Functions of Good Conscience, Part 1

Introduction: The Perseverance of the Saints and the Means of Overcoming

0:01 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, December 5th, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:12 Let us once again seek the face of God in prayer. Our Father, we remember your own holy word given to us through the Apostle John, in which you have declared that a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. And we stand before you this morning, we sit in your presence, as those who would self-consciously acknowledge that unless you are pleased to give, we can receive nothing in this hour. O Lord, out of the grace and bounty of your own heart, and out of the fullness and by the power of your own hand, give to us in this hour of ministry that which you have given us. That which you know we need, and that which we cannot give ourselves. Come to us then by the aid of your Spirit, attending the word with power, both on behalf of the one who seeks to expound and apply it, and on behalf of those who seek to hear and to obey it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, we present our earnest plea to you. Amen.

1:39 Amen.

1:47 The language of the portion of the word of God read in your hearing this morning, we cannot hear with ears that truly hear the message of the Spirit through the written word, without coming to the very settled conviction that the promises of eternal life are only directed to the overcomers. You heard three promises in the reading of Revelation 3 this morning. Each one of them is a promise of eternal life. Each one of them directed to those who overcome.

2:23 And in our Sunday morning studies, we've been examining the biblical teaching generally described and designated as the perseverance of the saints, which is man's way of expressing the language of the Bible, that it is overcomers and overcomers alone who shall inherit eternal life. The teaching of the perseverance of the saints, can be best and perhaps most succinctly described as that teaching of the Bible, which asserts that all true believers most certainly shall and most assuredly must continue in faith and holiness and obedience unto the end if they would inherit eternal life. And having discovered from the scriptures many passages, which underscore the necessity of eternal life, the necessity of that perseverance or that life of overcoming, we have been concerned for many weeks to consider the teaching of the Bible with respect to the means ordained of God to help us to be overcomers. We examined some of the corporate means, those means deposited in the life and ministry of the church,

3:41 and have been now for some weeks examining some fundamental individual or more, private means of perseverance. And we come this morning to our last study, in that which I trust we are now convinced is indeed a vital means of our perseverance, namely the getting and the keeping of a good conscience before God. Thus far we've demonstrated from the scriptures the inseparable relationship between a good conscience and perseverance. 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, says, 2 Timothy 1, verses 3 to 5, and verses 18 to 20, I've sought to describe to you from the scriptures and in terms of metaphorical language the function of conscience, that innate monitor upon all of our thoughts and deeds who passes judgment as to their moral and ethical quality, right or wrong, a conscience, that inner judge, who condemns or excuses us, a conscience, that inner judge, who condemns or excuses us, in our actions. And then I've sought to answer from the scriptures such practical questions as these. How does one get a good conscience? Having gotten it, how does one keep a good conscience?

5:03 And in this, our concluding study on the subject of conscience in relationship to the matter of perseverance, I want us to consider together the specific ways in which a good conscience is related to our perseverance. In our opening study from 1 Timothy 1.3-5 and 1 Timothy 1.18-20, we saw in a general sense that there is indeed an inseparable relationship between a good conscience and perseverance.

A Good Conscience in Relationship to Truth

5:39 And there have been along the way in our study of this subject of how to get and to keep a good conscience, certain references made to more specific ways in which a good conscience is indeed a necessary element of our perseverance. But what I propose to do this morning is to focus upon more specific ways in which the good conscience is related to our perseverance. If time permits, I want to direct your attention to 5. specific ways in which this is so. First of all, I want you to consider with me a good conscience in relationship to truth. A good conscience in relationship to truth. Turn, please, to John's Gospel, chapter 8. This is one of the passages we examined some months ago when we were considering the necessity of perseverance. Now we come back to it to consider the relationship

6:50 between a good conscience and perseverance, particularly a good conscience in relationship to truth. John, chapter 8. In verse 30 we read, And as he, that is our Lord Jesus, spoke these things, many believed on him. Jesus, therefore, said, said to those Jews that had believed him, If you abide in my word, then are you truly my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Now this passage obviously declares that continuance in the word or the truth of Christ is both the inevitable fruit and the necessity. Proof of true discipleship. Look at our Lord's words again. If you continue, if you abide, if you remain in my word, not you shall become, but then are you truly my disciples. Continuance

8:03 in the word of Christ is both the inevitable fruit and the necessary proof of true discipleship. If there is no continuance in the word of Christ or that which is called the truth in the succeeding verse, then there is no true discipleship. Where there is no true discipleship there is and cannot be any true perseverance in the faith. But now we understand, not so much from this passage but from an earlier passage in John, that continuance in the truth, not only for a specific reason, but for the benefit of Truth is never merely an intellectual or mental exercise.

