The Diseases of Conscience, Part 2

Introduction: The Preservation of the Saints and the Good Conscience

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, November 21st, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. It is the clear teaching of the Word of God that all true believers most certainly shall and most assuredly must continue in the faith that they originally profess, and continuing in that faith manifest its genuineness by obedience and a life of holiness, if they would ultimately attain unto heaven at last. This teaching of Scripture is commonly called the doctrine of the preservation and the perseverance of the saints. And having established from the testimony of...

0:56 Some 30 pivotal texts in the New Testament, the necessity of our continuance in faith, holiness, and obedience, we are now considering passages which set before us the means ordained of God to secure this continuance in faith, holiness, and obedience. And the means presently under consideration is that which I have entitled, The Getting. And the Keeping of a Good Conscience. Now, according to 1 Timothy 1, 18-20, there is indeed a vital and inseparable relationship between perseverance and the keeping of a good conscience. For in this very passage, the apostle speaks of some who, having thrust from them a good conscience, have made shipwreck concerning the faith. And so this is not a matter of academic interest or simply a dimension of biblical psychology. The keeping of a good conscience is a matter of life and death, of spiritual life and of spiritual death.

Keeping a Good Conscience: Review of Previous Directions

2:13 Now, having sought to answer the question, how does one get a good conscience, we're now wrestling with the second question, how does one, having gotten a good conscience, keep it? And I have suggested that the biblical materials can be gathered under several basic directions. If we would keep a good conscience, first of all, we must never violate its present dictates. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

2:46 Secondly, we must immediately or promptly silence its every accusation. And we must silence it not by conscience. We must not make carnal efforts to silence it in an ungodly way, but silence it in the way of God's appointment, which is the way, of course, of renewed repentance and faith. And then thirdly, if we would keep a good conscience, we must not only seek to walk so as never to violate it, seek to walk so as immediately and promptly to silence its every accusation, but we must continually educate.

3:26 We must educate its standard of judgment. Conscience, though authoritative, does not speak with perfect accuracy. And we must educate conscience by the word of God. And then in the fourth place, and this brings us right to where we are in our study, we must learn to recognize and treat its common diseases and disorders.

The Disease of a Calloused Conscience: Introduction and Characteristics

3:52 There are diseases and disorders of the conscience. Which, if not recognized and treated, will keep us from keeping a good conscience. Now, we dealt with but one of those disorders, the disease of an excessively scrupulous conscience. That is a conscience marked by distracting anxiety about every action and every motive and every thought and word.

4:23 And it's marked by reservations about laws. Lawful liberties, things that God is not condemned in his word, and yet the excessively scrupulous conscience has reservations about the lawfulness of such things. And then it is generally marked by a tendency to strain at gnats and to swallow camels. Well, now this morning we come to the second of these major disorders of the conscience, which every believer sees.

4:56 And sooner or later must learn to recognize and by the grace of God to treat it biblically. And that is the disorder of a calloused conscience. The disorder of a calloused conscience. Now you see where we've moved from the extreme on the left hand or the right hand of the excessively scrupulous conscience all the way to the other end of the spectrum.

5:23 The disorder of a calloused conscience. And as I attempt to open up this subject, we'll trace out three lines of thought. I doubt we'll get to all three of them this morning. First of all, I want to describe the symptoms or the characteristics of a calloused conscience.

5:42 Then secondly, describe the cause of a calloused conscience. And thirdly, describe the cure for a calloused conscience. So we'll consider together the characteristics. The cause and the cure of a calloused conscience.

6:01 First of all, then, the characteristics of a calloused conscience. What are they? Well, the key is in the use of the word calloused. Now, you all know what a calloused is, don't you?

6:15 I can remember when I did construction work. And at the time of my life where I was trying to make sure to myself as well as to others that I was a man, and couldn't quite grow a decent mustache, as some of you are attempting to do, or a decent beard, and mustaches and beards were not as much in vogue in my day, I can remember how proud I was of my callouses that I got while doing construction work. To me, they were a sign of my emerging identity as a man. And one of the ways I used to show off my callouses, they were as big as nickels on every joint here across my hands from doing construction work.

6:57 Because I used to like to take needles and run them through my callouses. And, of course, when I did that, I never drew blood and I never winced. Because, you see, a callous has no blood vessels and no nerve endings. So I could run pins through my callouses all day long to prove my manhood and never suffered for it.

