All right, now our subject again
is the value of a good conscience, and you'll see that as we read
our text. Look at Acts 23 and verse 1. And Paul, earnestly beholding
the council, that is, that old wicked Sanhedrin council, said,
Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before
God unto this day. And when you look at the second
verse and see how the high priest responded, you know there's something
to this. We'll look at it later. But in
Acts chapter 24 then, verse 10 through verse 16, here Paul is
before Felix. He's having a hearing again. And in verse 10, then Paul, after
the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch
as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge in this
nation, I do most cheerfully answer for myself, because that
you may understand that there are yet but twelve days since
I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found
me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the
people, neither in the synagogue nor in the city. Neither can
they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But watch
this, listen, this I confess unto you, that after the way
which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. and have hope toward God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. And watch verse
16, Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void
of offense toward God, and toward men. The value of a good conscience. Of a long time I have been persuaded,
and you know that in the past we preach extensively on the
subject of the conscience, eight, nine, and ten sermons in a series,
but I've become convinced a long, long time ago that the conscience
is perhaps the most important and perhaps also the most powerful
faculty with which the Creator has endued humanity. Generally, two things will be
found. Number one, that one has less
power over their conscience than over any other faculty that they
possess. And the second thing is that
conscience has more sway and more and greater influence over
a person than any other faculty with which God has endowed them. Thomas Goodwin called it, the
best thing in man, quote, unquote. This is not to say, however,
that conscience is yet pure and upright. This is not to say that
it has escaped the ravages of the fall, because when our first
parents, Adam and Eve, fell, they fell in their whole and
entire being. Spiritual death passed through
them, passed all the way through into every faculty. But, as they lost no faculties
in the fall, may I say that again, they lost no faculties in the
fall, that is, none of them were eradicated, though all of them
pass into or under spiritual deadness. Now, as that is true,
even so, there is no new faculty that needs to be created in the
work of regeneration. Only they are quickened, enlightened,
or made alive. and they then are unctionized
by the blessed Spirit of God. Now concerning conscience, we
just quoted Goodwin saying that the conscience is the best thing
in man, even though it has not escaped the corruption of the
fall. And yet, it is still a very powerful
force to be reckoned with. For though it is defiled, as
stated in Titus 1, and verse 15, and though it is stated in
the scripture that it can be weak when it is starved for knowledge,
and that even in a believer, verse Corinthians chapter 8,
9, and 10 chapters, it can be stifled to a degree in a person,
It can be bribed rather easily with false religion to put it
under a false sense of peace and security. And according to
Paul in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 2, it can even become seared
over. Having their conscience seared
over as with a hot iron. Some there use the word branded. Some prefer the word cauterized,
burned, so that the branded or the cauterized place is less
sensitive, being hardened and toughened up by the years of
exposure. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul
makes the connection between lies spoken in hypocrisy and
a cauterized conscience. speaking lies in hypocrisy, having
their conscience seared with a hot iron. Now the general rule
is conscience in an unregenerate person usually acts the part
of an accuser based upon the work of the law that is written
in the heart of man. Romans 2 14 and 15, because in
this capacity it applies the law under our deeds. And though in some things it
does excuse, yet in many more it accuses. And this it does
by the authority and in the name of a sovereign God. conscience
is first and foremost answerable unto God. And like Nebuchadnezzar's
furnace, God is able to increase the fire or the temperature or
the conviction of the conscience more than ordinary so that it
brings to us a burning conviction of sin. Stephen Sharnock has
some wonderful things to say about the conscience. In his
book, The Existence and Attributes of God, he said this, and I'm
quoting, man witnesses to a God in the operation and the reflection
of conscience, unquote. He uses that as one of the proof
of the existence of God. How so? Well, by the compunction
of conscience. How that conscience then responds
for example, the accusations of conscience bear record with
our own heart that one falls short of the law of God and what
He ought to be doing. And then there are the fears
that are kindled by the accusations of conscience, and they bear
record of the terror and the wrath of God, while on the other
hand, the approval of conscience bears record of the goodness
and the mercy and the forgiveness of Almighty God. Now, it could
well be that the atheist or the infidel or the professing agnostic
would say unto us, wait a minute, hold it. All of these things
that you mention are simply the result of the teaching of religion. They are the by-product of trying
to impose the idea of a God upon the human family. And they might
argue that these emotions, these convictions and compunctions
