Keeping a Good Conscience

Introduction: The Perseverance of the Saints and the Role of Conscience

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 3rd, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Let us again bow in the presence of God and seek the very special and present aid of the Spirit as we turn to the Word of God. Our Father, we bow in your presence to recognize afresh, to recognize in our corporate approach to the Scriptures that apart from your present and powerful activity, we will not understand your Word, we will not obey your Word, we will not believe your Word. And so we ask that the Holy Spirit Himself will come to do His own almighty work of enabling us rightly to perceive and rightly to respond to the Word of God. Amen. to his own voice speaking in the scriptures.

1:16 We do not ask that you would give to us visions. We do not ask to hear voices. We do not ask that you would bless our mental laziness. But as we come with our Bibles opened before us, as we come prepared to think diligently and carefully about the words of scripture, Lord, do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

1:47 Open the eyes of our understanding and move our hearts with your truth. Hear us as we plead these mercies in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In our Lord's Day morning study of the word of God, we are presently examining together the various aspects of the biblical doctrine commonly described as the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

2:26 Now, the essence of this doctrine is that all true Christians both must and shall adhere to Christ in the way of faith, holiness, and obedience to the end of their days. All true Christians, not all who make a decision, all who profess to be Christians, but all who are true Christians, both must and shall continue in adherence to Christ in the way of faith and holiness and obedience to the end of their days. This doctrine is succinctly stated in such words as are found in Matthew 10, 22, and 24, 13. He that endureth to the end the same shall be saved. Now, having established from the word of God the necessity of this perseverance, we are now presently occupied with a consideration of those means which God has ordained for us. For our perseverance in the way.

3:43 And the specific means which is presently under consideration is that which I have designated as the getting and the keeping of a good conscience before God. And in our introductory study of this vital subject, we established from the scriptures the inseparable relationship which exists between keeping a good conscience and perseverance. And two of the pivotal texts we examined were 1 Timothy 1, 3-5 and 1 Timothy 1, 18-20. And in those passages it is made abundantly clear that when men cast off a good conscience, it is not long before they will cast off the faith. Unless the condition of casting off a good conscience is rectified, rectified by deep and thorough repentance, it is only a matter of time before there will be shipwreck with respect to the faith. And then we looked at a practical definition and description of the fundamental functions of conscience. According to Romans 2, 14 and 15,

5:01 conscience is that innate faculty of self-judgment by which a man tries the moral rightness or wrongness of his thoughts and actions. We considered conscience as that uninvited moral monitor with his very limited vocabulary. He says right, he says wrong. He either accuses or he excuses us and he passes judgment upon thought and deed and word.

Getting a Good Conscience: Listening and Embracing Christ's Blood

5:32 And then last Lord's Day we began to take up the subject how does one actually get a good conscience. If we are to keep it, we must first of all get it. And it is obvious from a study of the scriptures and a study of our own hearts in the light of scripture that no man or woman has a good conscience biblically described by nature. By nature we do not have a good conscience.

6:02 One of the effects of sin is found in the realm of conscience, that conscience is not a good conscience. Conscience is evil. Conscience is stained. Conscience is defiled.

6:15 And if we would have a good conscience, we must, in the light of holy scripture, come to grips with what God says is essential to getting such a conscience. And we looked at the scriptures which were collated under these two simple headings. If we would get a good conscience, we must listen to its actions, listen to its accusations with judgment day honesty, and then we must embrace the one divinely appointed means for the silencing of its accusing voice, and that means is the blood of Christ. Until you listen to conscience with judgment day honesty, conscience under the light and pressure of the remains of the law written on the heart, conscience under the fuller light of God's written law, and the fullest light of the gospel. As conscience condemns and accuses, you'll never get a good conscience until you listen to his voice with judgment day honesty. And then when you do, there will be aversion to God and terror and dread of his judgment. Then you must embrace the one divinely appointed means for the silencing of that accusing conscience, and that means is in the language of Hebrews 9, 14,

The Possibility of Keeping a Good Conscience

7:40 the blood of Christ by which alone we are cleansed in our consciences. Now this morning, we begin to take up the question of keeping a good conscience. It is one thing to get a good conscience. It is another thing to keep a good conscience before God.

8:01 And as we address ourselves to this aspect of our study, I wish first of all, to demonstrate from the scriptures, the possibility of keeping a good conscience. The possibility of keeping a good conscience. I would be very surprised if there are not a few of you here this morning for whom a good conscience is so rare a companion that you really doubt that it's possible to have it as a constant companion. You hear me and follow me?

8:38 There are some of you for whom a good conscience is so rare a companion, you really doubt that a good conscience can be a continuous companion. And I want to demonstrate first of all from the scriptures the possibility of keeping a good conscience. And we'll examine four texts in the word of God. First of all, 1 Peter chapter 3.