7:22 Now, when I use the terminology, the disorder of a calloused conscience, I'm speaking of a conscience that has ceased to bleed as it ought, and ceases to send signals from living nerve endings to the depths of the soul. And so the imagery of a callous has been chosen purposely. And what are the characteristics, then, of a calloused conscience? Well, let me suggest that there are three symptoms of a calloused conscience.

Symptom 1: Absence of Present Pain When Sin is Knowingly Committed

8:03 The first is the absence of present pain when sin is knowingly committed. The absence of present pain when sin is knowingly committed. That is, when we are self-consciously aware that we have not fulfilled a biblically mandated duty, or when we have transgressed a biblically revealed law, for sin is any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. Now, when we fail to fulfill our known duty, and when we transgress the known precepts of God, and there is an absence of present pain, that is a tragic symptom of a calloused conscience. Now, one picture is worth a thousand words, and so I want you to turn with me to the Old Testament for the contrasting picture of a sensitive conscience that became a calloused conscience. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 24. 1 Samuel chapter 24.

9:27 And here we will read an incident in the life of David, this man after God's own heart. And you will remember, I trust, from our relatively recent reading in our Old Testament consecutive reading, Lord's Day evenings, of the situation in which David finds himself here in 1 Samuel chapter 24. Saul has become blinded with this evil spirit of envy. He's determined to slay David, and he's chasing him around the wilderness of Judea as though he were an outlaw, some kind of a fugitive from justice.

10:07 And in this particular incident, we find David and Saul in close proximity in the providence of God, 1 Samuel chapter 24. And it came to pass when Saul was returned from following the Philistines that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gidi. And so Saul takes some of his chosen men and seeks to track David down. And in the course of this, David and his men were in the inner part of a cave.

10:42 And Saul went into the cave to perform some of nature's necessities. The covering of the feet is a euphemism for such activity. And while he is there, the servants of David say something to him in verse 4. And the men of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good unto you.

11:12 Now whether one of the prophets had given such a prophecy, or whether these men had deduced from their knowledge that David had been anointed to be king and would eventually be king, we're not certain as to what the precise significance of their words is. But this much we know, that David was conscious of certain obligations with respect to the one whom God had anointed king, and that until God deposed him, David was to regard him with all proper respect for the office due to the Lord's anointed. And while Saul had apparently laid aside his outer garment, we would say like our suit coat or our overcoat to take care of these matters, David performs what seems to be a relatively innocent act. Notice the text. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it's unlikely that he would have done that if Saul had the robe on.

12:15 He apparently laid it aside, and David was close enough and yet the robe distant enough from Saul that he could cut off part of that robe without Saul becoming aware of it. Now he did nothing against Saul's person. Remember what Saul had been doing to him. Saul had already made attempts to kill him with his own spear.

12:37 Saul now for a lengthy period of time had been seeking to track down David with no other end in view but to kill him, to murder him in cold blood. And now all David does is take a little bit off Saul's garment. So what's the big deal? And yet the text says, verse 5, And it came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

13:12 And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Lord, Jehovah's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Jehovah's anointed. And because even this act of disrespect was contrary to the requirement of God's revealed will, David's heart after this act smote him. And that's a strong word. It's the standard word used for that smiting which is unto death.

13:50 It's the very word used of what David did to Goliath when he smote him in the forehead with that stone that came out of his sling with such accuracy. And his heart smote him. He no sooner cut off his garment and had opportunity to reflect upon what he had done as an act of disrespect for the Lord's anointed but what his conscience smites him and brings him into a state of deep felt spiritual pain. Now that's David when he had a good conscience.

14:33 When he had a healthy conscience. When there were no callouses upon his conscience. When his conscience was as tender as the skin under the arch of your foot. And as tender as the skin on the inside of your arm.

14:52 I've never seen anyone with a callous there. It's sensitive. Pinch it if you don't believe it. And then compare the amount of pain you get when you pinch the part of your hand that has some callouses upon it.

15:07 But now that same man some years later is seen in that event that was read in our consecutive reading recently. And what a contrast. 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11.

15:27 At the time that kings go forth to battle David remains at Jerusalem. And we read in 2 Samuel 11 too. And it came to pass at eventide that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And would God that the text had said and David's heart smote him.