and such like, would disappear altogether with the disappearance
of religion. They might say, quit pushing
religion off on the people and these inward conflicts would
go away and would be at an end. We strongly, strongly disagree
with that assessment. that rather than religion giving
birth to a guilty and accusing conscience, on the other hand,
it is the conscience and the work of the law written in the
heart of men and women that give a belief in some supreme being
and that kindles within them the feeling that they are sinners
in the sight of a supreme being if there were no conscience in
any, if there were no works of the law written in the heart,
as Paul says in Romans chapter 2, then atheism would be the
common rule. When the truth is, atheism is
the exception rather than the rule. How few atheists there
are and there have been. Now through the century, yes
even through the millennium, there remains in men and women
the notion of a deity deeply embedded in the minds and the
hearts of people. Time has not been able to raise
it out or to erase it. Time has not been able to completely
erase this writing that is written in the hearts of people, shall
not put it. If men had been able to douse
the fires of conscience and be rid of it, they would have done
so long ago rather than so long endure in their soul the conviction
on account of sin. If they could silence this voice
that is within, they would have done so. But if they could silence
it, the world would become a Golgotha, the world would become a public
hell and a boiling stew if not for conscience. As bad as it
is and as defiled as it is, think what it would be like If there
were no faculty called conscience in the human family, then man
would not be a rational creature, he would have no conviction of
sin, and worse, nothing to restrain him from that sin and violence,
then would become as the beast of the field. And yet, even the
beasts have their instinct by which they act, and people have
a conscience that is answerable to God. And again, it was Stephen
Charnock that wrote, next to providence, listen, next to providence,
conscience is responsible for the order that remains even in
the world. Now, perhaps we should make a
distinction about the conscience and its work in individual. First of all, to consider the
acting of conscience in the unregenerate person. Conscience in that person,
not regenerate, and what is common and what is possible with that
conscience in that person. Then secondly, the acting of
conscience in the regenerate, for there is certainly Paul said
that he sought to live in a good conscience before God and before
men and that at all times. Now, the conscience in the unregenerate. It is there. It works. Yes, some. What? But it is defiled. Titus 1 and verse 15. Even the mind and the conscience
is defiled. Now the word that Paul uses has
the idea of a stain. It has been stained. As to stain
a glass. that it is no longer clear or
in its original state. Hence the taint or the sully
that is put upon the conscience to contaminate, to defile, to
pollute, so that the defilement is not only outward, but it reaches
also into the inward parts even of the mind and of the conscience. Now, the conscience in the unregenerate,
being defiled, is therefore deficient in its duty. Let's say that again. Being defiled in the unregenerate,
it is deficient in its duty. Why? It enforces only a small
part of the law that is written in the heart. It tells a person
only a part of their duty. And it is partial, it is bias,
it is prejudice in the matter of sin. In that, it might loudly
protest one sin while almost winking at one that is more heinous. Or it might invent a way to justify
a sin in its own life while condemning that same sin or one not as bad
in another. In other words, it can be like
a corrupt judge is the conscience, it can be bribed. It can be bribed
to look the other way while a sin is committed in plain sight. It may say not a word or make
a single protest at a transgression. Now, a great danger with a conscience
that is unregenerate and that is not purged and cleansed by
the blood of Jesus Christ, the danger is of this sort, and that
is the first time that a particular sin is committed. The conscience,
not being used to it, may raise up a great hue and cry. It may burn with deep conviction
and might sound a loud alarm the first time some grievous
sin is committed. Then the conscience is such that
the more the sin is committed, the more the sin is indulged,
the more it is not purged, stays unrepented of, the less conscience
protests as the sin is longer indulged. It is like Simon Peter
the Apostle then, warming its hands, as it were, by the fires
of the enemy. Here's an example, just an example,
you can think of many more. How conscience may come to indulge
itself and to lose its edge. Let's imagine a married person
is fallen into an illicit affair. A married person has been untrue
and has been unfaithful. At first, the conscience may
burn like Nebuchadnezzar's great furnace. It may burn and charge
guilt upon that individual because of all of the sneaking around
and the lying and the deception. and the betrayal. But the longer
it goes on, less will conscience protest that particular action. And the same could be said of
other sins as well, and we'll be quiet upon false grounds the
conscience might. Now one of the more deadly things
that a defiled conscience does that can do great damage to the
person is to speak unto them a false piece, to give them or
concur in a false piece. This is one of the great failings
of the unpurged or the unregenerate conscience. This is one of its
greatest betrayals and worst directions of duty. Then it is
like a sentry on the watch who gives no warning to the enemy
surrounding the camp. even crying out, all is well,
all is well, abide in peace. Now let's not misunderstand.