9:12 Peter is writing to people who have gotten a good conscience in the only way of God's appointment. Notice they are described in the opening chapter, 1 Peter chapter 1, as the elect who are sojourners in the dispersion, elect, verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here are people who have been sprinkled by the blood of Christ. With their consciences thundering accusations against them, they have fled to the one divine remedy for the silencing of the voice of conscience, the blood of sprinkling. Now, as a result of that, they have come into a relationship of loving, trustful obedience to Jesus Christ. They have been elect unto obedience and sprinkling. And Christ never sprinkles a man whom he does not also bind to himself in the bonds of obedience.

10:31 And so Peter can put the two together. And as they began to obey the Lord, Christ whose blood had sprinkled them, it brought them into a baptism of suffering. And one of the great themes of 1 Peter is this theme of suffering. And as Peter deals with that problem of righteous people who love God and love His law and love His ways, suffering, he says to them in chapter 3, and this is the passage that we'll examine in some detail, 1 Peter 3, and verse 13, Who is he that will harm you if you be zealous of that which is good?

11:15 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are you, and do not fear their fear, neither be troubled. Here they are, zealous of that which is good, out of love to Christ, and yet they are suffering for righteousness' sake. What are they to do? Well, he tells them in verse 15.

11:38 They are not to fear, that's the negative, but positively, they are to sanctify in their hearts Christ as Lord, that is, set Him apart continually as their Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear. They are continually to be prepared to give a response when people say, What in the world makes you tick? Here you have committed yourself to a path of right, and yet I and my fellow countrymen pick on you and abuse you, and yet you take it patiently. You are not intimidated, neither do you retaliate like men of the world, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. What in the world makes you act like you act? Be ready, he says, to give an answer to every man who asks you a reason of that hope, a hope that comes to expression in their non-natural response to ill-deserved suffering. So he says, Sanctify Christ as Lord, ready to give an answer to every man who asks you concerning the hope that is in you.

12:50 Now here's our text, verse 16. All of this in the context of having a good conscience that wherein you are spoken in, you are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. For it is better if the will of God should so will that you should suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. And do you see what the apostle is saying to these people?

13:26 As he seeks to prepare them to react to the situation of suffering for righteousness, in a biblical manner, he said they are to do so in a setting in which they possess a good conscience throughout the entire trial of suffering for righteousness sake. Having a good conscience in the midst of these accusations, in the midst of this opposition, they are continually to possess a good conscience. So that though men speak against them, those very men who speak against them may be put to shame by their manner of life that flows out of and is consistent with their union with Jesus Christ. Now let me ask you a very simple question. If you were one of those original readers, believers of the dispersion amongst whom this letter was circulated, and one of the elders or leaders stood on a given Lord's day and read the epistle in your hearing, would you think that a good conscience was just a high and noble, lofty religious ideal but utterly unattainable? Or would you regard a good conscience as something that was not only possible but essential?

14:52 Now I leave you in your conscience to judge the answer to that question. If Peter's words mean anything, they mean not only that a good conscience is possible, but that it is the necessary attendant of consistent Christian experience. Having a good conscience. And you will notice that the surrounding conditions of that good conscience are described in such language doing well.

15:34 Suffering for well doing. Suffering, verse 14, for righteousness sake. So that a good conscience has an intimate relationship to a consistent pattern of practical righteousness in the life of the believer. Is a good conscience a possibility?

15:58 Yes, it is a possibility. It is even a Christian duty. Now turn please to Hebrews 13, 18. All we're trying to do is establish the possibility of a good conscience.

Further Scriptural Witnesses to a Good Conscience

16:14 And in our day it's necessary to begin on so foundational an issue. Hebrews chapter 13. Now I'll not weary you with some of the theories as to who the author of Hebrews is from the human side. We know that God is the author.

16:33 Suffice it to say that it is difficult with any degree of certainty to say who the author is otherwise whole thick books would not be written on the question of the authorship of the epistle to the Hebrews. But whoever the author was as he draws his letter to a close in Hebrews 13, he appeals in verse 18 to his readers with this entreaty. Pray for us. And so the author writing on behalf of himself and whoever was with him at this time puts out a plea.

17:12 Pray for us. And that request for prayer is intimately connected with what follows. You have a connective. You fledgling Greek students, you have a gar.

17:23 Wherever you find a gar, a for, you have a connection of thought. Pray for us for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience desiring to live honorably in all things. Now there are some reasons suggested as to why the writer makes a connection between his plea that they pray for him and his protestation of a good conscience. Now I'm not going to go into that.