15:57 What is a king doing wasting his waking hours in bed when his troops are out on the battlefield and his kingdom needs his best hours for its wise and godly administration. A tender conscience would have reproached him for sluggardliness and laziness. But the text says nothing about his heart smiting him when he rises up from his bed at eventide. And then the passage goes on to say and from the roof he saw a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And would God the text had then said and David's heart smote him. Would God that the text had said at that point though he escaped the pain would God the text have a smiting conscience for the sin of laziness that when his eyes became the inlet of lust that his conscience had smitten him. But the text is utterly silent.

17:17 He indulges the sin of laziness and no smiting of conscience. The sin of lusting with his eyes and no smiting of conscience and the text goes on to say and David sent and inquired after the woman. Now that would take a bit of time. Would it not to send a messenger find out who she is.

17:39 And while he's waiting for the messenger to come back would God the text would say and David's heart smote him. But the callous is getting thicker and thicker and thicker. And one said is not this Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam the wife. And the moment he heard the words the wife of Uriah the Hittite then it should say surely and David's heart smote him.

18:14 For I've had adulterous thoughts and though I may not have been aware that at first certainly the mandate of Deuteronomy 17, 17 the king shall not multiply to himself wives even if she were a widow or a virgin. I should not have been seeking a seventh wife when I already have six. But there is nothing to indicate that his conscience smote him. And then the text goes on to say and David sent messengers and took her and she came in unto him and he lay with her and she returned unto her house and would God that even here after so tragic a fall the text would say and David's heart smote him. But the callous now even gets thicker and the text goes on to tell us that the woman conceived and she sent and told David and said I am with child well now the fruit of his sin the chickens have come home to roost surely at this point it would say his heart smote him

19:37 but there's no such record. And then you read the rest of the chapter and you say can it be he plots murder I'm sorry he plots a cover up and when the cover up fails he makes another attempt at the cover up and when it fails he then has nothing left but to plot the murder of this man under the guise of heroism on the battlefield and not once does it say and David's heart smote him. If at any point in this whole process there had been any powerful spiritual pain who knows how different the history of David might have been. Now David did experience pain some time afterward. You cannot read Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 and come to the conviction that David was utterly without spiritual sensitivity during that entire period from these incidents until the time that Nathan came approximately a year later. Oh no he had feelings.

20:46 He said day and night I make my couch to swim my moisture is turned into the drought of summer I've cried until I can cry no more. Read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 he speaks of his bones being broken the joy of the Lord is gone and many other indications that he felt pain some time afterward. But you see here's the issue had he a healthy conscience he would have felt present pain when the sin was in the formative stage present pain when the sin was in its beginning stages but because somewhere along the line David had moved from that tender conscience man of 1 Samuel 24 to the calloused conscience man of 2 Samuel 11 the history is one that would make any feeling person weep with genuine grief before God. The first mark then the first symptom of a calloused conscience is the absence of present pain when sin is knowingly committed.

Application of Symptom 1: Self-Examination for Present Pain

22:12 Now listen to me my dear fellow believers as I seek to bring this home to your conscience that may be calloused and it may be that the needles must be driven in inches before you begin to feel a thing your callouses are so thick upon the conscience can you remember the time my dear brother when if you for one reason or another allowed your schedule so to crowd out a time with God any given day to crowd out communion with God in the secret place can you remember when at the end of that day it could be said of you and your heart smote you and that day was for all intents and purposes in your estimation a wasted day or a day marked by unfulfillment because there had been no basking of the soul in the light of the countenance of your Savior in the secret place. Listen to me Christian man can you remember when your conscience used to smite you and you felt pain if a day passed from morning till night and there was no feeding upon Christ in the secret place

23:40 no feeding upon his word can you remember when you felt pain at the end of such a day now such days come and go one upon another and there isn't a twitch of pain you have a calloused can you remember the time when if circumstances pressed you and through indulgence of your flesh and lack of discipline you failed to gather the family together for family worship to instruct your children and your wife and to be the priest of that household and to lay hold of God can you remember lying upon your bed at night and looking back over days when as the head of your home you were not the man of God in giving positive assertive spiritual leadership to wife and children when it could be said of you that it came to pass afterward that your heart smote you can you remember those days can you think man think can you remember them now they can go come come go weak him