8:49 Now, continuance in the truth does involve the activity of the intellect or of the mind. The mind in its intellectual faculties must retain the truth. But the maintenance of the truth, the abiding in the truth, which is both the inevitable fruit and the necessary proof of true discipleship and therefore an integral part of perseverance, that maintenance of the truth is never merely a mental or an intellectual exercise. It always has moral, ethical, and religious demands. Always.

9:34 We see this stated by John very clearly in the third chapter of the same gospel. John chapter 3 and beginning with verse 19. John 3 and verse 19. And this is the judgment that light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their works were evil.

10:01 For everyone that doeth evil, everyone who is in a course of moral, ethical, divisive, from god's word and law everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works not his intellectual kinks be sorted out but lest his works should be reproved but he that doeth the truth you see light is found in the truth and so the contrast is between those who do evil who hate the light and those who do the truth notice he doesn't say those who do righteousness we would expect that to be the contrast doing evil doing righteousness but he contrasts doing evil with doing the truth he that doeth the truth continually comes to the light that his works may be made manifest that they have been wronged in god you see the truth is not merely something to be believed it is something to be done and it is something to be done in the realm of ethical and moral purity doing the truth

11:25 is coming to the light or is always found in conjunction with coming to the light coming to the scrutiny of god's own holy character as it impinges the light of the light upon our own personal thoughts and motives and actions so when our lord says if you continue in my word then are you my disciples we see that continuance in that word is never merely an intellectual or mental exercise it involves the moral demands of doing the truth which according to john 3 is continually coming to the light the desire to do the truth is coming to the light the desire that all of my conducts shall be brought under the ethical and moral scrutiny of god's own holiness as expressed in his word and in his law so an inescapable relationship is established between the truth and its demands upon my life in the ethical and moral realm paul can speak in titus 1.1 of the doctrine of the supreme also in complying with pastor paul's text and the right to his own faith the right to his own conduct and his own fear and to his own eyes and to his own brothers and friends and to his own family the right to his own faith and to his own faith and to his own back and The truth which is according to godliness.

12:45 The truth which has an inseparable relationship to the life of consecration unto God. Now what's the practical implication of all of this for the doctrine of perseverance? Very simply stated, and I trust stating it this way will cause it to stick. The truth will always pressure you to the attainment and maintenance of a good conscience.

13:14 Always. The truth is always pressuring us to the attainment and the maintenance of a good conscience. Or, a bad conscience will always pressure you to relinquish the truth.

13:33 You see the contrast? Truth. Truth. Truth is always nudging us in the direction of a good conscience.

13:40 Why? Because it is in the function of conscience that we come to self-conscious awareness as to whether or not we are doing the truth. You see it? If we are doing the truth, it is our consciences that bear witness to that fact.

14:00 If we are coming to the light that all of our lives should come under the scrutiny of God, God. It is in the theater of conscience that we become aware that we are doing the truth, coming to the light. However, if we are not doing the truth and not coming to the light, it is in the theater of conscience that we come to that awareness. Conscience smites us, conscience troubles us, conscience disturbs us.

14:26 And no one likes to live with that disturbance. So the moment conscience disturbs, there is a pressure upon us. There is a pressure upon us to draw back and to relinquish truth to feel comfortable again. So we either must deal with that disturbance by the biblical method of getting back a good conscience, confession, repentance, restitution, where necessary.

14:54 Or, there will be an inevitable, albeit very imperceptible at the beginning, a shrinking back from the truth. The bad conscience cannot be neutral in the presence of truth. Because truth is always according to godliness. Truth is something to be done.