18:01 You'd like me to but I'm not going to. But the issue is this. He does make an appeal to the validity of having a good conscience. And the reality of that is a self-conscious Christian experience.

18:17 And this is not an angel writing the epistle. That much we know. Whoever the author was, it wasn't an angel. Nor was it the Lord Jesus.

18:27 It was a fallen son of Adam who had been redeemed in Christ and indwelt by the Spirit. A man of like passions with us and yet he can say, for we are persuaded not that we ought to have. We are persuaded that we would like to have. We are persuaded that we have present possession a good conscience.

18:57 And as surely as the man knew his name he knew he had a good conscience. And notice the connection between conscience and a basic lifestyle. Desiring, and that word desiring does not mean, oh well, I desire to have one. It means a will of purpose and could be translated purposing to live honorably in all things.

19:22 Good conscience purposing to live in all things honorably. Now then, I ask you again. If you were sitting there the first time the epistle to the Hebrews was read, would you come to me and come to the conclusion that having a good conscience like this man had was a very real possibility? Or would you look on it as some lofty unattainable ideal?

19:53 Well, unless you were prepared to say that there were dimensions of the work of the Spirit operative in the writer and his companions qualitatively different from those dimensions of the work of Christ and the Spirit available to all believers, you would be forced to say what he had, I can have. And it is not a matter of Pharisaic boasting to say I have a good conscience purposing to live honorably in all things. That's not the language of a Pharisee, that's the language of a Christian. Now a third text.

A Good Conscience as a Standard for Church Leadership

20:32 Remember now what we're doing only considering the possibility of keeping a good conscience. All right, over to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Here in this passage, here in this particular part of the letter to Timothy, Paul is giving instructions with respect to the recognition of office bearers in the church, particularly or specifically elders and then deacons. And as Timothy is instructed in these things and through this letter the church for all ages, we read in verse 8 after he concludes the directions concerning the requirements that pertain to the office of an elder, a bishop, that is an overseer, a pastor, a shepherd of God's people. He then turns to the requirement for deacons in verse 8. Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given too much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved, then let them serve as deacons if they be blameless.

21:57 Now my question is this. As Paul instructs Timothy with regard to this matter of recognizing elders and deacons and sets out the standard, is that a realistic standard or is it an abstract idealistic standard? Now there are some who've actually taught this, that what we have here is an abstraction of Christian idealism. And we need to set that out in the heavens, as it were, as the star to which we shoot when we evaluate men for the office of elder or deacon.

22:31 But we must not be too concerned if men miss that standard. Better to shoot for the star and at least go somewhere than go nowhere at all. Well, such a view is absolutely precluded by the language of the Holy Ghost in this passage. When Paul speaks in the opening words, he says in verse 2, the bishop therefore, and he uses a little particle of necessity.

22:56 The word is day, not d-a-y, but if you transliterate it, d-e-i. It means of necessity. The bishop therefore of necessity must and likewise deacons of necessity of necessity must among the things he must be is a man who holds to the mystery of the faith. Now for some of you say, what kind of language is that?

23:32 And you ought to say that because the word mystery in our day has a connotation entirely different from that which Paul intended. The mystery is that which for ages was hidden in the mind of God and only hinted at in the Old Testament, but now in the coming years, and now in the coming of Christ and the sending of the Spirit is unfolded in its fullness. So the mystery of the faith is the gospel in all of its full-blown glory as revealed in the Lord Jesus and in his apostles. Now he said deacons must hold to the mystery of the faith.

24:10 They must profess adherence to the revealed truth of God in Christ, but they must hold it, not as a mere academic confession, but they must hold it in a pure conscience. In other words, it is right to say to men who are being scrutinized for the office of a deacon, we see in your life the patterns required by God, but, but, we cannot follow you into the secret place of your thought life. We cannot follow you into the places where you are alone and wife and children and friends do not see you. My brother, do you not only have a life that is blameless before our eyes, but can you hold yourself by the scruff of the neck into the very throne room of Almighty God and there in his presence before him whose eyes are as a flame of fire and before whom all things are naked and opened, to say that your conscience attests to the fact that you do not hold the gospel in some abstract theoretical way, but that your life is under the impress and the power of its sanctifying influence, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, a conscience that is not

25:39 continually sick because you wound it and because you afflict it with compromising thought and compromising situations, a conscience that is not sick and defiled because you tolerate unconfessed sin. Oh, my brother, do you hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience? And if a man does not, he has no business allowing himself to be put forward. Now, is the diaconate a real office comprised of real people in real churches?

Paul's Personal Testimony of a Good Conscience

26:16 Yes, it is. Well, then, this is a real and an attainable standard, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And then we turn to the testimony of the Apostle Paul as our final witness to the possibility of having a good conscience. And we'll look at a couplet of verses from the book of Acts.