25:07 weak out and there's no smiting and even as I preach you know what you're doing you're trying to thicken your callous and say he's not going to get to me can you remember can you remember can you remember when if you were irritable to your wife and spoke harsh words the moment you reflected upon the harshness of those words there was no making out the bills there was no going down into the cellar to put her in the workshop there was no reading of the evening paper there was no peace until you took her aside and said honey forgive me I spoke to you in a way unfitting a man of God and a Christian will you forgive me can you remember come on husband be honest can you remember when your conscience smote you after you spoke churlish words to your wife and furthermore conscience gave you no rest until if the children heard those words you gathered them together even if you had to wake them up if conscience was a bit slow in its speaking or you a bit slow in responding and you'd even awaken the child to say sweetie I'm sorry to wake you up but daddy can't go to bed and sleep tonight until I've asked you to forgive me

26:35 you remember how I spoke to mummy earlier today you heard those words daddy didn't speak like a Christian will you forgive you daddy you say pastor that's ridiculous only if you've got a calloused conscience why should David be smitten in heart for simply cutting off a little of Saul's garment Saul's out for his blood because that was in violation of the known and revealed will of God to David that's why the scripture says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you and when you speak in a churlish way to your wife that is sin and there was a time when you owned it as sin when your conscience was sensitive but no longer it's a calloused conscience you wives and notice I've gone after the men almost exclusively don't anyone say oh that's a male chauvinist church they only speak to the women that's a lie don't break the 9th commandment under the preaching of the word remember a time when if you spoke in a bippy manner to your husband when it smote you can you remember wives come on now think back think back when if your husband gave what may have been a reasonable directive albeit

28:04 in ignorance you would say to him dear I'll gladly do what you've asked me but could it be that and you would entreat him in a gracious way you don't do that anymore you just retort in a bippy ungodly way there was a time when if you did that you couldn't do the dishes you couldn't make up the bed you couldn't throw clothes in the washing machine there was misery and pain in your soul and you had no release and relief until you went to your husband and confessed the sin of not reverencing him as your head can you remember oh think think think woman can you remember when it could be said of you that your heart smote you for that sin now you can do it as easy as breathing it's a pattern of the very way you relate to your husband and your conscience doesn't speak you have a calloused conscience can you remember when if you spoke in a manner that just stretched the truth a little bit to promote yourself to make yourself look better can you remember when you did that and your conscience would smite you and you had no peace until you got the people together in whose presence you stretched the truth whether at the office at the shop

29:32 in the home in the church and you said oh please forgive me you remember when I said thus and thus that really wasn't 16 ounces to the pound truth I stretched it into 23 ounces and the extra 5 ounces was to make me look good will you forgive me can you remember can you remember when conscience was sensitive to the sanctity of truth speak ye truth every man with his neighbor lie not one to another there was a time when the pressure of that mandate of God was upon your conscience and any deviation from that caused you pain but no longer no longer can you remember the time when that willful glance at even the cover of that filthy girly magazine at the local store when even one willful glance made you feel as unclean as if you'd walked into a whore house can you remember that I ask you man can you remember when that one willful glance at just the cover of that girly magazine filled you with shame and pain and you had no release cried to God to cleanse your mind from the blood of your son

31:01 remember can you remember now you can not only gaze at the cover but actually take money out of your pocket the property of Jesus Christ purchase the filth and sneak it off somewhere and absorb it into your mind throw it away and say well nobody's perfect and God knows I didn't keep it I could have stuck it in the trunk of my car and then you begin to convince yourself that your vice is a virtue oh my friend what a calloused conscience you have there was a time when your heart smoked you when you took that look at that shapely form of that woman walking down the street or in the office your heart smoked you for you realized that to look to lust is in the words of our Lord to commit adultery and you were penitent before God as an adulterer in spirit and in heart now you can not only have someone pass by your eyes and take the second look you have eyes that could be described as full of adultery that go out

32:25 looking aggressive and your conscience no longer speaks and you feel no pain you children listen to pastor can you remember the first time you told a lie to mommy or daddy you really wondered if maybe God would send thunderbolts out of heaven to kill you you knew that lies were such a terrible thing remember the first time you told a lie and you were so scared now you have become so clever at lying that the scripture says such as breathe out lies you can lie as easy as breathing anybody here working hard to breathe this morning unless you have asthma or emphysema breathing is about the easiest thing you will do here all day and you can lie as easy as breathing such as breathe out lies what's happened to you your conscience has become callous I may not only be speaking to my dear brothers and sisters and younger children in the Lord but unconverted man or woman you can remember the first time you cheated on your income tax the first time you entered an immoral sexual relationship the first time you turned your back upon the privileges of going to hear the word of God in conscience smote you

