Sermon #100 Hebrews
Notes
Title: “A Good Conscience”
Text: Hebrews 13:18
Subject: Conscience
Date: Tuesday Evening—
Tape # X-35b
Introduction:
I want to talk to you tonight
about your conscience. Is it right to follow your conscience? Should we let our
consciences be our guide, as we make our way through this world? What is the
conscience? What does it do? Should I trust my conscience?
It is common for people in
all walks of life, striving to rally men and women to a cause, to appeal to the
conscience.
I have a book in my library
by the late Barry Goldwater called, “The Conscience of a Conservative”.
Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine, argued that his battle for
the right to peddle pornography is “a matter of conscience”.
Some time ago, I recall
reading a brief portion of an article arguing in defense of feminism, abortion,
and homosexuality. The writer appealed repeatedly to the readers’ consciences,
insisting that conscience demands our approval of such perversity.
In the religious world,
multitudes base their hope regarding eternal life, salvation, and everlasting
acceptance with God, upon what they think is their “good conscience”.
Do you have a good conscience?
Do I? Does the Word of God have anything to say about the conscience? Indeed,
it does. There are numerous references to the conscience in Holy Scripture. The
Word of God talks about…
·
“A Good Conscience” “A
Conscience Void of Offence
·
An Accusing Conscience An
Excusing Conscience
·
“A Weak Conscience” “A
Pure Conscience
·
“A Defiled Conscience” “A
Seared Conscience”
·
“An Evil Conscience” A
Purged Conscience
What kind of conscience do
you have? What kind of conscience do I have? What do our consciences tell us
about ourselves?
Proposition: A good conscience is something everyone
wants, but few possess. – Do you have a good conscience? Do I?
Hebrews
It is my prayer that God the
Holy Spirit will be pleased this day to sprinkle your heart with the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ and cause you to have a good conscience by his grace.
Divisions: I want to
three things revealed in Holy Scripture about the conscience. Then, I will try
to show you from the Scriptures what a good conscience is.
1.
We all have a conscience.
2.
We all want a good
conscience.
3.
The only way we can obtain a
good conscience is by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.
4.
What is a good conscience?
I.
WE ALL HAVE A CONSCIENCE.
Someone said, The conscience
is the voice of God in a man’s soul.” I do not know whether that is true or
not; but I do know that God has put a conscience in every person, which either
accuses or excuses him in all his actions.
Conscience is that voice
inside you hat you simply cannot silence. You can muffle the voice. You can
sear the conscience. But you cannot silence it.
Conscience is that faculty
of the mind which God has put in us all, by which we judge the moral character
of human conduct, our own and others. It is an inborn sense of right and wrong.
As Charles Buck
put it, the conscience is “the secret testimony of the soul, whereby it
approves things that are good, and condemns those that are evil.”
A.
The conscience is the law of God written on the
heart
(Rom. 2:14-15).
Romans 2:14-15 "For when the Gentiles, which have not
the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the
law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the mean
while accusing or else excusing one another;)"
All men have a sense of
right and wrong which, to a greater or lesser degree, reflects the law of God
written upon the heart in creation.
B.
The conscience of a man often produces a sense of
guilt, legal fear, which many mistake for conviction (John 8:9).
John 8:9 "And
they which heard it, being convicted
by their own conscience, went out one
by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto
the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."
The conviction of sin is
more than a sense of guilt and just condemnation. The conviction of sin arises
from the revelation of Christ in the heart and is accompanied by a conviction
of righteousness and of judgment. Holy Spirit conviction is that
gracious work of God the Holy Spirit by which he effectually applies the gospel
to the hearts of chosen, redeemed sinners, causing them to see that…
1.
Christ alone is and must be
the object of faith. – “Of sin, because
they believe not on me.”
2.
Righteousness has been
established by the obedience of the God-man. – “Of righteousness, because I go to my Father.”
3.
Justice has been satisfied
by the sin-atoning blood of Christ. – “Of
judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (Genesis 3:15 has
been fulfilled!)
Illustration: It was their conscience which caused Adam and Eve to hide from God
after the fall. It was their conscience that made the know their nakedness and
filled them with shame. And the fact that they could appease their consciences
with fig leaf garment made by their own hands shows that the conscience of
fallen man is, like every faculty of human nature, utterly perverted and
depraved.
C.
We must not trust our consciences.
The conscience cannot be
trusted any more than the thoughts of the depraved mind or the emotions of the
depraved heart can be trusted, because our depravity has made us perverse in
all our faculties.
1.
The Scriptures tell us
plainly that the conscience of fallen man is “an evil conscience” from
which we must be cleansed by the blood of Christ (Heb. 10:22).
2.
The consciences of lost
religious men are “defiled” (Tit. 1:15), so defiled that they may, in a sense,
have “a good conscience” while performing abominable things. – Saul
of Tarsus did.
Acts 23:1 "And
Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until
this day."
John 16:2 "They
shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service."
Acts 26:9 "I
verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth."
Romans 9:1
"I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing
me witness in the Holy Ghost,"
NOTE: The Apostle Paul, writing by
divine inspiration, tells us that when he was persecuting the church, wishing
himself accursed from Christ, his conscience was bearing him witness. He was
fully convinced that he was doing the right thing.
3.
Some are so hardened by free
will, works religion or by ungodly behavior, often by both, that they live with
a “seared”
conscience (1 Tim. 4:1-2).
1 Timothy 4:1-3 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking
lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; (THE
RESULT BEING THAT THEY TAUGHT MEN HOW TO LIVE IN SELF-RIGHTEOUS, RELIGIOUS
DELUSION) 3 Forbidding to
marry, and commanding to abstain from
meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which
believe and know the truth."
Such men and women, even
children (Littleton, CO) have consciences which are so cauterized and hardened
that they are past feeling. They have no regard for the rightness or wrongness
of what they say or do. They have no conscience of anything.
John Gill wrote, “Under a cloak of sanctity they commit the most shocking
impieties.”
If you work at it, if you
hold down the truth of God long enough and persistently enough, you can
cauterize your conscience. You can so sear your conscience, so harden yourself,
that your conscience will excuse your wickedness and even justify your
self-righteousness.
Illustration: Paul Hibbs – “If the Lord
left us to ourselves there is nothing we wouldn’t do and justify ourselves in
doing it. Nothing!”
D.
We must never trust our consciences.
Let us ever be careful not
to violate our consciences, not for anyone. But do not trust your conscience.
He who trusts his own conscience, like he who trusts his own heart, trusts both
a fool and a devil.
Our guide in all things must
be the Word of God alone!—Not our feelings!—Not our desires!—Not the opinions
of others!—The Word of God alone!
II. WE All WANT A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
Everyone of us wants to have
a good conscience, a quiet, peaceful conscience. What would you not give
to have a good conscience?—A conscience which will let you sleep at
night?—A conscience that would let you draw near to God with full assurance?—A
conscience which gives you ease, real ease and peace of heart and mind in the
prospect of death, judgment, and eternity?
A.
All the religion and
religious practices, ceremonies, and sacrifices in the world cannot obtain a
good conscience.
B.
All the gifts, works of
charity and philanthropy imaginable cannot buy a good conscience.
C.
Good works of moral
reformation and religious devotion, no matter how earnest and sincere, can
never earn you a good conscience.
D.
Our consciences demand what we cannot give.
Your conscience and mine
demands and can only be satisfied with perfection. As I said before, the
conscience echoes God’s holy law. Echoing the law, the conscience demands the
same thing God’s law demands. Our consciences demand perfection.
1.
Our consciences demand and
will only accept perfect atonement for sin.
2.
Our consciences demand and
will only accept perfect righteousness.
3.
That perfect atonement and
perfect righteousness is found only in Christ’s obedience and death as our
Substitute (Heb. 10:1-22).
Illustration: Pilgrim At Calvary
Hebrews 10:1-22 "For the law having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by
year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because
that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For
it is not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no
pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come
(in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: 12 But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God; 13 From henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. 15 Whereof the
Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them; 17 And their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. 18 Now
where remission of these is, there is no
more offering for sin. 19 Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he
hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of
faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water."
Horatius Bonar was exactly on the money when he wrote, “In
another's righteousness we stand, and by another's righteousness we are justified.
All accusations against us, founded upon our unrighteousness, we answer by
pointing to the perfection of the righteousness which covers us from head to
foot, in virtue of which we are unassailable by law as well as shielded from
wrath.
Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of
God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark
unrest,
And set my spirit free.”
III. THE ONLY WAY WE CAN EVER OBTAIN A GOOD CONSCIENCE IS
BY THE SPRINKLING OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST UPON OUR HEARTS.
Hebrews 10:22
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water."
In the Old Testament, the
law required that if anyone so much as touched a dead body, he ceremonially
unclean. If one person died in the tent, all the family and the tent itself
were ceremonially defiled and unclean. That is a picture of our sin and
uncleanness in our father Adam.
When Adam sinned against
God, we all sinned. When he died, we all died in him (Romans 5:12). From the
moment of Adam’s fall, the conscience of man (The ability to know God in truth)
has been defiled. By Adam's disobedience, all human kind was plunged into
darkness. Men are totally incapable of knowing God, truth, or good, unless and
until God himself purifies the conscience (Ephesians 4:18-19).
Ephesians 4:18-19 "Having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: (19) Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all
uncleanness with greediness."
The sprinkling of blood in the Old Testament was
ordained of God to make defiled things ceremonially clean. This was a type of the
true cleansing of the hearts and souls of sinners by the blood of the Lord
Jesus. "The blood of Christ"
is a phrase that refers to his atoning sacrifice for the sins of God's elect
(Hebrews 10:10). It is his perfect obedience to God’s holy law, his suffering
and death that cleanses condemned sinners whom God the Father chose by his
eternal grace in Christ (2 Timothy 1:9). The blood of Christ alone
answers all the demands of Gods holy law. And the blood of Christ
alone answers all the demands of the conscience. “Without shedding of blood is no remission!”
·
God the Father ordained peace by the blood.
·
God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ obtained peace, by the shedding of
his blood.
·
God the Holy Spirit gives the sinner peace, speaking peace to the
conscience, by sprinkling our hearts with the blood of Christ.
·
Faith receives peace by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have peace with God
because my heart, my conscience, looking on the shed blood of Christ echoes
what the holy law of God says about the blood – “ENOUGH!”
Christ Jesus my discharge
procured,
The whole of wrath divine
endured:
The law's tremendous curse
He bore;
Justice can never ask for
more. – (SOG #135)
__________________________________________
Guilty, oppressed and vexed
with sin,
My fear no words could tell;
God's law my soul in terror
held
And threatened me with hell!
I tried, but found I could
not do
One thing pleasing to God:
Neither my works nor all my
prayers
Could ease me of my load.
I
sank in deep despair and felt
That I would surely die:
"No hope for me, I'm
lost, undone!"
My soul began to cry.
But then I heard the Savior
say,
"Look unto Me and live,
My blood has full atonement
made,
I can salvation give."
When Christ revealed Himself
to me,
I looked, and I believed;
And trusting Him alone I
have
Salvation now received!
My conscience now is free
and clear,
And it condemns me not!
The precious blood of Jesus
Christ
My sin has blotted out!
My
sins are gone! My sins are gone!
Christ washed them all away!
He satisfied my awful debt,
There's nothing left to pay!
Now this is all my hope and
peace,
And my security:
Christ Jesus lived in
righteousness
And shed His blood for me!
IV. WHAT IS A GOOD CONSCIENCE?
In Bible terms, a good
conscience is a conscience purified from the guilt of sin by the grace of God
and purged from reliance upon dead works by the blood of Christ.
Hebrews 9:9-14
"Which was a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could
not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and
drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not
made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and
of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the
purifying of the flesh: 14 How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?"
Hebrews 10:22
"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water."
Note: A pure conscience may still
be a weak conscience, not always free from the taboos of religion and society.
1 Corinthians 8:7-12 "Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience
of the idol unto this hour eat it as a
thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 8 But meat commendeth us not to God:
for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the
worse. 9 But take heed lest by any
means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10 For if any man see thee which hast
knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him
which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11 And through thy knowledge shall the
weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
12 But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak
conscience, ye sin against Christ."
But a good conscience is a
conscience which has been freed from both the guilt of sin and the dead works
of legal religion, relying upon Christ alone for all things. The good
conscience sees and understands that “CHRIST
IS ALL!”
A
Good Conscience Is A Conscience Which…
A.
Seeks
To Be Void of Offence.
Acts 24:16
"And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void
of offence toward God, and toward men."
B.
Is
Honest and Sincere.
1 Timothy 1:5
"Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and
of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."
Faith unfeigned is true
faith, not the pretended faith of the hypocrite. A man with a pure conscience
really believes what he says he believes. It is holding the mystery of the
faith in a good conscience
C.
Is A Source Of Peace and Joy.
2 Corinthians 1:12 "For our rejoicing is this, the
testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the
world, and more abundantly to you-ward."
2 Corinthians 4:1-2 "Therefore seeing we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of
the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of
God."
D. Is
Submissive To The Will Of God.
1 Peter 2:19 "For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief,
suffering wrongfully."
E.
Is
Obedient To Christ.
1 Peter 3:21
"The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the
flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ:"
F.
Causes
People To Live Right.
1 Peter 3:16
"Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as
of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in
Christ."
Application: Now, I ask again what I
asked at the beginning of my message – Do
you have a good conscience? May God be pleased this day to give you a
good conscience by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ.
AMEN.
MY CONSCIENCE NOW IS FREE
AND CLEAR
Guilty, oppressed and vexed
with sin,
My fear no words could tell;
God's law my soul in terror
held
And threatened me with hell!
I tried, but found I could
not do
One thing pleasing to God:
Neither my works nor all my
prayers
Could ease me of my load.
I
sank in deep despair and felt
That I would surely die:
"No hope for me, I'm
lost, undone!"
My soul began to cry.
But then I heard the Savior
say,
"Look unto Me and live,
My blood has full atonement
made,
I can salvation give."
When Christ revealed Himself
to me,
I looked, and I believed;
And trusting Him alone I
have
Salvation now received!
My conscience now is free
and clear,
And it condemns me not!
The precious blood of Jesus
Christ
My sin has blotted out!
My
sins are gone! My sins are gone!
Christ washed them all away!
He satisfied my awful debt,
There's nothing left to pay!
Now this is all my hope and
peace,
And my security:
Christ Jesus lived in righteousness
And shed His blood for
me! -- (SOG #31)
(Tune: My Faith has
Found A Resting Place #228 – CMD)
[1]Misc.
#1350 Danville (AM 06/27/99)— Rescue, CA—06-30-99—Danville (Hebrews Series
#100-Tuesday 12/10/02)