26:41 In Acts chapter 23, hear this man who when he takes us into the inner recesses of his own spiritual experience, not only tells us of the discovery of Christ that came to him by the grace of God, his liberation from Pharisaic ignorance and bondage, and this is scattered throughout his letters, but remember, this is the man of Romans 7 who was conscious of the presence of remaining sin, who knew what it was at times to cry out, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? Yet when he stands before the Sanhedrin, that's the Jewish court at Jerusalem, he can begin his defense with the words of Acts 23 in verse 1. And Paul, looking steadfastly on the council, said, Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day. Now, is that Paul reverting to his Pharisaic spirit? When he could look the council, every member, straight in the eye and say, Brethren, I, Paul, have lived in all good conscience

28:10 before God until this day, was that Paul the Pharisee or Paul the Christian speaking? It was Paul the Christian who could appeal to the possession of a good conscience at that very moment. Now, he was not someone who claimed to be sinlessly perfect. He was not someone who professed or taught a doctrine of sinless perfection.

28:39 Yet he could say, I have lived in all good conscience until this day. It was his present possession. And since he did not claim any qualitatively different supplies of grace for sanctification than is available to all the people of God, his own spiritual experience in the realm of seeking to be a holy man is not qualitatively different from ours. Now, he had great, great and qualitative measures of grace and power that we will never know in terms of gifts, in terms of privilege, in terms of many, many things. But often in his epistles, he is not at all ashamed to say us, not only speaking of his fellow companions, but he says us and we, putting himself in the category of all of the people of God. And he tells us in chapter 24 and verse 16 of this same book of the Bible that having this good conscience was not something that just automatically happened. It's because he believed it was a possibility and sought constantly to keep such a conscience that he could say, I have lived in all good conscience

30:07 until this day. For in another situation, at Caesarea, giving his defense now, not before the Jewish council, the Jewish Sanhedrin, but before heathen leaders, he can say, Acts 24, 16, Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense toward God and men always. I am self-consciously striving to maintain a good conscience Godward and manward at every single period and circumstance. Now I ask you as you sit here this morning, do you know anything of this testimony of a good conscience as your constant companion? You who name the name of Christ, could you stand and say in the presence of Almighty God this morning that I have lived in all good conscience until this day? Could you say with the writer to the Hebrews, and I am persuaded that I have a good conscience purposing to be honorable in all things.

The Nature of a Good Conscience and its Inseparability from Perseverance

31:33 Well I remind you, I remind you that a good conscience is inseparable from perseverance. So if you've looked upon good conscience up until this morning as a luxury or some unattainable ideal, I trust that God by the word and all we've done is look at four, or really five passages of scripture in which if the Bible teaches anything, it teaches the very real possibility, even more, the necessity and duty of keeping a good conscience before God. And if we are not prepared to do that, what we are saying is I am prepared to put myself in the precarious path of making shipwreck concerning the faith. What Paul says, having thrust aside faith and a good conscience, they made shipwreck concerning the faith. And furthermore, it is evident from these passages as to what a good conscience is. It is a conscience which testifies to the agreement of our moral conduct with God's law, either as that law finds its expression

33:00 as stamped upon our consciousness or as found in his written word. A good conscience is a conscience that says there is agreement between what I am and do and what God says I ought to be and what I ought to do. A conscience in which there is no present irritation and inflammation of unresolved problems and unresolved guilt. Unresolved guilt is like the inflammation of a boil on the arm.

33:32 It is evident that there is something that is causing inflammation and irritation. A good conscience is a conscience in which are found no festering boils. A good conscience is one in which there is present vindication as to the performance of one's duty, both with reference to the law and to the gospel. You say, Pastor, I will never figure this place out.

34:00 In one sermon I am taught from the Bible that sin is always with us, that indwelling sin is a constant reality, that perfection is a mirrage. And now I am taught that I can have a good conscience. Well, my friend, I only ask you one question. Is the teaching coming from the same Bible?

34:23 Is it? Is it based upon the same honest handling of that Bible, then the problem isn't what Trinity Church preaches. The problem is with your own mind and heart coming to grips with what God has revealed. And we're disciples. We're to learn.

Prescription Part 1: Never Violate Conscience's Present Dictates

34:43 We're to embrace what God has revealed. All right? Having demonstrated, I trust, beyond any reasonable cavilling, the possibility of a good conscience, now we can only start this morning what I'm calling the prescription for keeping a good conscience. A prescription for keeping a good conscience. Now, there are three parts to the prescription. We only get part number one this morning. God willing, we get parts two and three next week. Not good if detached, too. All right?