33:54 but no longer Pastor Clark told us an incident while we were meeting for prayer before the service that is chilling but it's true he knew of someone in South America or in Mexico who was a murderer by trade and he said the first time he stuck a knife into a man and felt the trembling body and the death twitches and then felt the body go limp he was full of horror the first time his hand was the instrument of wanton murder he no doubt felt as if hell itself were about to open up and swallow him but his confession was he did it so often that he came to the place where he actually found personal delight in seeing a man in death twitches at the end of his knife and he said what a horrible thing to have a calloused conscience that's the first symptom that you haven't saved or unsaved when you can knowingly sin and feel no present pain no pain in close proximity to your sin it may not come the instant but certainly as you look back

Symptom 2: Absence of Present Repentance When God's Word Exposes Sin

35:22 over the day and you know that there are duties that have been left undone by God's word that have marked your life if you have a sensitive conscience it will be said of you and your heart will smote you but then there is a second symptom of a calloused conscience and it's different from the first and I want you to listen carefully it is the absence of a present response of repentance when the word of God exposes our sin it is the absence of a present response of repentance when the word of God exposes our sin you see in the first case we know our sin from the existing active standard of God's law impressed upon our consciousness in this case our sin is none the rest real but it may be a sin of ignorance and if the conscience is tender and not calloused God comes and gives light and the sin is marked out by the word a tender conscience responds in repentance a calloused conscience refuses to do so again look at the contrast in the Old Testament 2 Kings chapter 22

36:50 all of our texts are taken from the Old Testament today because the Old Testament as Donald McLeod has so masterfully demonstrated in his excellent preaching from the Old Testament it is the most full deposit of the full range of Christian experience and that's why we have so much history and biography and in 2 Kings chapter 22 we have a beautiful example of a tender conscience and then in this area we'll see it in stark contrast to the calloused conscience God is speaking of King Josiah he began to reign when he was seven years old and in the midst of his reign Hilkiah the high priest found Shaphan the scribe verse 8 of 2 Kings chapter 22 and said I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord and Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan and he read it and then when the book is read in the hearing of the king Josiah apparently hears for the first time or at least the first time approaching adult years the terrible curses of the law the curses that are pronounced upon Israel if she turns to idolatry and away from Jehovah and when he hears that word there is a response

38:19 of humiliation and of brokenness and concern and now God speaks to the king and notice what he says in verse 18 but unto the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord thus shall you say to him thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel as touching the words which you have heard because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse and have rent your clothes and wept before me I also have heard you saith the Lord you see what God is saying he is saying in the case of Josiah the indication of a tender heart and as we saw in our studies the word conscience as such is not found in the Old Testament it is often included in passages such as these under the description of the heart because your heart was tender what was the evidence of a tender heart when the word of God came exposing the true condition of the nation and of course Josiah at the head of that nation he humbled himself

39:47 before the Lord there was humiliation there was brokenness there was a response of penitence and faith but now notice the contrast with another king in the book of Jeremiah chapter 36 this is the king who sits upon the throne about the time that God's judgments are to fall upon the nation sending it into captivity in Jeremiah chapter 36 we read this very moving and yet in many ways sad account of this king Jeremiah chapter 36 beginning with verse 21 Jehoiakim is king at this time and the king said to Jehudai to fetch the roll the prophecy of Jeremiah with the predictions of judgment have been written and now then the king sends to fetch the roll and he took it out of the chamber of Elishaimah the scribe and Jehudai read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes that stood beside the king now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month in the fireplace burning before him and it came to pass when Jehudai had read three or four leaves or columns

41:16 that the king cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was in the fireplace until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the fireplace and they were not afraid nor rent their garments neither the king nor any of his servants but all these words you see the contrast Josiah hears the word of God and God says your heart was tender that word exposed the realm of spiritual reality and he responded accordingly rent his clothes he wept and he sought God now the word of God comes to Jehoiakim and it indicts him it exposes him and what does he do he says I'll fix that I'll get rid of all that pressure upon my conscience I'll throw it in the fireplace and he cuts out with his penknife that part of the scroll that indicts him throws it into the fire as though by somehow destroying the parchment on which the prophecies were written he would vacate evacuate those promises of judgment of all of their validity what a picture of a calloused conscience Jehovah God stoops to speak