15:18 So when we have a bad conscience, that bad conscience is pressing us to relinquish truth. And that is exactly what happens in the case of an apostate as we see in that 1 Timothy 1 passage. And perhaps it will make a little more sense now. That we have opened up and flushed out this principle a bit more fully.

15:40 1 Timothy 1. When they cast off faith and a good conscience, what happens? Verse 19. Timothy is urged to hold faith and a good conscience, which, some having thrust from them, made shipwreck concerning the faith.

16:05 And that terminology, the faith, means the body of truth. And here are some people who have completely abandoned the truth. They have left the faith. Why?

16:17 Because they left a good conscience. And when they left a good conscience, that bad conscience was pressing them away from truth. Because in the presence of truth, there was agony and misery and torment. And they allowed the pressure of that torment to push them and push them and push them.

16:36 Until they finally relinquished truth itself and became apostates. But it all began when they began to tolerate a bad conscience. Until finally, thrusting aside all efforts even to get back to having a good conscience, to have some degree of comfort, they threw off truth itself. Now I trust you see the issue.

17:06 If continuance in the truth is an essential part of perseverance, then you must continue in the path of a good conscience. Without holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, you cannot biblically hold to the mystery of the faith. You cannot do it. And that is the great irritant of vital, experimental, biblical Christianity.

17:40 It is not merely a set of propositions to be believed. It is not merely a set of dogmas to which we give assent. It is truth to be done. Truth that impinges on the deepest recesses of your thoughts, of your motives, your ambitions, your standards for thought and action and speech.

18:09 Your standards for all interpersonal relationships, husband, wife, father, child, mother, child, child to parent, social relationships, business relationships. Everywhere we turn, truth is there saying, Do me! Do me! Practice me! Practice me! Practice me!

18:30 It is relentless. And unless you are determined to keep a good conscience in the presence of that truth that says, Do me! And you are continually coming to the light, that your deeds may be made manifest, that they are indeed wrought in God and pleasing to God, done according to the word of God, prepared for the pain of exposure if they are not, and the agony of true repentance, and the humbling experience of fleeing again to Christ, when that ceases to be the pattern of your life, you have a guilty conscience, and a bad conscience, and a defiled conscience, you have inward pressure, to draw you from the truth. And you have no proof, that if you entertain a bad conscience for a day, you'll not eventually become an apostate. No man or woman ever apostatized who thought he would. No one ever cast off the faith, setting out to do it. Everyone began by resisting the ethical and moral, and moral demands of the truth, in some little area of his conscience.

19:53 We're dealing with life and death issues, people. I have a sneaking suspicion, some of you have just been sort of tapping your feet, and biting your tie, and saying, well, there isn't much more the pastor can say about conscience, he's just about preached on every text in the New Testament that deals with it, and the heat will be off in a few more weeks, and then I can go back to my shoddy, shallow life. What you're saying is, I may get back on the high road to hell. If you do, it's going to be over the most earnest, compassionate, pleading of my lips, and of my heart. My dear, dear Christian friend, hear the word of God, if you continue in my word. And you cannot continue in that truth, unless you continue, in a good conscience. Now I want to hasten to the second.

A Good Conscience in Relationship to Holiness and Sanctification

21:07 There are other texts I could bring to bear, 1 Timothy 3.9, 1 Timothy 4.2, but I do want to at least touch on three or four of these. I doubt I'll get to the five.

21:18 But now consider in the second place, as we try to flush out the precise relationship of a good conscience to perseverance. Consider a good conscience in relationship to holiness and sanctification. This flows very naturally out of the first point. And I wrestled with how perhaps the two ought to be included as one heading.

21:44 And I said, no, I don't know how to handle it as one heading. And though the distinction may seem a bit artificial, the passages are the word of God that I want to bring before you. And so what is lacking in homiletical finesse, I hope will not be lacking in scriptural authority upon your conscience. All of us know Hebrews 12, 14 and Romans 6, 22, most all of us.

22:08 You may want to look at them. Hebrews 12, 14, follow after or literally pursue peace with all men and the sanctification or the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. The writer to Hebrews is urging his readers to take this business of sanctification seriously. And as he underscores his exhortation to pursue holiness, he does so with language that makes it abundantly clear that this pursuit of holiness is not optional.