35:17 Got to have them all together. But only have time for number one. And it's this. If you would keep a good conscience, here's the first part of the prescription. Don't ever, don't ever, violate its present dictates. Don't ever violate its present dictates. If you would ever keep a good conscience, you must settle in your mind once for all that it is never, under any circumstances, at any time, under any pressure, it is never right to violate the voice of conscience. Now, if you're not settled on that, you, if you're a Christian, will be as unstable as water. And the instability of some of you over

36:07 whom we have wept for years lies right here. You have never come to the place where you have said with Martin Luther, my conscience is captive to the word of God. It can never be right for a man to violate his conscience. Here I stand. I'm not a Christian. I'm not a Christian. I'm not a Christian.

36:31 I'm under my own caused way. Just from what I understand. So help me. I can do like this unless it's a good conscience. Because it's that matters. It's either the violation of conscience or the obedience to the voice of conscience. I tasty bitsy detail of your life, you will never keep a good conscience for it is not the size of the issue that matters. It is either the violation of conscience or the obedience to the voice of conscience grasps by every person present.

37:06 conscience that makes the difference. The festering wound of a fouled up conscience can begin with the slightest little area of deviation from his voice as well as in a large ethical and moral issue. And if you would keep a good conscience, dear child of God, establish in your mind and heart this principle, it is never right for me to violate its present dictates. Now turn please to Romans 14 for the biblical basis for this part of the prescription. Now we're going to come particularly to verse 20 and verses 20 to 23. You who are visiting with us have already noticed we don't believe in just jumping down out of space and sitting down on a word or phrase of scripture without being honest with its own God-given truth. We don't believe in just jumping down without being honest with its own God-given truth. We don't believe in just jumping down setting. So we don't do this to be pedantic or to impress you with our learning. We do this so that

Biblical Basis: Romans 14 and the Weak Conscience

38:13 we can carry the conviction of your conscience that what we say the text teaches it really does teach. That's why we take this time to talk about the flow of thought to make sure that when we assert that this is what the text says, you're not skittish and say, hey, wait a minute, where's he going with that? How'd he get there? Wait a minute. No, we must carry the testimony of your conscience as we assert and we can only do that as we make it evident that that's what God has said in this passage. Great lesson for you preachers. Don't ever forget that. Not enough to thunder and assert if you don't carry the judgment of thinking people who sit before you. All right, Romans 14. What's he talking about in this part of the epistle? Well, he begins in chapter 14 in verse 1 with these words. Him that is weak in faith receive, but not for decisions of scruples. You say, what in the world does that mean? What's he talking about? Well, he's going to tell us. One man has faith to

39:12 eat all things. He that is weak eats and is becoming popular to pronounce the H again and say herbs. Well, I'm old enough to come from the generation where you never pronounce the H and you had to say herbs. So if you like herbs, it's herbs. If you like herbs, it's herbs. But now here's the problem. One man had faith. That is with the confidence that God, was pleased when he ate steak as well as when he had his greens or had his beansprouts. He could eat steak and beansprouts. And when he bowed his head over his steak and his beansprouts, he could

39:57 say, oh, holy father, thank you for steak and beansprouts. You're the giver of every good gift. Lord, I thank you. You've given all things to enjoy.

40:08 Now bless my meat and my beansprouts to the nourishment of my body that I may serve you to your glory. He had faith to eat meat. A house away, his brother in the Lord who sang the same hymns with him a few hours before in the house of God, who prayed the same prayers as the congregation was led in prayer. He goes home and he's got nothing but a pile of Brussels sprouts and they're all steamed up and on his plate. And he bows.

40:39 And has his vegetarian meal and thanks God for his vegetables. And the very thought of eating meat is offensive to him for whatever reason. And we cannot ascertain precisely what the reason was with these saints at Rome. There's a lot of conjecture, but there's nothing certain because the Bible doesn't tell us. And when you go outside the Bible to interpret the Bible, it's always conjecture. The Bible is its own and only infallible interpreter. But all we know is Paul says there's a man who is weak, who eats only, herbs. He can only with good conscience eat vegetables. He's a vegetarian.

41:16 So you have people who equally are in Christ, who love Christ, want to please Christ, but they've got a differing dictate of conscience with regard to what can a Christian eat to the glory of God? What can he eat as pleasing to God? And later on in the passage, it also applied to the problem of keeping certain religious feast days. Verse six, he that regards the day and that's the day of the feast. And he that regards the day of the feast. And that's the day of the feast. And that's the day of the feast. And that's the day of the feast. And that's the day of the feast. And that's the day of the feast. And that has no reference to the Lord's appointment of one day in seven. And anyone who says it does is reading into the text his own prejudice. He that regards the day regards it to the Lord. That is, here's someone who keeps a special religious festival day and he keeps it unto the Lord the way some people keep Easter or Christmas as special religious days. And they think thoughts about Christ and his work and his

