made a playground of someone's body. The first time you indulged in this sin or the other sin. Or maybe after the 5, 5, 10, 15, 20 times conscience spoke. And for one reason or another, you have not given yourself to stifling the voice of conscience.

37:26 If that's true of you as an unconverted person, I can tell you something about yourself. You live this morning in terror and in dread of the judgment of God. Because you know that behind conscience stands almighty God and the authority of His law. According to the latter part of Romans 1, those who show the work of the law written in their hearts, they know the judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death.

37:57 And you know that when conscience says, Wrong! Behind that statement, Wrong! Is the very authority of God who will call you to judgment. And I would be very surprised if I'm not speaking particularly to some young people from Christian families who live in constant dread and terror that God may take your life and you may drop into hell.

38:22 And I know that's true not because I've read it in books, but because it was true of me from the dawning of my consciousness at age 3 or 4. However old I was, until I was almost 18 years of age, I lived in almost daily dread of dropping into hell. Why? Because conscience accused every lie, every dirty joke, every facet of dishonesty and selfishness.

38:57 Conscience thundered its message, Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

39:03 Wrong! Wrong! Accusing! Accusing!

39:08 Oh, what a terrible thing to live with an accusing conscience that is a preview and an earnest of the accusation of God in the day of judgment. What a terrible thing to carry the day of judgment around in your heart. But I'll tell you something worse than that. And that's what some of you unconverted people are doing.

39:36 That's the attempt to stifle the voice of God. The attempt to stifle the voice of conscience. The attempt to sear conscience. The attempt to rid yourself of conscience.

39:50 My friend, that's to bring hell into your heart before the day of judgment. It's terrible to live with judgment in your heart now. It's worse to live with hell in your heart now. And that's precisely what some of you unconverted people are doing this morning.

The Danger of Stifling Conscience

40:12 When I described conscience, you couldn't argue with me, could you? Now, I know it would be socially improper if I threw out the challenge. Some of you, just because you have a sense of social rightness and wrongness, you wouldn't do it. But I believe if we could even set aside social propriety, and I made the challenge, is there anyone prepared to stand here this morning and debate the fact that you have this sleepless, stubborn, ill-mannered, moral monitor within your breasts, there's not of one of you who would deny the facts as I've asserted them from the Bible.

40:50 But you know what you've done with conscience? You've stuck the cork in his mouth. You've put layers of tape over his mouth. You've thrown at him the stones of rationalization, the stones of specious intellectual arguments.

41:10 You've done everything possible to stifle his voice. And it is possible, it is possible to so treat conscience that his voice becomes less and less distinct and his volume becomes less and less intense. Let me illustrate. There's a little boy by the name of Johnny out playing in the field about a hundred yards from his house.

41:37 And it's supper time and his father stands on the back porch and cups his hands around his mouth and says, Johnny, time to eat! Come home! His voice is loud. It's clear.

41:52 And the sounds fall on Johnny's ear and he gets every word. Johnny, that's me. Time for supper. I got it.

42:00 Come home. I better move my tootsies in that direction. Now, the same man a day later stands on the porch and with his hand over his mouth, and the kid hears something. There's a voice speaking.

42:17 And it has some of the tones of his father, but he's not sure what it said. Come home! Is he saying, Johnny? Or what is he saying?

42:26 Come home! It sounds like he's saying, but I can't make it out. Come home. Now, he just barely got the volume.

42:35 It was so weak that he couldn't quite get it. What's happened? There is less distinction, less volume. His message doesn't come through as clearly.

42:46 It has some of the semblance of his father's voice. Not clear. Not sufficient volume. Not sufficient volume to be heard.

42:57 Not sufficient distinctness to be understood. Now, that's what some of you are seeking to do with your conscience. You've put so much tape over the mouth of conscience. Whereas once when you were guilty of impure thought, impure and unholy desires, where once when you were guilty of theft or lying, disobedience to mom or dad, where once when you were guilty of coveting and lusting, there was the voice of conscience saying, You are the man, you have sinned.