22:48 He says, pursue the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And then the language of Romans 6, 22, describing the experience of all Christians and being made free from sin. That is sin's dominion, sin's lordship, and become servants to God. That's conversion.

23:12 You are having your fruit unto, and it's the same word in the original, sanctification or holiness, and the end, eternal life. The change of masters, free from sin's lordship, bond slaves of God. The change of practice. You're having your fruit unto holiness or sanctification, change of destiny, the end, eternal life.

23:40 And there is no attainment of eternal life in its consummate dimensions of glory unless we come to it by the path of fruit unto holiness. You see it in the text? So, continuance in holiness is part and parcel of perseverance, as much as continuance in the truth. These passages make it abundantly clear, no pursuit of holiness, no seeing of God, no fruit unto holiness, no everlasting life.

24:16 Now turn to Titus 1, to see the relationship between a good conscience and this pursuit of holiness. Titus chapter 1. Having said that those who are to be elders must have a proven ability, both to exhort in sound doctrine and to convince gainsayers, the apostle then connects, verse 10, with that requirement in an elder, for elders must be competent in this ministry, for there are many unruly men, Titus 1, 10, vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped. Men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. This testimony is true, for which cause reprove them sharply, that they may be sound or healthy in the faith.

25:32 Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth, to the pure, all things are pure. But to them that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. Now notice carefully several obvious principles in this passage.

26:09 In the passage read in your hearing, verses 10 and 14 identify these vain talkers as Jews. They are said to be those of the circumcision, verse 10, and the substance of their teaching, in verse 14, is Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. So that's basically their identification. Now the predominant characteristic of their teaching is given to us in verse 14.

26:43 They traffic in speculative tales, Jewish fables, and, secondly, they traffic in legalistic rules and rituals, commandments of men. So those are the two dominant characteristics. Speculative tales as opposed to the solid substance of Holy Scripture, and legalistic rules and rituals as opposed to true biblical holiness, which is conformity to God's rules, that is, to God's law. Now the pattern of their lives is described in verse 16.

27:25 They freely profess to know God. They say that they are the ones who have come to a true and saving knowledge of God, but by their works they deny Him. They are ethical atheists while professing theists and even professing Christians. They profess to know God, but by their works they deny Him.

27:50 Being abominable, that is, detestable unto God, disobedient or unbelieving in the basic fabric of the soul, and unto every good work rejected, they do not perform, but by their works they deny Him. They spend all their time talking about Jewish fables. They traffic mentally in those things which have no relationship to the ethical and moral demands of God. And when they talk about ethics and morals, they are totally taken up with external rules and rituals that have nothing to do with true godliness which is well-pleasing unto God.

28:34 Now, how in the world can they do that? Well, sandwiched in between all of that description is verse 15. To the pure all things are pure. To them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.

28:53 It is a defiled conscience which is the companion of such people. They have learned by the defiling of the conscience to separate, to separate their trafficking in religious talk and rules and rituals from a life of true godliness. A defiled conscience and lifestyle divorced from real godliness and holiness are always found wedded, particularly when religion gets thrown into the hopper. And these were religious talkers and teachers and even externally religious professors and livers. Oh, they were strict and meticulous about many things, but with respect to real holiness they were absolutely devoid of that reality. You see, the way of real holiness is the way of real conformity to God's law and the way of real preoccupation with that truth which is unto edification. And you see, those things bring us immediately into the realm of conscience.

30:13 When you're dealing with God's commandments, not men's rules and regulations, conscience immediately comes into play because conscience answers or speaks according to what it knows to be the law of God. It ought to speak, and when it's functioning wholesomely and properly, it looks to the law of God and speaks accordingly. Whereas in this type of a situation, when people get taken up with the speculative dimensions of religion and with external rules and regulations and in the midst of that have a defiled conscience, they feel perfectly comfortable being very religious while being very ungodly. And if you and I would have true advancement in biblical holiness, it can only be in the company of a good conscience. The way of real holiness is the way of a good conscience in the presence of God's law and of truth which is unto edification. You may as well attempt to breathe normally with your head immersed in a bucket of water as to continue in the way of holiness with a bad,

31:41 or a defiled conscience. Now you children know what would happen if you tried to breathe normally with your head in a bucket of water. You wouldn't be with us long, would you? Either your head comes out or you're gone before long.