42:07 incarnation that make Christ more precious. And they think thoughts about Christ and his work are more precious to them. He that regards the day regards it to the Lord. And he that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. And he that eats not unto the Lord, he eats not and gives God thanks. You see, there was a problem not only of foods, but keeping certain religious days. And there was a differing dictate of conscience on these matters. You see the situation? One man's conscience when he'd eat, contemplate having steak and bean sprouts, bean sprouts, bean sprouts, fine, but steak, I'd be sinning against God. For whatever reason, his conscience told him, no, sin, accuse. The other man, he could eat a steak and his bean sprouts and his conscience was absolutely silent. That was the problem. You feel it? Got something of a feel for the passage? Well, Paul,

43:02 the wise pastor, writes to that situation. First of all, he tells them, you've got to settle it in your heart. You're not going to stand in judgment on one another. That's the first thing he tells them. Fellow over here enjoying his steak, don't you look through the window at your friend over there just having his Brussels sprouts and say, look at that poor character over there. Tell me, no, God's given us everything. I think I'll go over and take half of my steak and steak. If he just tastes steak once, I know he'll love it and eat it and he'll be hooked on it.

43:29 Listen, he says, don't you judge your brother. When he bowed his head and gave thanks for his Brussels sprouts, he did so convinced that he was pleasing God, eating his Brussels sprouts. And if he ate your steak, he'd be displeasing God. Don't you judge him.

43:42 His brother's eating his Brussels sprouts and looks through his window and sees the fellow there just belting down his steak and enjoying it. He said, don't you judge him and say, if he were really spiritual, he'd only eat Brussels sprouts like me. He says, don't you judge him. Don't you judge him. And then he roots that exhortation in the great truth that both of you are under the Lordship of Christ now, and you'll stand before God in Christ in the last day. So who are you to assume the role of a judge when Jesus Christ is your Lord? And he is your judge. That's the teaching of the further passage. Verse nine, for to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord, both of the dead of the living. But thou, why do you judge your brother? Why do you set it not your brother? We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. So he deals with that. Now he comes in the latter part of the chapter

44:33 to take up another strand of pastoral concern. And here it is. It's the concern, not only that these two do not judge one another and recognize that they answer to God, in Christ now and in the last day, but they must never so influence one another as to cause one another to violate their consciences. Notice carefully now, verse 13, let us therefore not judge one another or judge one another no more, but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block in his brother's way or an occasion of falling. I know I, Paul, and I am persuaded of the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean of itself. The steak is not unclean, save to him who accounts anything to be unclean. To him, it is unclean. When that brother thinks that eating the steak is an act of moral uncleanness, it is to him just that. Though it may not be in itself, I'm persuaded, nothing unclean in a beef

45:33 steak. But if in that man's conscience eating steak is wrong, for him it is an unclean act, even though his judgment is out of whack. His judgment is it's unclean, therefore to him it is unclean. For if because of thy meat thy brother is grieved, you do not walk in love. Destroy not with your meat him for whom Christ died. And then he goes on to open up other aspects that are not pertinent to our discussion. Now, verse 20, do not overthrow for meat's sake the work of God. All things indeed are clean. However, it is evil for that man who, eats with offense. And if you go over to your brother and offer him steak and pressure him and he finally eats steak, but with every bite his conscience is accusing, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. He said, you must never do that because it is wrong for him to eat if he cannot eat with a conscience that tells him eating that steak is proper. It is good not to eat flesh nor drink wine nor do anything whereby your brother stumbles.

46:44 The faith which you have, have to yourself before God. Happy is he who judges not himself in that which he approves. If you can eat steak with a good conscience, eat it, but eat it not around your brother. And don't put pressure on your brother to eat when his conscience tells him eating steak is wrong. Don't eat in his presence. Much more you don't take your steak over and try to tell him to eat. No, no, don't do that.

47:14 Because he says, verse 23, he that doubteth the area of conscience is condemned if he eat because he does not eat of faith and whatsoever is not of faith. That is, whatsoever is not done in the conviction that it is done as a good, clean, moral act. And when judged by the pure light of the law and the liberty of the gospel, but that's not the issue. The issue is that though the voice of conscience and listen to me carefully.

47:49 Though the voice of conscience may be inaccurate, it is always authoritative. Do you have that? Though the voice of conscience may be inaccurate, it is always authoritative. And we are never to violate its authority, even when it is inaccurate. That's the teaching of this passage.

48:17 And if we violate our consciences ourselves, it is so. Sin. Whether or not the thing is sin, Abbey, in terms of the law and the liberty of the gospel, is not the issue. And if a man will choose that which to him is sin, even though it isn't, what proof do you have he won't choose that which is sin when it really is?