42:43 as the earlier part of the chapter says with the very purpose of calling the man to repentance rarely is there ever a pronouncement of judgment that is not interlaced with the overtures of mercy that's the whole motif of the pronouncements of judgment in the Bible it is to awaken men that they might repent and avert the very judgment that is promised this man in his calloused conscience says in essence I don't care what God says I'm comfortable in my condition away with the word of God now I ask you my friend can you remember can you remember can you remember the time when simply sitting in the privacy of that place wherever you used to get alone with God just the mere reading of God and when God would press an issue there would be an immediate response such as Josiah's you in your tender conscience and heart would humble yourself when you would see your sins pointed out in the reading of the word and you would have heart dealings with God daily in the way of repentance and renewed actings of faith and renewed pantings after holiness

44:10 can you remember when that was so? when you read your bible at all you can thread its words through your eyes day after day and there's no smiting of your guts furthermore can you remember when you'd sit in the congregation of God's people and the sheer reading of the word of God publicly there are times when you almost wished there'd be no preaching to follow just the power of the word of God read fastened itself upon you you wanted to get up and leave this place and find a secret place to wrestle with God can you remember? don't look out the windows look me in the eye man or woman and answer can you remember when the word of God had that kind of influence over your conscience and then when it was preached all the while the preacher preached there are times many times when you completely forgot that you were in the congregation of others or with others there were such dealings with God through his word upon your own conscience and your conscience with God it was as though it was just God and you shut up together in this very building

45:39 now you can sit and very conveniently take the penknife and say well I really don't see that in the passage throw it into the fire of your own perverted judgment of what the scripture says or you take the penknife of your so called personality that doesn't like intense preaching and you say well I really don't think that this business of getting excited and worked up and this pointing the finger and all the rest oh my dear dear poor deluded calloused conscience brother or sister hear me in the name of the God of heaven hear me this morning in the name of the God of heaven take the penknife and humble yourself before the word of God for God makes you a monument of one whose calloused conscience leads him or her clean out of the way of faith and holiness and obedience the absence of present response of repentance when the word of God exposes sin is the mark of a calloused conscience the third mark and this is as far as we'll get this morning

Symptom 3: Lack of Shame Before God and Man When Sin is Committed

47:06 the third symptom of a calloused conscience is this the lack of shame before God and man when sin has been committed the lack of shame before God and man when sin has been committed this is a mark of a calloused conscience from the very entrance of sin into the human race these three things were inseparable sin guilt shame you remember them in genesis look at them sin guilt shame in the day you eat being guilty you will die was God's word of threatening now when Adam and Eve were placed in the garden they were both naked the man and his wife and were not ashamed the last word of man in pre-fallen condition is no shame no shame with open face they look upward to God with open face they look outward to one another no shame no shame

48:34 now when sin enters and with it guilt and the sin of the first two Eve sins Adam sins and what happens the scripture tells us in verse seven and the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and what came with that recognition shame they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons there was shame as they looked at one another they had been parties in the world and sin there had been this wicked compliance in defiance of God and now there is shame they cannot look at one another with open face and the next verse shows the shame vertically and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden verse ten God says what are you doing where are you he said I heard thy voice and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself there was shame in the presence of God but oh listen to me listen though it is sad to read of the shame horizontally and vertically it is sadder yet

50:02 when men can sin and incur guilt and feel no shame Godward or manward of a calloused conscience at this point though Adam and Eve had sinned they had not yet calloused their consciences you see Adam beginning to put a callous on it when God starts to indict him and he starts to shift the blame you see Eve beginning to develop a callous on her conscience when she shifts the blame yes the callous is tame but as it were the reflex response to sin and guilt was shame and where the conscience is healthy that will always be so and one of the terrible things about a calloused conscience is its inability to feel shame and this was the great indictment again upon Israel Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 3 look at the language Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 3 God is speaking to sinning Israel therefore the showers have been withholden there has been no latter rain yet you have a harlot's forehead you refuse to be ashamed the woman who sells her body to men has so dulled and

51:31 calloused her conscience that she can parade her wares in the open marketplace with her head erect she has lost the ability to be ashamed and God says that is exactly what happened to Israel with all the light and privileges that they had as the covenant nation now they could sin and still hold their head high and march with firm step no shame God would remember it turn to chapter 6 and verse 15 of Jeremiah so you realize I am not placing more emphasis on this than is warranted were they ashamed verse 15 when they had committed abomination no they were not at all ashamed look at this neither could they blush neither could they blush they could not blush before God or before one another they lost the capacity to feel shame for their sin so calloused had become the conscience and that indictment is repeated in chapter 8 and verse 12 but then turn to the little book of Zephaniah see I didn't even know that was in the Bible well it's there way toward the end of the Old Testament Jeremiah Micah Nahum Habakkuk then Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 5 well let's back up to show how deep was the involvement in sin