31:59 You can't breathe with your head stuck in a bucket of water. Well, neither can you and I make any real advancement in genuine holiness with a defiled conscience. It is impossible. And to the degree that we're determined to maintain the semblance of religious profession and continue in talking about religious things with a bad conscience, we will inevitably drift in the direction of these purveyors of error described by Paul in his letter to Titus.

32:35 More and more we'll find ourselves fascinated with abstract, vain issues that have nothing to do with the realities of godliness. And we'll find ourselves more and more preoccupied with itty-bitty external details and matters of circumstance and the externals of religion and less and less concerned with the issues of the heart. That's exactly what happened to these people. My dear brother or sister in Christ, if you and I would make true progress in real holiness, that progress must be made in the companionship of a good conscience. Now, is it necessary to pursue holiness? Is that an integral part of perseverance? Well, according to Hebrews 12, 14 and Romans 6, 22 and a host of other texts, the answer is clear.

33:40 You must pursue holiness. You must have fruit unto holiness. But you can't pursue holiness and you can't have fruit unto holiness in the companionship of a bad conscience. And so settle it that your perseverance hinges on the maintenance of a good conscience.

The Sensitive Conscience as a Defense Against Temptation

34:04 But then we come to a third area in which I want to open up the relationship between... In fact, before we do that, there is a quote that I want to read to you.

34:15 Because this dear servant of Christ has opened up a dimension of this relationship of a good, healthy, sensitive conscience to holiness in such a masterful and pastoral way. It's O'Hallisby, whose little book on conscience has been a great help in the preparation of this aspect of our series of sermons. He says, A sensitive conscience is a precious defense for the believer. It helps him to avoid many pitfalls and many errors of which a blunter conscience would not warn him.

34:50 It produces careful Christians who have learned, often by bitter experience, how easily our inherent sinful desires can be awakened by contact with sin in other people. That's why they walk carefully and try to avoid those situations which have given rise in the past to temptation to which they have succumbed. For this, they are frequently looked upon and spoken of as being narrow-minded and extreme. But they pay no attention to this.

35:24 To have peace with God in a good conscience is more important to them than anything else. They're willing to be looked upon as overly strict and overly fastidious. That's fine, because nothing is more important than to have peace with God in a good conscience. They feel they've suffered enough from a bad conscience, not only because of their conversion, but also after.

35:49 They can no longer endure that inner unrest in their relationship to God which a bad conscience produces. Regardless of cost, they are determined to be in such a relationship to Him that they are able to behold Him face to face without shame. Only a sensitive conscience can warn them as occasion arises of all the things that would remove this peace and security from their lives. God can give us no better defense against temptation than a sensitive conscience.

36:28 The nature of temptation shows how true this is. There's something diabolical about temptation, something satanically bewitching and bewildering. It stirs up our senses and excites our emotions. For the time being, the forbidden thing seems more important than anything else in the world.

36:49 It weakens our powers of judgment, both moral and intellectual. People who are otherwise very intelligent will, in a brief season of temptation, commit wholly unthinkable follies which they often live to regret a whole lifetime afterward. It paralyzes our will. Our many good resolutions melt like the wax.

37:11 Temptation frequently does all the work that we do in order to overcome it. We can do this simply by being permitted to come too close to us. It's like chloroform. If it gets too close it will deprive us of the very possibility of offering resistance.

37:25 Someone takes a handkerchief, soaks it with chloroform, puts it under your nose. If you leave it there long enough it will deprive you of the very power to resist and push it away. You'll be overcome by the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power of the power paralyzed before the power of sin and it all began when they ceased to keep a tender conscience to the first approaches of sin and therefore there was a grievous fall in the area of moral and ethical deviation then thirdly note with me something of the teaching of the word of god of a good conscience in relationship to prayer a good conscience in relationship to prayer

A Good Conscience in Relationship to Prayer

38:49 surely if the path of perseverance is anything is the path of helplessness and dependentness on the part of the child of god how can he persevere against so many odds remaining sin within a wicked cunning devil without a bewitching and powerless fearful and subducing world exerting its present principalities and powers in the heavenlies pressing down upon him duke who's we okay he's characteristic should surely the path of perseverance for the child god is the path vulnerability of weakness of exposure to a multitude of the evils blocked below the major means up g Cortes ув strength of god himself into that situation of weakness we are told in hebrews 4 16 let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may what obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need and in that pattern of prayer taught to us by our lord he said when ye pray

40:10 say or after this manner pray he and notice several of those petitions we are not only confessing our dependentness when we pray give us this day our daily bread but when we acknowledge our weakness and cry lead us not into temptation lord i don't want to get anywhere near the chloroformed handkerchief the handkerchief soaked with ether i don't want to get near it but should i in your providence unavoidably be brought near lord deliver me from evil i'm vulnerable to evil evil is a positive polarity and my heart is negative polarity and there will be that magnetism oh lord lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil surely the language of vulnerability the language of dependence the language of acknowledged weakness jesus said watch and pray that you enter not into temptation prayer then is indeed the native breath of the child of god on the pathway of perseverance he who ceases to pray ceases to breathe now what's the relationship between a good conscience and prayer and you see how it ties in with perseverance you've seen now how vital prayer is to the ongoing pattern of perseverance well turn to first john chapter three

41:37 and here we have an explicit statement of the relationship of a good conscience to prayer first john chapter three the context is john's exhortation to brotherly love and in the midst of that exhortation he says in verse nineteen hereby that is as we love not in word only but indeed in truth hereby shall we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him because if our heart condemn us god is greater than our heart in those all things beloved if Sam START to condemn us not if there is stories using the file old conscience it conscience is it red as eve the homes are patterns of life and behavior particularly with respect to log in its demands thatpekt我觉得 it start art that condemn us not, we have boldness toward God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

43:07 Now, do you see the major strands of truth in this text? According to this passage, an uncondemned conscience is, if not the basis, the climate or the context of boldness in prayer. Verse 21, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God. An uncondemning conscience is the context, if not the ground, of boldness toward God in prayer. And he goes on to say, this pattern of obedience and well-pleasingness to God is the base of that boldness. Notice, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. A life of evangelical obedience and well-pleasedness to God is what gives boldness toward God. And if we do not, we have boldness toward God. And if we do not,

44:15 we have boldness toward God. And if we do not, we have boldness toward God. And if we do not, we have birth to this boldness and uncondemned conscience when we draw near to God in prayer.

44:24 Now, the opposite of that is true. If you do not keep His commandments and you do not do the things that are pleasing in His sight, you have a conscience that condemns you. And when you have a conscience that condemns you, one of two things will happen. You'll either have dealings with God to get back your uncondemned conscience.

44:46 fresh repentance fresh actings of faith in the blood of the redeemer or you'll draw back from having any real dealings with god inevitably that's the result of a condemned conscience and then the subtlety of the human heart goes to work and begins to find a hundred rational excuses for ceasing to pray when at the base of prayerlessness is the awareness of discomfort that will be heightened in the presence of god and they're true if you're honest before god isn't it true you see as long as you're a busy beaver doing a hundred things even in the name of christ and your hands and your mind are taken up being a busy beaver for Jesus, conscience may not be allowed to speak with too much volume. But when you draw aside to pray, whether you're on your knees or standing over the ironing board or putting the wash into the machine, I'm not talking about the circumstances

46:04 and the surroundings, but when you would be shut in to have conscious, direct, heart dealings with God, what happens to that conscience that's a condemning conscience? Somebody's there to crank up its volume. And from two and a half decibels, it's up to 50 in a moment of time when you set yourself to have dealings with God. Am I the only person that knows that? You give me a strange look.

46:38 Isn't that what happens? Isn't that what happens? Why? John's told us, if our heart condemn us not, throwing the wash into the washer, standing over the ironing board, it doesn't matter where we are. Our heart can run in presence with alacrity and with joy. Our heart condemns us not.

47:03 We have boldness towards God because we are keeping His commandments. We're doing the things that please Him, not in our own strength, not perfectly so as to earn our salvation or deliverance. We're doing the things that please Him, not in our own strength, not perfectly so as to earn our salvation or deliverance. To answer to the absolute demands of the perfection of the court of heaven? No, that would contradict a host of other strands of biblical teaching. But John does say we have a boldness rooted in keeping His commandments and doing what pleases Him. I didn't write that. John did, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And my conscience can bear an accurate testimony that I am in the way of universal obedience. I am in the way of well-pleasedness to God. And when my conscience affirms that that is so, why, what liberty and joy prayer is. Right? If our heart condemn us not, we have boldness. But if our heart does condemn us, we draw back. And either we go to God over all of the native

48:16 indisposition that comes from guilt and shame, and we come again confessing our sins, we come again pleading His promise, we come again asking to be cleansed and purged, or, I repeat, we draw back and are estranged from having close dealings with God in true prayer. Now, how can you and I hope to persevere if we don't pray? If that is the grand means of God's appointment to bring the strength of heaven into our weakness. To bring the power of heaven into our weakness. To bring the light of heaven into our remaining darkness. To bring the warmth of heaven into our remaining coldness. To bring the direction of heaven into our confusion. If prayer is the appointed means for all of that and a hundred things more. How can we persevere if we can't pray? Because we're cut off as it

49:21 we're at the knees with a guilty, condemning conscience.

49:29 You see, that's why a Christian who knows anything of the ways of God has long since given up talking about big sins and little sins or worrying about whether or not anyone else knows what he has done or thought or felt or desired. He knows that that inward desire that is contrary to the law of God can bring upon him a condemning conscience that makes him draw back from access to God as much as an angry or a foul word heard by a thousand people in a marketplace. Therefore, his repentance by God's grace will be as deep and quick and thorough over the stirrings of a thought as they would be over the utterance of a foul word. And if you're one of these Christians who are not a Christian, who hasn't gotten beyond making those distinctions and playing all kinds of games, wondering, well, what do the elders know and what does my wife know and what do mom and dad know? And you're measuring your dealings with your sin in terms of what your fellow creatures know. If you're a Christian at all, you are a miserably stunted Christian.

50:51 Because if you're making any real progress in gaining any true vigor, you are one who is, not a stranger to the throne of grace. You are one who knows what it is to come in the language of Hebrews 4.16 and obtain mercy and find grace to help in your time of need. And you know that because the throne of grace is such a place, nothing is worth cutting you off at the knees so you can't come.

51:22 And come with alacrity. Come with boldness. Come with joy. Come with speed.

The Cost of a Good Conscience and Its Inseparability from Christ

51:31 You see the relationship between a good conscience and prayer and the relationship of prayer to perseverance. Now do you see why there's such an intimate connection between a good conscience and perseverance? If time had allowed, I wanted to demonstrate the relationship between a good conscience and suffering, a good conscience and boldness in witnessing and confessing Christ. But I trust at least these three lines opened up to me.

51:59 This morning will help you to understand, Christian, that we're not making a God out of a good conscience. We're simply underscoring the teaching of the Bible that you cannot, you cannot walk with Christ unless you have as the third person in that walk a good conscience. And I would turn you to just one passage in closing that makes this so evident. Again, knowing the human heart, and knowing that it will sometime even throw up the most pious objections to biblical truth.

52:36 Perhaps someone is even thinking, we haven't heard much of Christ. All we've heard about is our conscience and a little bit of Christ here and there. But notice how Peter brings those two things together in 1 Peter chapter 3, verses 15 and 16.

52:52 Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord. Set Him apart in your hearts in the name of Christ. In the rightful place that is His. Maintain constant intimate communion with Him in awareness of His rights over you, His provisions for you, His grace towards you.

53:15 Sanctify in your hearts Christ as 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, having a good conscience. Sanctify Christ as Lord and the substratum of the heart in which Christ is sanctified as Lord is one marked by having a good conscience. So you see, these things are not things that can be separated.

53:52 You cannot experience delightful, precious communion with Christ unless you have a good conscience. You cannot have a good conscience unless you have a good conscience. You cannot have a good conscience unless you have a good conscience. You cannot have a good conscience.

54:01 Prayer is the great medium of that communion intensified to its highest possibilities this side of seeing Him face to face. That communion with Christ can only be known in the path of holiness. It can only be known in the context of truth. And we have seen this morning that a good conscience is vitally joined to continuance in the truth, continuance in holiness and liberty of access in prayer.

The Imperative to Attain and Maintain a Good Conscience

54:38 Do you really believe you've got to make it to the end? If so, you will count no price too great to pay to attain and to maintain, to get and to keep a good conscience before God.

54:58 Some of you have been wrestling in the past weeks, haven't you? Issues have loomed up that you know you've got to make right. You even dared to take down paper and pencil once or twice to begin to write out the things you know that have got to be made right. But even as you began to frame the words, fear crept over your heart and you said, I can't, I can't, the price is too high.

55:22 It'll bring shame, it may wreck my marriage, it may ruin my business. I can't. My friend, you must.

55:33 Far better to die with the shame of the entire world dripping off you than to look God in the eye with a good conscience than to have God frown and have the smile of the whole universe. No price is too great to pay. Jesus paid the ultimate price to give you a good conscience.

56:00 Abandonment, dereliction, the wrath of his Father, the cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? My friend. My friend, in the face of the price he paid to open up that fountain for sin and uncleanness, what is any price you must pay to get under the efficacy of that fountain, to deal honestly and thoroughly with your sin and to have a good conscience? Oh, for you who've never known a good conscience, a moment of your consciousness, you'll never have one until you flee to Christ according to Hebrews 9.14.

56:45 It is the blood of Christ that purges the conscience. You must go to Christ. You must then be prepared to deal with anything that is demanded by the biblical doctrine of repentance. Turn from your sin.

57:01 And where that turning from sin to God demands restitution, making issues right with fellow men and women at any cost, you must make those issues right. That you might have a conscience void of offense to God and to your fellow man.

Prayer for a Tender, Scripturally Regulated Conscience

57:21 May God help us as his people with the apostle Paul to take as one of our lifetime texts, Acts 24.16, that we with him will be able to say, shall be able to say, herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense to God and to man. May our prayer be the prayer of bridges who, quoting the psalmist, prayed, teach me good judgment and knowledge that in the simplicity of faith I may be blessed with a tender conscience, be delivered from the bondage of a scrupulous conscience and from the perplexity of an unenlightened conscience. Let my heart never condemn me wherewithal. Where it ought not, let it never fail to condemn me where it ought. Oh, may that be our prayer, to be blessed with a tender conscience, delivered from an excessively scrupulous conscience, from the perplexity of an unenlightened conscience, to have a conscience so increasingly regulated by Scripture that it will never condemn us when it ought not, that it will never fail, to condemn us when it ought to.

58:49 Let us pray. Our Father, we do thank You that approaching You with boldness is not an unattainable ideal. We have read this morning that it is possible for Your children to come with uncondemned heart, with boldness into Your presence, a boldness ultimately grounded in the work of Your Son, but a boldness experienced in the context of evangelical obedience and well-pleasedness in Your sight. And oh, we ask that each one of Your children may know that boldness in his or her experience this morning. We do desire to remain in the truth, to continue to pursue that holiness without which we will not see You. And Lord, we have been inspired and instructed from Your word this morning that we cannot do any of these things unless we maintain a good conscience.

60:06 Help us then by Your grace to do so. Whatever work must yet be done to get a good conscience, may much work be done in many hearts today. And oh, that those who this very moment have a good conscience, may they count no price too great to maintain it. So that they may make strides in the pathway of conformity to Your will, likeness to Your Son, liberty and freedom in prayer, and usefulness in the testimony they bear to this needy generation.

60:43 Seal then Your word to our hearts, and may it bear much fruit all the days of our lives until we stand in Your presence with a conscience confirmed in righteousness, forever. Oh God, we thank You for the prospect of the hour yet to come when conscience will never rightly condemn us again because we shall be like Your beloved Son, seeing Him as He is. Even so, come Lord Jesus, hasten that day of consummation. We long to love You and serve You with unsinning heart.

61:27 And yet while we are left here, we pray for grace to welcome the functions of that moral monitor within that we may enjoy the utmost communion with You now until we stand perfected in Your presence. Hear us, oh blessed Lord Jesus Christ, as we come and plead these mercies from You because You loved us and gave Yourself for us. Amen.