The Danger of Violating Conscience: An Illustration

48:42 You see the argument? Here's a man who wants to have some fun with his neighbor. He thinks he has a thieving spirit. He's not sure.

48:52 So he has a friend of his. He's a man who plays around with little molds. Make a mold of something that looks just like a gold bar. But he makes it out of lead. And it has all the stampings on it, 99.99 pure and all the rest, and has the weight on it. And then he has this special gold paint, which when you spray it, it really looks like the real thing. It's heavy. It's sprayed with gold paint. And then he puts it in a certain place where he knows his neighbor could get to it.

49:24 If he wants to. If he wants to. If he wants to. If he wants to.

49:24 If he wanted to.

49:27 And his neighbor begins to cast his eyes upon it. And covetousness begins to burn in his heart. He says, ah, a gold bar worth X number of dollars because it's X number of ounces. And he's one of these that listens every day for the gold fixing price out of London and Zurich over the 8 o'clock news.

49:45 And so he figures out in his head so many hours. Oh, boy, man, that could really, you know, he really begins to get. Now, in his mind, what he's looking at is a gold bar worth X number of dollars. Yes, that's not reality. It's a hunk of lead with 0.5 pence of a cent worth of paint on it. He's not looking at reality, but he thinks it's a gold bar. Now, let me ask you this. If one day under the pressure of covetousness and opportunity, he takes the hunk of lead. See what he's showing? Though his judgment is not according to reality.

50:26 If he would choose to steal that. Which he thought was a gold bar, that man would steal a gold bar if he could. And when a Christian makes a choice of that which he regards to be sin, even though in reality it is not sin, what proof does he have that he won't choose that which really is given the right of it?

50:59 That's why I assert that the first element in the prescription. For keeping a good conscience is this. Don't ever violate its present dictates. Even though its dictates may be the dictates of a weak conscience, it is nonetheless God's authoritative conscience. And you must not violate it.

Consequences of a Violated Conscience: Aversion to God and His People

51:30 Because when you do, you know what happens to a conscience that's been violated? Exactly the same thing. In principle, that happens to the awakened conscience of a sinner who's never been converted. What happens in the conscience of the unconverted person who begins to listen to conscience's accusing voice?

51:52 As we saw last week, there is an aversion to God. A man with a guilty conscience feels uncomfortable in the presence of God. And the minute you defile your conscience by indulging in that concerning which conscience said, No, there will be an immediate aversion to God. And that's why some of you haven't had the spirit of prayer for months or years.

52:22 The book of Hebrews says in chapter 10, Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, let us draw near.

52:34 And the reverse is true. If our consciences are pressed down with evil, we will draw away. We not only have an aversion to God, we have an aversion to His Word and to His people.

52:56 That's right. And often that aversion will find expression most pointedly with regard to those who are the instruments of preaching His Word and His people who are most like God.

53:12 And when a person is walking around with a festering, wounded, sick, and aversion to God, they will be called a person of conscience. Almost inevitably, it is seen by the absence of the spirit of prayer, antipathy to the ministers of the Word, and aversion to the holiest people in the congregation.

53:34 I have seen that through the years as a pastor. Those of you who frequent this place know that I love children. And I accept every child in this place as a challenge to win his confidence in love. Some of you who are visiting may wonder, Well, if someone preaches like that and thunders, kids will be scared.

53:50 You watch. See if the kids are scared of me, will you? They knock me over, running and jumping up into my arms sometimes for their weekly kiss. And it's a delight to accept the challenge of the one that's a little skittish and worked for weeks, sometimes months.

54:05 We had a breakthrough with one I've been working on literally for months and months. Three weeks, four weeks ago, I think, she came tearing at me. Boom! Jumped up in my arms every Sunday now since.

54:16 We crossed the line. But you know, often we cross the line in reverse.

54:22 When constantly... The conscience begins to go to work and they're no longer little infants.

54:26 And the word preached from this pulpit begins to fasten itself in the deep recesses of their heart. Time and time again, I've been a broken-hearted man when I've seen them draw back from me. No longer do they look me in the eye like their friend. There's a glancing look like I were their worst enemy.

54:48 But I know why. I know why. It isn't that I've done something naughty to them. No.

54:54 I'm the symbol of that. I'm the symbol of the truth that pinches them Sunday by Sunday and makes them feel uncomfortable in the presence of God. And their aversion to me is just an accompaniment to that. And I understand that.

55:09 And that's why I continue to look them in the eye and let them know that I love them. And I've seen that again and again as a pastor. Almost invariably, disaffection to a true shepherd is rooted in a bad conscience. Almost invariably.

55:26 Disaffection to a true shepherd. I didn't say a perfect shepherd. A true shepherd is rooted in a bad conscience. Because a true shepherd is whatever else he is.