53:00 verse 1 woe to her that is rebellious and polluted to the oppressing city she has not obeyed the voice she did not receive correction she did not trust in Jehovah she did not draw near to her God look at the sins she was not heeding with conscience the word of God she would not receive the correction or instruction of God she would not trust in Jehovah she would not draw near to Jehovah then the indictment comes upon the leaders her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions her judges are evening wolves they leave nothing till the morrow and then those who should give spiritual leadership have prostituted their office and function her prophets are light and treacherous persons her priests have profaned the sanctuary they have done violence to the law Jehovah in the midst of her is righteous he will not do iniquity every morning doth he bring his justice to light he fails not but the unjust knows no shame no shame oh may God bring it home to our hearts until we can cry as Ezra did in his great prayer of Ezra 9 when he looked at the sins of the nation he said I am ashamed

54:27 to look up there was that sense that with sin and guilt inevitably there was shame in the presence of God and in the presence of man can you remember child of God when those angry words brought shame and though you knew you'd confessed your sin to God and to your children and to your work associates you felt that shame sometimes for hours or days following the outburst of carnal anger can you remember such a time can you remember can you can you remember can you remember the sense of shame you felt when you were sitting there watching something on TV that you knew you shouldn't and your wife came in and she said in her innocence honey what are you watching and you were so ashamed to be found in that question and you cried out to God to forgive you and you told your wife honey forgive me I should never have been watching that my conscience was smiting me but I so came under the power of my lust that I didn't have the sense to turn it off can you ever respect me as a man and as the leader of this home you felt ashamed to look your godly wife in the face can you remember can you remember can you remember

55:51 can you remember when there was shame when you sinned it's a long time since you felt any real shame what's happened what's happened you've got a calloused conscience a calloused conscience and you call it spiritual maturity oh when I was a little baby believer I used to get upset about this and upset about that but now that I've learned the great doctrine of justification by faith and that I'm accepted in the bill of my friend if any growth in the knowledge of your privileges in Christ leads you away from feeling shame for your sin you've turned the grace of God and the true knowledge of God into lasciviousness God says through the prophet you shall feel ashamed and never again open your mouth when I have forgiven you all your sin free forgiveness does not lead to a cavalier attitude to sin it deepens the shame for I realize my sins are not only against God the eternal judge but against God my gracious redeemer God the holy ghost the gracious sanctifier and indweller God the son who prevailed on the cross

Conclusion: The Cure for a Calloused Conscience

57:20 to make me a holy man a holy woman well those are the symptoms what's the state of your conscience is it a calloused conscience don't have time to deal with the cause the cure except to say my friend there's no cure until you face your callous honestly the blood of Christ is the only only ointment that can soften and remove the callouses from your conscience the spirit of Christ alone can cut off the callouses and make the conscience tender again you can just say oh well another sermon Pastor Martin doing his own thing getting work done obviously sincere but Monday will come soon enough and I can go back to work and back to my round of activity and forget all I've heard and all I've felt may God have mercy on you if you can even think that way if God has shown you your calloused conscience don't let this day close for you

58:48 until you know and feel the operation of God by the spirit and the redemptive activity of Christ in taking that calloused conscience and at least beginning to make it again a sensitive conscience God willing next week we'll take up the cause and the cure but our time is gone and I had no idea it would take this long to lay these things out but I'm convinced from a pastoral perspective that few things I've said from this pulpit in the past months is of more importance to more people than what has been said this morning may God give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying to us through the word let us pray our father many of us do feel with your servant of old a sense of shame that so often we've allowed our consciences to become calloused we confess to you the sin of not feeling pain when we have knowingly sinned we confess to you the sin

60:16 of not responding in repentance when you have graciously exposed our sin we confess to you the sin of feeling so little shame about our sin have mercy upon us wash us in the blood of your son send your spirit so to work in our hearts that we may have a conscience like the conscience of David in those early days consciences that smite us for the slightest deviation from your law consciences that lead us again and again to the blood of Christ consciences that cause us never to strike a peace treaty with any sin consciences prepared to pay any price to be right with you and with our fellow men write your word upon our hearts and may much and rich fruit abound from that word implanted in our hearts this morning we ask these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen