In Hebrews chapter 9, look at
verse 9, 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. Drop down
to verse 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. Now chapter 10 and verse 2. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once purged
should have had no more conscience of sin. And then down in chapter
10, And verse 22, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our body washed with pure water. Then over in
chapter 13, this time it is the 18th verse, pray for us, for
we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live
honestly. Now we picked them out, but the
book of Hebrews really gives us illumination on the matter
of the conscience justified by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of the conscience, that
faculty in human beings, I think we can say, first of all, that
it is indeed a mysterious faculty in the human makeup. We have
it, we feel it, we believe in it, we talk about it, but we
can't see it and we can't analyze it in our own sight and in our
own hands. I'll go further to say that I
believe that the conscience is perhaps among the most important
faculty that dwells in the human makeup. It has a strong influence
upon the life of any individual, even those that might not be
a child of God. And it has a strong influence
both to good and to evil in our life. I have a book, Stephen
Charnot, The Existence and the Attributes of God. And in that,
he spends a great deal of time discussing the conscience in
its relationship unto God. And he has said some good things,
I believe, about the conscience that are certainly true in light
with the scripture. He said that the operation and
the reflections of conscience are a witness to the existence
of God. When you think about it, is that
not true? That the conscience is a witness
to the existence and the attributes of God. And that text in Romans
2 and verse 15 concerning the heathen and their conscience
bearing them witness, either accusing or excusing them according
to that work in them. He said that when the Gentiles,
who have not a special saving revelation of our blessed Lord,
show the work of the law written in their heart, their conscience
also bearing them witness. themselves concerning right and
wrong, that it accuses for wrong and it excuses for right, or
approves of that. Charnock reckoned the conscience
to be a witness to the existence of God, for if there is no God,
as the atheists say, If there is no being of God, there is
no use of the conscience. How could it be? How could it
operate? How could it accuse for wrong
and guilt? Because if there is no God, then
there is no such thing as right and wrong without God. where
the professing atheist begins to talk to us about right and
wrong. He is there by speaking and betraying
his profession. For if there is no God, there
is none to sin against. And if there is no God, how in
the world would we ever determine wrong and right? Someone wrote
that a person has less power over their conscience than any
other faculty that dwells in them. When they transgress the
work of the law written in their heart, as in Romans 2, And verse
15, conscience then accuses them, it makes them feel guilty. Who is there that has not felt
guilty for something that they have done or that they have said? Who is there that has been free
of the activity of conscience? Something they have done and
it made them feel guilty. It may even have put fear in
them. It makes them regret what they
have done or what they have said. And it can cause inward torment
and turmoil in the soul of that individual. We've heard cases
of people who did something, nobody knew it. They stole something
or whatever. and later went back and made
restitution simply because of the work of conscience. And yet,
the conscience is not pure in the natural man. It is defiled,
as we read from Paul in Titus 1 and verse 15. And this is especially true that
the conscience will convict If it is a, quote, new sin, unquote,
something that has not been done or indulged in before, some kind
of new erratic behavior that they have not practiced before,
and the conscience, therefore, may cry louder than at other
time, and yet the conscience being defiled, will, with time,
begin to tolerate that new sin or that new behavior. When at
first it protested against it, and that rather loudly, and its
voice grew weaker and weaker and weaker, and then can be somewhat
bribed into silence about such thing as that. For example, examples
from the scripture. What conviction of conscience
seized upon Adam when he disobeyed God and he sinned in the garden? And it says there, Their eyes
were open and they perceived their nakedness. Genesis 3 and
verse 7. And they were afraid. Why? Because the sinful conscience
had been activated. And they hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord, so they thought, in the trees of
the garden, when their accusing conscience was activated when
they sinned against God. What pangs can I imagine must
have David felt when he took Uriah's wife in an adulterous
relationship and sent her husband to where he would be killed in
the battle? And what must the Apostle Peter
have felt that night that he denied the Lord and said, I don't
know who you're talking about. Matthew chapter 26 and verse
75. Even that devilish old betrayer,
Judas Iscariot, had such an inward commotion after he had betrayed
the Lord for 30 pieces of silver that he took the money back,
threw it down in the temple, confessed that he had betrayed
innocent blood, went out and hanged himself as a result of
that turmoil, Matthew 27, verses 3 through verse 8. But not before
he made the confession, I have betrayed innocent blood, that
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So now maybe this behooves us
to stop on our way and to ask. What is this thing called conscience? And we talk about it from the
biblical standpoint or aspect, as it is used in the Bible, in
our text. the conscience of man and the
work of God upon that conscience. Now, a check of an extensive
concordance with regard to the word conscience will show that
this word appears almost 30 times in the New Testament. Between
25 and 30 times, we run across that Greek word for the conscience. Most of them are from the Apostle
Paul. but five times as we read in
Hebrews, and three times in 1st Peter, we meet with this word
concha. Now the word is the word, I guess
it's right, sunadesis or something like that. It is a compound word
as it used in the scripture. Two words as they are joined
together. The word sun or con, Con, the
first part of it, and that means joint, a joint. And then the
second word is science, conscience. And that means a knowing with. A co-perception is kind of the
meaning of this word, that which bears witness, or we might say
that which monitors our moral conduct. The essential meaning
of conscience, therefore, is a knowing together with one's
self. So that conscience is that faculty
that provides us a knowing with one's self. And therefore, it
serves a judicial function as it operates in us, to judge between
right and wrong, and to make a decision not to judge only,
but to approve also what is good and acceptable with the Lord,
and to disapprove that which is wrong. No wonder then that
some older expositors have referred to it as the judging faculty
that is inherent in the soul. Another has called it God's deputy
in the soul of the person. Now to recall, It both accuses
and excuses, as Paul said in Romans 2 and verse 15. Nor can the conscience be separated
from morality. It judges upon whether moral
or immoral in the individual. And by the way, it is not first
and foremost a judge of others or the actions of others, but
of self. It is a self. judging, unknowing
with oneself. Its main jurisdiction is the
person in whom it is a faculty. It operates in the person in
whom it resides. Its main purpose is not to judge
the deeds or the acts of other. And let's restate something else
quickly about this thing called conscience, which the New Testament
mentions that 25 or 30 times, which of all was mentioned in
almost every sermon of old time preacher. I've read so many and
their exegesis and how they would bring the conscience into the
conversation. It is referred to by people themselves. People talk about my conscience. And every day, almost, we hear
some awful, horrible deed that has been done by one human being
unto another. And invariably, some say, how
can they live with themselves? There should be such a tormentor
in them when they do those awful things. How can they live with
themselves? They're talking about the uproar
of the conscience, as to how one's conscience can let them
do such evil and go on their way. Well, the point of it is
this. Conscience is one of the faculties
in the human makeup. I'm saying that it is a distinct
faculty. Not one and the same with some
other. It is not synonymous with other. Not another name for the mind
or the heart or the reason or the understanding. But then neither
is it detached completely from all of these other faculty who
work in conjunction and all operate at one and the same time. Now concerning the human faculty,
this is important. In the fall, man lost none of
his faculty. When he sinned, even when he
fell, he did not lose any of his faculty in the fall. And on the other hand, neither
are there any new faculty that are created in his regeneration. However, in the fall, all faculties,
yes, even the conscience, and the will became sinful in the
sight of God and passed under the influence of depravity and
of sin. For you see, sin passed through
Adam and all men. The members of the faculty were
not spared the fall and the depravity of it. Must we admit, Adam had
a conscience before he sinned and before he fell. But it was
not a convicting conscience at that time, not a convicting conscience
until he had sinned. It was at peace. It did not yet
accuse him, for it had no reason to, had nothing to charge him
with, and his heart condemned him not up until the time that
he sinned and fell. But sin came in, and he fell. and sin passed into every human
faculty. It came in to defile and deprave
every human faculty. Yes, even the will of fallen
man. Now, there's something in Genesis
chapter 3 that might be pertinent to our study, and it's mentioned
twice. You will find it in verse 5.
and verse 22 of the third chapter of Genesis. I pondered this over
many times, but I cannot, for the life of me, attain to the
fullness of this great statement. I cannot grasp it. It's too beyond
me. I cannot take it in concerning
the knowledge of good and of evil. In verse 5, spoken by Satan,
And in verse 22, it was spoken and the phrase is used by the
Lord God. Now in verse 5, Genesis 3, Satan
said to Eve to deceive her three things. Number one, he says,
God knows that in the day that you eat, your eyes will be opened
and she would see things before hidden from them. Number two,
Satan said unto her, ye shall be as gods. He promised them some sort of
divinity, but it was an empty, empty delusion. And the third
thing, God does know your eyes will be open. God does know you
shall be as God. And the third thing, to know
good and evil. You shall be as God's knowing
good and evil. Knowing all that there is to
know. He promises her some sort of
omniscience if she ate of that tree. Now remember, The name
of the forbidden tree. What was it? In Genesis 2 and
verse 17. The name of the forbidden tree
was the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil. And God warns there in that verse,
in the day, in the time, immediately, as soon as you eat, you will
die. Now in Genesis 3 and 5, Satan
lies. in the day, at the very time,
immediately, as soon as you eat, your eyes will be open, you will
be as gods, knowing good and evil. But alas, the conscience
and all faculties passed into depravity. We focus, however,
on the conscience. That is, Robert Leighton put
it, conscience, quote, the master faculty, unquote. I like that,
to refer to it in that way. A master faculty is now infested
with depravity. I'm content to refer to the conscience
as being a master faculty, even though it is a partaker of depravity
and defilement. For again, as the good Charnot
wrote, What order there is left in the world owes its existence
to the conscience. He said this, in it, without
it, the world would be a Golgotha. Imagine if people had no conscience. They're fallen. They're depraved.
What if they had no conscience? The animals do not have a conscience
and look at their violence one toward another. in that without
it the world would be a Golgotha." And here is a fuller quote from
that good expositor, Charnock, quote, the accusations of conscience
evidence the evidence the omniscient and holiness of God, the terrors
of conscience, the justice of God, and the approbations of
conscience, the goodness of God. When the conscience approved
what we've done, the goodness of God, now whatever you call
it, you call it something. You might refer to it as an inner
light, You might refer to it as an instinct, you might say
the musing and the thoughts of the heart, the inner voice, whatever
you choose to call it. It is impossible to outright
deny either the existence or the operation of the conscience
in individual. Some might claim, and some have,
that the hubbub of the conscience is but the result of pushing
religion and its guilt off on people. People say, oh, this
is just the result of preaching the Bible, the result of pushing
religion, that it was born and bred by Christians and by churches,
and it came out of all their talk. about an angry, offended,
and wrathful God, about sin, about guilt, and about talking
about hellfire, final judgment, and depravity, and that sort
of thing. You know, I was even surprised
to find that Darwin made room to accommodate for the conscience. But if this were true, that this
is just a product of religion and would never have been if
not for religion, how is it that people living where no such things
were heard yet conscience was operating? Consciousness operating
in them long before they ever brought the word of God or the
gospel or salvation or redemption. And if a people reject and avoid
religion, why does such conscience then not die away? If they never
heard the gospel or a wrathful God, why does not the conscience
die out in them? The reflections of conscience
are rarely totally smothered out, even in the worst rawest
pagan. Is that true? And if such would
be, it would be to the detriment and to the hurt of the person.
It would not be a benefit to be rid of the conscience. It
would be a detriment. So let's consider what has been
said by some that conscience is or involves our emotion, and
is capable of several ways or manifestation of itself in people. Number one. to remember it is
defiled, Titus 1 and 15. It is evil, as we read in Hebrews
10 and 22, that in its natural state, in short, it is a partaker
of depravity. And thus, in Titus 1 and 15,
the conduct of the person is directly related to the condition
of the conscience. Listen, under them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even the mind and the conscience
is defiled. Now conscience as such falls
short in its work unless it is under and cleansed by the blood
of Christ. For in its natural state, it
cannot be the guide that it ought to be in everything and every
matter. Number two, the conscience not
only being defiled, but it can be weak. As Paul teaches in 1
Corinthians 8 and 9 and 10, even in a believer there can be a
weak conscience. And what's the remedy if there
is one for that? Paul declares this in 1 Corinthians
8 and verses 7, 10, and 12. And this weakness in the conscience
is owing to what? It is owing to a lack of proper
knowledge with regard to God and to idols. For conscience
can only operate up to the knowledge and truth that it is given. For
this is the light that lets it see and lets it walk. These are
the lights that help it and bring it to the knowledge of the truth. So as an evil and defiled conscience
can be only made pure, by the blood of Jesus Christ. So a weak conscience can only
be strengthened by the knowledge of the truth. And that's what
those Corinthians needed, was knowledge. the knowledge of God
and of idols. And number three, the conscience
can become numbed. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
2, Paul speaks of such as, quote, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. We might call it cauterized,
the conscience. as made tough and numb by the
constant branded, we might call it, deadened, made insensible,
made insensible. And what an awful, awful state
to be in. Paul says this in Ephesians 4
and verse 19, and he said it regarding the heathen, who being
past feeling. Now, these are demon-possessed
apostates who have given themselves over unto sin, being calloused
in sin, past feeling, as he calls it, hardened, having no feeling
about matters that ought to disturb them. A callous indifference
they have. And here in the Ephesians 4 context,
Paul's speaking of Gentile idolaters not yet brought or converted
unto Christianity. On the other hand, thanks be
to God, in spite of its defilement and of its weakness and of being
cauterized over in some unfortunate individual, thanks be to God,
the conscience can also be made a partaker of justification. It can experience justification
by the Atonement of Christ. It can be purged, Hebrews 9,
14. It can be free from guilt, Hebrews
10 and 2. It can be sprinkled with Christ's
blood, Hebrews 10 and 22. one may have a good conscience. And Paul speaks of that over
and over, both in regard to himself and to fellow believers. Many can have a good conscience. Now, let's hear a few quotes
from scripture. most of them from Paul concerning
the matter of a good conscience. And let's just read them without
a lot of comment and then go on our way. In Romans 9 and verse
1. Paul talks about his feelings
for his kinsman, the Jew, and he said, my conscience also bearing
me witness, that is, of his heaviness and sorrow for Israel. He said
in Acts 23 and verse 1, men and brethren, I have lived in all
good conscience before God unto this day. What I've done and
preached, my conscience approved. Acts 24, 16, I exercise myself
to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and men. 2 Corinthians 4 and 2, commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 1 Timothy
1 and verse 5, the end of the commandment is charity out of
a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. Down in
verse 19, holding faith and a good conscience. Second, Timothy 1
and verse 3, I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with
a pure conscience. Then I mentioned, conscience
is mentioned in the first epistle of Peter, 1 Peter chapter 2 and
verse 19. It is thank-worth if one for
conscience toward God endures suffering and grief wrongfully. 1 Peter 3, 16, having a good
conscience to put to shame them that falsely accuse your good
conversation or your conduct or manner of life in Christ. And 1 Peter 3 and 21, the answer
of a good conscience toward God. What we have in Christ is the
answer of a good conscience toward God. So now, how is it, we ask,
that a conscience, once evil and defiled, is made good? How can that change come about? What can change the conscience
from bad and evil unto good? What is the basis of the good
conscience that Paul talks about? What can overcome and calm its
accusing spirit and bring it to a good frame? What can change
it from condemning to justifying? To feeling guilty and fearful
and ashamed? To resting comfortably? in the
relationship that it has been established with God. Now, to
seek those answers, we focus on the text from Hebrews and
from 1 Peter. Let's go back to Hebrews chapter
9, verse 9 and 10, which was a figure for the time then present,
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could never
make him that did the service as pertaining to the conscious
perfect, which stood only in meats and drinks, divers washing,
coronal ordinances imposed upon them until the time of Reformation. Now here is a short summary of
the inability of the tabernacle worship administered by Aaron
and his son, to perfect the worshipers that worshiped and serviced there. They could not give them peace
of conscience. Why? Because it consisted in
carnal or fleshly ordinances. You didn't have to be saved to
perform any of the rites of Judaism if we look at it. It consisted
in carnal ordinances. In verse 10, And it only sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, verse 13 of chapter 9. Its sacrifices could not take
away sin, chapter 10, verse 1 through 4. It was temporary, that system
was, in verse 10. No, none of these could appease
the conscience. None of them could bring the
conscience to a full and settled peace or bring it to an assurance
of confidence before the Lord God. Now, conscience as to its
depraved state is the leading faculty producing guilt and conviction
and condemnation in human beings. An evil conscience robs us of
our peace or of peace. An evil conscience does that
and it can never be settled apart from the application of the blood
of Christ. Even so, a purged conscience
leads the way then in the experimental justification. It is the conscience
in which the voice of Christ's blood cries loud in us. that it has been taken away,
only the blood of Christ, only his atonement, only his sacrifice
has a double efficacy in regard unto sin. Number one, toward
God, because by one offering The Lord made a perfect atonement. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself so that God is pleased to forgive sin based only upon
the atonement and the covenant. Secondly, it has an efficacy
toward the conscience of the redeemed, toward the one Christ
has redeemed. Then is the conscience justified. when the conscience is purged
from dead works and from its evil by the blood of the Lord,
or brought under experimentally the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, and is sprinkled by the blood of the everlasting covenant. Notice, the writer of Hebrews
is using Old Testament terminology, sprinkling, washing. as regards
the blood, and he contrasts Judaism and Christianity, that as the
former only pertained unto the flesh, the latter to the inward
part, to the heart and the conscience and the soul, that Christ's blood
applied to the conscience does purge it of its evil and of its
dead works, of its guilt, and the blood of Christ speaks far
better things than the blood of Abel ever did. Abel's own blood, not the blood
of his sacrifice, cried unto God from the ground for vengeance. Genesis 4 and verse 10, Abel's
blood cried out for vengeance, and Christ's blood speaks It
too has a voice. First it speaks to God, then
it speaks unto the conscience of the redeemed elect of God. Being the blood of the everlasting
covenant, it spoke to God when it was shed. It constantly is
speaking, and yet it's first when shed and ever speaks before
God in heaven. And the elect on earth is that
conscience speaking, especially the blood. Especially to the
purge conscience is that blood ever speaking. Look again at
Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14. Did we see it clearly? How much
more, beyond the efficacy of the Old Testament sacrifices
and their inability, 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
true and the living God." Now, that is a wonderful thing. The
main thing or the main concern of the natural conscience is
guilt. And this guilt emanates. It has
its source. It comes in through the concha. It operates and is enforced by
the concha. And it has detrimental effects
and consequences, which we might sum up under three heads. One, the guilt. to the dread
and the fear that guilt and sin produces. Remember how Adam's
guilty conscience drove him to hide himself from the God of
heaven. And number three, the sinner
dreads and is hindered by the guilt in his conscience that
he is a guilty sinner from peacefully approaching God. That's one thing
that the Old Testament sacrifices could not do. They could not
give those comers or approachers a peaceful conscience. So what
is the remedy? What is the antidote to counteract
this guilty, condemning, accusing conscience and give it some peace
before God. John Owen gave a two-fold answer.
I'd like to share it with you very quickly. Number one, a discharge
of conscience from the guilt of sin and of the fear of condemnation
for that sin. What a millstone about the neck
is the guilt of sin. How to be rid of it? Then, number
two, the cleansed purge conscience, giving a good then devout service
unto the living God. For none can serve God. They can't approach Him, and
neither can they serve God acceptably with a guilty conscience. Not
acceptably, only peaceably when the conscience is cleansed by
the blood of Christ. Now, this freedom of conscience
rests upon a solid foundation. Here they are. Number one, it
is secured by blood, as we read, Hebrews 9, 14. Number two, that
blood is not the blood of bulls and goats. It is the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Number three, that blood and
sacrifice was offered in agency with the divine nature, through
the eternal Spirit. he offered himself. And then,
number four, it's offered to God. Not to a man, it is offered
unto God, as in Ephesians 5 and verse 2, a sweet-smelling savor
unto God. The blood of atonement is applied
to the conscience. When one is given or comes to
the knowledge, understanding, and belief of the truth of the
atoning, redeeming death of Jesus Christ. For this is the only
thing to cleanse it, and to remove the terrors of conscience, and
pacify the guilt, and give a good conscience toward Almighty God. And the degree of peace hear
me, is equal to the degree of knowledge and of truth possessed
or granted to that individual. For truth and knowledge is that
which guides the conscience more and more into a proper view of
all things and sets it free of guilt and legalism and does more
and more strengthen the weak conscience by truth and by knowledge. These are the key elements that
work good upon the conscience. To let it know that which satisfies
the justice of God is that which alone can purge and clean and
bring to peace. a conscience, the atonement of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Of course, one can deceive themselves. Sure, they can. They can bribe
their conscience that they are at peace with God, but it is
a false peace, and it may desert them in the hour of greatest
need, but a good conscience, even a justified one, purged
by Christ's blessed blood, having been pacified by that blood in
the application, and the knowledge and the faith in that blood and
atonement, gives one boldness to come to the throne of grace,
to approach God, not as a trembling one before a wrathful and a harsh
judge, but as a heavenly Father, as a loving heavenly Father. We cry, Abba, Father, and this
purging opens the way to serving the true and the living God. freely exercise the privilege
of worshiping Him and calling upon Him and coming to Him in
prayer, the ability to serve God, to spiritually worship. This cannot be, will not be,
unless and until the evil conscience is purged by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a quote from John Owen,
a great Puritan writer, quote, of one's relation unto God depends
on this, unquote. That is, it depends on the application,
the knowledge, faith, belief in the atoning blood and sacrifice
of our Lord. For this cause, he is the mediator
between God and between men. That the blood of Christ only
will cleanse the conscience, bring it to peace, purge it from
dead works, and serve the true and the living God with a good
conscience, and call out our Father, because God has given
us that privilege to be called the sons of God, Abba Father,
to call out and to approach unto Him, and to do service unto Him,
by and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, because it
works a work in the conscience that nothing else can.