55:40 With all of his imperfections, he's a holy man. And he's a man determined to be honest with your conscience. And he's the symbol of everything that you're fighting.

55:55 It's cutting close to the bone for some of you, isn't it? What kind of friends do you select in the large family at Trinity Church with the broad spectrum of spirit? Do you gravitate to those who are walking most carefully before God with a sensitive, tender conscience? Or do you gravitate to those whose loose lifestyle makes you feel comfortable?

56:20 Hmm?

56:22 You better answer that question with judgment day honesty, my friend.

56:29 Because that's an index of where you are.

Conclusion: Commitment to a Good Conscience and Its Blessedness

56:37 And some of you need to come this morning to the place where you say, Oh, God, I don't care. I don't care what anyone else does. I am determined by your grace that from this day forward, I am committed to the principle that it is never right to violate the voice of conscience under any circumstances.

57:04 And as we shall see next week, if we do violate it, immediately to go to the one place where a violated conscience can find peace. Again. Of course, I'm referring to the blood of Christ. To the fountain open for sin and for uncleanness.

57:25 But you say, Pastor Martin, isn't there a place for educating our conscience? Yes, that's our third point. Never violate it. Immediately silence it.

57:35 Continually educate it. But you don't educate it in the midst of indulging that which conscience says is wrong. To him who eats. Do you see the implications of this for those of you who flaunted your so-called Christian liberty and have pushed it upon others?

58:02 What does Paul mean when he says you would destroy the brother for whom Christ died? You're putting him in the role to apostasy. You're encouraging him to violate his conscience. That's why you destroy the brother for whom Christ died.

58:19 You're teaching him how to apostatize. That's what you do. So you better be careful who you talk to about the latest movie you saw. Say, oh, you ought to go see it.

58:35 Someone says, well, I read the review on that and the reason it's rated PG is that... Oh, you say, yeah, but that's just a couple of minutes in the movie.

58:45 And you smooth talk them and pressure them to seeing that movie. And they walk through the turnstile of the door, plunk down their money, and conscience is stunned. You put them in the wrong place to say mercy on you.

59:13 That's what the book says.

59:16 We need not only to keep a good conscience ourselves, but we are the keeper of our brother's conscience.

59:24 We must do anything to make sure our brothers don't violate their conscience. Paul says, even if it means relinquishing things that are not sin in themselves. He said, I know nothing is unclean of itself. He could drink his glass of wine, he could eat his meat with good conscience, he says so.

59:44 He could eat his meat with good conscience, he says so. But he said, if meat makes my brother to offend, I will not eat meat, drink wine, do anything whereby my brother is offended or is caused to stumble. There's something more that you're free in Christ. Proving that you're determined not only to stay in the way of holiness yourself, but to help everyone who comes near you to stay in that way.

60:18 Also, you say, Pastor Martin, if that's the demands of Christianity, then I'm not sure I want it. Well, it's about time you faced it.

60:29 Because that is the demand of the Word of God.

60:34 Do you have a good conscience this morning? Do you? Do you have a good conscience? What a wonderful companion a good conscience is.

60:44 In life and in death. Next to Jesus Christ,

60:50 a good conscience is your most blessed companion in life. I almost said, next to Jesus Christ and a good wife. But a man can live and go to heaven peacefully without a good wife, but not without a good conscience. So, honey, I have to put you third.

61:14 Do you see it? Oh, may God write these things upon our hearts. Nothing wrong with having a tender, sensitive conscience. It's the mark of true biblical spirituality.

61:32 And if you don't have a good conscience this morning, my friend, you go to the one place where you can get it. And in having gotten it, count no price too great to keep it. Let's pray.

61:51 Oh, our Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures. We thank you that they are a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. Write upon our hearts the things we've considered this morning and make us an assembly of people who are determined with the Apostle Paul to have a conscience void of offense to you and to man always. Oh, God, for those who've never gotten a good conscience, may they be troubled until they find it at the only place sinners can receive it, beneath the cross of Christ.

62:33 And for any of your children who this morning have a festering, wounded, sick conscience, Lord, may they have dealings with you until they hold the mystery of God. Lord, may they hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Give us a fellowship of such open-faced communion as is only possible when we are a fellowship of people with good consciences. We know that we withdraw from one another because of our own sense of guilt and uncleanness.

63:04 Because we see your likeness reflected in others and withdrawing from you, we withdraw from them. Lord, deal with these things. That as we walk in the light, as you are in the light, we may have fellowship one with another and know the blessedness of the blood of Jesus continually cleansing us from all sin. Thank you for your presence.

63:27 Thank you for your word. May your spirit now apply it with power. We ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.