A conscience at peace upon just grounds is a great inestimable
blessing to have a sense that we're not under condemnation. because of the death and the
blood of Jesus Christ. That the heart condemns us not,
as it says in 1 John 3 and 21. But when the conscience speaks
a false piece, or goes along with a false piece, upon false
terms, it then becomes a slothful sentry that betrays his general
and puts the troops in grave danger. They may be slain while
thinking that they dwell in safety and that all is well. They may
be slain, but the enemy come upon them when they are told
that no enemy is at hand. is in fact already inside of
the gate. So that they lay down and they
sleep in a false sense of security when the enemy then springs upon
them to hurt and destruction. Now conscience can be a party
to false peace in more ways than one. Number one, it is a party
to false peace when it allows the wicked to be at peace. The wicked, unregenerate, unconverted,
without faith in Christ. When that person has peace, conscience
has worked a betrayal. When conscience imitates those
sluggard priests and sluggard prophets who, in Jeremiah chapter
6 and verse 14, quote, they have healed also the hurt of the daughter
of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no
peace. For Isaiah chapter 57 verse 21,
There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked. They are likened
to the troubled sea that stirs and that cannot rest. So that
the wicked and the unregenerate must never be made to feel that
they stand well in the sight of God, even though conscience
has gone along with a false peace. Secondly, conscience is giving
a false peace When it allows a person to substitute their
morality for our works of righteousness for Christ. When they substitute
one for the other. When it holds its peace. while
a sinner thinks very highly of himself. Those sinners who say,
never going to church, reading the Bible, never speaking of
God, but yet say, well, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I have
no fear of death at all. When it holds its peace, when
a sinner thinks of himself that way, holding him forth as if
he were a good man. Maybe perhaps because he gives
to charity, or because he volunteers in this place or that, or because
he helps to feed the homeless down at the shelter, or perhaps
because he's a member of a lodge, or of a church, and he attends
that church whenever he can, or a respected member of the
community, people thinking well of him. so that the natural conscience
will then approve a counterfeit piece. It is bribed into accepting
the works of the law or the works of that person. There are many
people who lack the character and the knowledge of a Christian
individual that will tell you, as I said a while ago, I know
where I'm going and I'm ready to go when I die. Now the peace
which the natural conscience gives is a false peace when,
quote, It soothes a man always with thoughts of peace." It gives
no trouble in his mind and it is a false peace which is not
built and resting upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the righteousness of the Son of God. These are the only things
that can purge the conscience from dead works that it might
serve the true and the living God. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. And especially could the lost
sacrifices that the Jews gave not purge the conscience from
its dead works and could not give it a settled peace. All of those sacrifices did not
bring their consciences to a settled peace. Well, this is the work
of conscience at times in the unregenerate. But now let's make
the transition to the conscience in a regenerate and a converted
person, a purged state, using first the testimony concerning
the conscience in Paul, Acts 23.1 and 24.16. First of all,
let's say that it is Paul Hear me closely here, I don't
want you to misunderstand. It is Paul, as someone said,
that Christianized the word conscience. Or another used the word baptized. That it was Paul that baptized
the word conscience into the Christian into the Christian
vernacular. Because, you see, its background
is Greek. It came out of the Greek, and
it originally meant one that had self-awareness. But then came to include moral
awareness as well. And in counting the use of the
term conscience, the word term, or the word conscience in the
New Testament, we see that two-thirds of all the mentions, the uses
of the word conscience are by Paul, and from his pen. And most
of them, in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10, with respect to the
weak conscience of those who could not eat the meat, sacrificed
to idols in their temple. In Acts 23 and 1, Paul is before
the Jewish Sanhedrin court in Jerusalem. And they have gathered
that they might consider the charges that the Jews have brought
against him. And there's a background you
need to read sometime, chapter 21, chapter 22, his arrest and
the great uproar concerning him. But here in the council, Paul,
as always, The accused was allowed to stand and to speak. Notice
that he opens his defense with a declaration that he had, in
all times and in all ways, even till this day, he said, acted
in a good conscience toward God. Notice the words, to this day,
that in all things He acted in accordance with a persuasion
of conscience and that what He did, He did out of zeal for God
and for His law. And for what it is worth, I can
see why some commentators and exegetes think that Paul includes
or covers his time as a Pharisee as well in the statement. To
this very day, both as a Pharisee and then as a Christian. Not
only then, but also now. He was acting out of a clear
conscience toward God. Now remember, the Jews here in
this place have charged him, have lodged against him, have
accused him of being an apostate from Moses and from the prophet. They have accused him of going
about to overthrow the worship of God that had been in place,
lo, those many centuries. Now that is a serious charge
indeed. that is brought against the apostle. And it is meant to inflame the
people against Paul, particularly the Jew. Now he states his premise
in our first text, I have lived, I have fulfilled, I have passed
my life unto this day in good conscience unto God. Later in
chapter 24, before another counsel, that is, before Felix, he makes
again much the same defense. And he is allowed there to flesh
out his argument or his defense. In chapter 23, as soon as he
said that, the high priest said to a servant, go slap that man. Slap him right side the head.
And they did. Do you remember that or have
you read it? But later in Acts 24, he's allowed to expand upon
his position, showing in verse 16, Herein do I exercise myself,
I strive to have a good, clear conscience toward God and toward
men. Now his sense is this. He practiced
Christianity with a clear conscience. Because, as F.F. Bruce, James Alexander, John
Gill, and some other good expositors have written, that when he lived
and worshipped as a Christian, He worshipped the same God as
did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that as a Christian he had the
same object of worship as the saints of old. And as Alexander
wrote, quote, he still worshipped the same God, he still believed
in the same sacred books, and he still cherished the same hope. Unquote. The hope of Israel. In other words, Paul is telling
them and us, Judaism was meant to give way unto Christianity. Christ being the end of the law
for righteousness. So that Paul, in espousing Christianity,
in coming to Christ, he is saying, and he says in other places,
that he was but following the ancestral religion of his fathers,
of the Jew. He was but following where that
ancestral religion led them. And furthermore, he was following
the Scripture when he came to Christ and believed upon Him. And we need to understand that.
Paul is great at this. He's best at this, I think, than
any other New Testament author. So that in effect, it was not
he, but it was his accusers, the Jew, the Sanhedrin court,
the priest and such like, that had deviated from Moses and from
the prophet. It was not he but they that had
deviated from the ancestral religion. because all roads of prophecy
and of Old Testament Scripture lead directly unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. The law points to the gospel,
and the types point to the substance which is in Christ. And Paul concludes Acts 24, 16,
and herein, that is, by this, with this in mind, in
view of this. I exercise myself, I take pains,
I train, I discipline myself, I keep myself under. I think
that it could be rendered in English like this, I practice
myself, quote, unquote. The NASB has it, I do my best
to live before God in a clear conscience. The goal being to
have that conscience that is void of offense unto God, that
is blameless before God and man, that is inoffensive, neither
giving nor taking. offense from another, especially
clear before God, so that he in no way feels guilty or condemned
in the way of worship that he followed or the preaching of
the gospel of Christ. Now we do own that Paul is speaking
of himself personally, because the situation there demands it. He's speaking personally, but
we also own that Paul had some very extraordinary manifestations
given unto him by God and by the Holy Spirit that he speak
of in this way. Now, the value of a good conscience
in religion. Let's see how valuable that is. Paul tells Timothy, 2 Timothy
1 and the third verse, I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers
with pure conscience. Again, notice, from my forefathers. I thank God whom I worship from
my forefathers with a pure conscience. Again, 2 Corinthians 1, verse
12, For I rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience,
that in simplicity and godly sincerity, by the grace of God,
we had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to
you were There's that verse in Hebrews 13 and verse 18. Pray
for us, for we trust that we have a good conscience in all
things, willing to live honestly. I think about that one in 1 Peter. The answer of a good conscience
toward God. Now, let's expand on an earlier
part. Paul speaks so much of his conscience
in serving God, and rightly so, because It is a main force in
his life. It is a main force in any living
the Christian life unto God and unto Christ. I read this from
an exposition centuries ago, ages ago. something that I had
not thought of and it grabbed my attention. Quote, now Paul's
conscience had received more light than any other man's in
the world and therefore was in a great straight to walk up to
it. Unquote. Paul had received manifestations
that no other have done. Now as a result, he sought therefore
to manage his every action and in every single circumstance
that he might find himself to live up to the promptings and
the leading of his conscience. One Puritan said, Paul, this
excellent paid Paul, this excellent, excellent compliment, quote,
that he never, after his conversion, sinned against that light, unquote. Very few can ever say that. In
other words, he strove to so walk before God and men that
he did not violate or disobey the voice of conscience or transgress
against the light and the knowledge that had been given to him by
and through Christ. Now consider this definition
of conscience in light of our study today, quote, that it is
that faculty which is the seat and principle of all that practical
light which is to guide us in our walkings with God." You may
say, I thought that was the Holy Spirit and the Scripture. Well,
certainly it is. But conscience then comes to
be in full agreement with all of that. For you see, light,
truth, knowledge are the lights. Are the lights. that allow conscience
to see how to walk. Knowledge and truth and light
are necessary for the conscience to operate in a proper function. It can only live up and act upon
the light or the knowledge or the truth that it has or that
it possesses. It can be no stronger than the
knowledge that it is given. It can be no stronger than the
truth and the light and the knowledge which it has been vouchsafed
by God. Therefore, if conscience has
only the light of nature. Think about that person. If conscience
has only the light of nature, it then is somewhat like a pair
of eyes that has scales upon them, cannot see clearly or see
afar off or how to walk. It is then dull of hearing and
it will hear only the voice of nature in that state and condition. But when it is savingly enlightened,
when God's Spirit has quickened it, has enlightened it, and when
it is purged by the blood of Jesus Christ, then it can walk
by the light of the Word of God and the leadership of the Blessed
Holy Spirit. Even in the Christian, if conscience
is weak, sometimes having unnecessary scruples and burdens, as the
eating of meat sacrificed to idols, a great problem there
at Corinth, it cannot be corrected in but one way. If conscience
is in error, if it has undue scruples, There is only one way
that it can be corrected. It cannot be corrected by force. In other words, Paul would not
have them at Corinth to say to those doubting, weak Christians
who had scruples about meat that had been sacrificed to idolatry,
he could not say unto them, you go ahead and eat it. You quit
acting like it. You go ahead and eat it. You
get in there with your brethren and you partake. No, that's not
the way to correct conscience. You do not correct it by force. You do not correct it by forcing
it to violate its scruples. It can only be corrected by truth
and proper knowledge, and knowledge will give it light that it may
see how to walk in the right direction. Knowledge and truth
will free it from its undue scruples so that it may operate as it
ought to in the child of God. Now, in closing, an evil conscience
is a trouble to the soul of a person. A good conscience is a pearl
of great price. It is of great value indeed,
but it comes only, only through the blood, the death, the satisfaction
and atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only thing
that can purge conscience, that can give it its life and its
knowledge so that it function and operate in the child of God
in a good and a proper way. So we see, to correct a conscience
Don't force it. It must have knowledge and truth. And when it receives knowledge,
when it receives truth, when that is sealed to the conscience,
then it can use that as a light to guide it, and some things
that we thought we must do, we find are not necessary. Some
things that we did, we find are not necessary. And some things
we did not do, we find that we might. And I think, and I'll
just say this and quit, that this conscience is the greatest,
greatest thing in the matter of weak Christians, weak, who
have scruple. They think they're strong. They
consider themselves strong and they're full of conviction. But
when conscience receives proper knowledge, what a great change
it is and what a great liberation it is.