43:33 You are the woman and you have sinned. And conscience's voice fell upon the ears of your soul with clarity. Now, there are times when its voice is very indistinct and its volume is very low. You know what you're doing?

43:51 You're ripening yourself for hell. And in his classic work that has captured my own heart in recent days, Alexander White, in analyzing the spiritual experience of John Bunyan, according to Bunyan's own autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, says these things about conscience. Listen carefully. The first time you commit a certain sin, your conscience will seize you by the throat and hail you to judgment.

44:25 But if you go on committing that sin in spite of your conscience, her protest and her warning will grow weaker and weaker till you will take your fill of sin without much remonstrance from your conscience. The time was when you could not sleep. Such was the accusation of your conscience. But now, she lies quietly on your pillow, beside you, and takes your sin as a matter of course.

45:01 And when it comes to that, unless God visits you and your conscience as he visited Bunyan, you're a lost man. You'll die in your sin, and then your conscience will awaken from her sleep and will be in your bosom and on your bed in hell, the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched. My friend, you can no more rid yourself of conscience than you can unman or unwoman yourself. You can now, through the hardness of heart and in the language of John 3, through the love of sin, refusing to come to the light, you can stifle conscience until in the vivid imagery of Alexander White, conscience who should be your accuser can sleep by your sinful side. But the day of judgment will awaken her and send you to hell with conscience thundering in your ears, and that for eternity. Don't you toy with conscience. No man is saved.

Conscience and Salvation: Running to Christ's Blood

46:19 No woman is saved. No boy is saved. No girl is saved. Until conscience is allowed to do his work.

46:31 Conscience under the clear light of God's accusing law. Conscience finding there is no refuge in rationalization, in seeking to play head games with God and with itself. Conscience stands there pointing its accusing finger. We must stand as guilty sinners and accept all of the indictments of conscience.

47:02 And then accepting them, run to the blood of the cross of Christ, where God alone can cleanse an evil conscience. And all of its accusations are silenced in the blood of Jesus Christ. And when that happens for the true believer, now there's an entirely new relationship to conscience. No longer does he seek to stifle his conscience, but in the power of the new principle of life implanted in regeneration, he desires with all of his heart to bring conscience continually under the instruction of the word of God. He no longer wants conscience to be stupid and ill-informed. He wants conscience to be enlightened by all of it. By all of the word of God.

48:04 And no longer does he want to stifle the voice of conscience and teach him some neutral language. But he prays for grace that he may listen to the slightest whispers of conscience. That conscience may speak clearly and accurately and authoritatively to his own heart. And when conscience accuses, he takes every accusation of conscience as we'll see more fully next week, God willing, as a fresh summons to run to Jesus.

48:36 To flee to the cross and there to find fulfilled the promise we read this morning that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. There is wholehearted determination that there shall be a healthy, biblically functioning conscience in the language of Acts 24, 16. There is this spiritual exercise to have always a conscience void of offense to God and to man. Now, my friend, listen to me.

Warning Against Trifling with Conscience

49:14 If you're going to make it to heaven, your companion is going to be a good conscience all along the way. And if you throw off a good conscience, you're out of the way of life and salvation. I did not say you've lost your salvation. Don't anyone go out and say, that preacher believes you can be saved and lost.

49:34 I don't believe any such thing. I've chosen my words carefully. I say when you cast off a good conscience, you've taken yourself out of the way of life and salvation. And if you stay out of the way, you'll prove yourself to be an apostate.

49:52 So you better not play with the academic distinction. Well, what's the difference between a mere lapse which a true Christian can experience and the casting off of the rudder by which alone we can be brought safely to the port? My friend, I don't want to know what that distinction is and where that line is. Do you?

50:18 This pious talk, well, that's just old resurrected Puritanism. I'm just taken up with Christ. To me, to live is Christ. My friend, the man who says, to me, to live is Christ, said, I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense.

50:46 The very man who pointed Timothy to Christ again and again, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the son of David, remember him, Timothy, is the one who said, I charge you, Timothy, keep faith and a good conscience, which some, having thrust aside, have made shipwreck concerning the faith. Don't you hide your present stiflings of conscience with pious drivel about Jesus Christ. It would be just of God to make the very thoughts be the unloosing of your sanity. It borders on blasphemy.

Application to the Unconverted: Embrace Mercy

51:26 Claim no great affection for Christ when you violate the very purpose for which he died, to put you into the way of holiness, which is the way of a good conscience. What means has God ordained for our perseverance? The second great individual means is the maintenance of a good conscience. All I've attempted to do this morning is to demonstrate the inseparable relationship between perseverance and a good conscience, give you a more formal definition and then a more practical description of the function of conscience, and then to apply the truth to the unsaved and briefly to the people of God. God willing, next week we'll take up the subject how can we maintain a good conscience, one of the most vital, vital questions of practical Christian experience. May God grant that if you sit here this morning in that first category, the unconverted, oh, my unconverted friend, do you think God delights to see you living with judgment in your breast?

52:53 Now be honest, do you think God delights to see men and women, boys and girls, living with terror in their breasts? Do you think God delights in that? Not the God of the Bible? Oh, my dear friend, God has deposited that moral monitor that knowing your need, you might embrace His offers of mercy in the Lord Jesus.

53:20 And God has given every assurance if you come with your guilt laid in conscience to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, God will delight to shower His mercy upon you. Don't go on in the terror of an accusing conscience. And if I'm speaking to some who've done a pretty good job of stifling conscience, putting layer upon layer of tape across His mouth, oh, my friend, ask God the Holy Ghost to tear the tape off and pull the corks out and pull out the gags and have conscience thunder now as conscience will thunder with the very voice of God in the day of judgment. Pray that the hell of a hardened conscience will be taken from your heart until before you sink into hell with an enlivened and an accusing conscience. Oh, may God help you, unconverted friend, not to play with conscience. And dear child of God, if you're a Christian at all, you know what it is to have that fundamental transformation in your heart with respect to conscience.

Application to Believers: Guard Your Conscience

54:37 Not a perfect but a fundamental transformation. And if you've been toying with the dynamics of that fundamental transformation, you've got business to do with God and you better do it today. You don't cast off a good conscience all at once. You start by putting a little pressure on it until you get more bold to lay hands upon it.

55:03 And before long, you're beginning to get in the posture of throwing it aside. If you've got the slightest pressure of one finger upon conscience this morning, look upon it as the first step to apostasy. This is serious business, dear people. We're not playing games.

55:25 And I would dive into your conscience this morning and ask you, is it a healthy conscience? Speaking according to the book, speaking even in its slightest whispers with a voice that you delight to hear. And though men would call you fools and overly fastidious and too precise, it doesn't matter because in the context of a healthy conscience, you enjoy communion with Christ. And that's more than enough compensation for all the strange looks and all the accusations.

Closing Prayer

56:07 To have His smile and His fellowship is worth it all. Let us pray. Our Father, we bow in Your presence to confess with shame how wickedly many of us abused conscience for many years. And yet, we thank You that You did not give us up to a seared conscience.

56:46 You did not give us over to a reprobate mind and leave us merely to mark time until the day of judgment. We thank You that by the mysterious and powerful operations of the Spirit, You've brought many of us to own our sin and to find forgiveness in Your beloved Son. Oh, may there be others who this morning have been seeking to stifle the voice of conscience who will cease this very hour and flee to Your dear Son and find righteous forgiveness in the blood of His cross. We pray for those of us who are Your people. We confess, O Lord, with shame that we have trifled with conscience. We confess, O God, with a sense of trembling how we have toyed with conscience. Oh, forgive us.

57:49 Forgive us, we pray, and make us a people who jealously guard our consciences. Write upon our hearts the things we have considered this morning, and may they be fruitful to our perseverance in the way of faith and holiness and obedience, even to the end of our days. Give us such a determination that we shall walk with a good conscience, that the frowns of men or even the open laughter of the world will not deter us from walking before You with a conscience void of offense. Hear our cry, and may we have dealings with You in terms of Your dealings with us through the Scriptures. We ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.