All right, our text for today
is found in the book of Titus, the pastoral epistle of Titus,
chapter 1 and verse 15, though we will be looking at a larger
part of the context in Titus as we make our way along in our
study today. But our initial text says simply
this, Titus 1 15, under the pure All things are pure, but unto
them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their
mind and their conscience is defiled. Titus chapter 1 and
verse 15. Now from what we have covered
so far, I think most that have listened might agree that the
conscience is perhaps the most fascinating and intriguing of
all of man's faculties. Not only that, But I think we
must go further and say that it plays the leading role in
almost every person upon the face of the earth. This, therefore,
is a faculty that is to be studied. It is to be considered the way
that it works and its function and its nature. And we also will
agree that it has the greatest influence over the life of every
individual. It holds greater sway over the
human conduct than any other faculty of the human constitution. None other can match it, not
the heart, or the will, or the affections, or the mind. The
other faculties of the human constitution are not nearly so
unique and intriguing as is that one called by the name of conscience. And because of that, because
conscience is such a unique faculty in man, and it is so intriguing
and has such a great influence upon the person, we go further
to say that it, conscience, can be either our best friend or
our worst enemy, depending upon its action and our action before
God. We have seen in our previous
studies that the conscience receives its authority from God and that
doing that it acts, as Thomas Manton the Puritan said, as a
deputy judge accountable under God." Now, authority in any realm
is a very important matter. That is, where does conscience
receive its authority to be such a judge of the moral conduct
mankind. In this, the conscience acts
much the part of Joseph in that it brings an evil report of our
deeds and tells upon us. It is a question of vital concern
as to where one receives authority to act such a great part or take
the authority over some of their fellow men. You remember what
the Jews asked the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 21 and verse
23? Tell us by what authority thou
doest these things. The question was once put to
Moses when he returned into the land of Egypt and intervened
between two of his brethren, Exodus 2 and 14, Who made thee
a judge or a prince over us? We have seen that the conscience
is an undeniable witness to the being and the existence of God,
and that conscience actually, as it functions and possesses
its nature, could not at all exist without God, nor could
it operate as it does without God. acting the part of a moral
monitor and a judge of the actions of men. We have been so careful
in our study not to view conscience as a spark of divinity or as
a beam of deity possessed by any man. Because, you see, if
it were either a spark of divinity or a beam of deity, if it were
either of these, it would be more faithful to God, it would
be more true to its calling, It would be less partial in the
judgments that it renders and it would be almost impossible
to train it in false duties or to train it to accept a bribe
instead of true peace and standing for the true worship and religion
of God. And now we come to consider the
depravity of the conscience. For conscience is certainly not
without depravity. Titus 1.15 declares it to be
defile. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
22 tells us that it can come into an evil estate. It is weak
even in some of the saints of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 8
and verse 7. And because of this depravity
that dwells within the conscience, it may become seared and reprobate. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
2. In fact, the whole of the human
makeup is under the power of depravity. That is, I mean collectively,
the entire being of man fell into depravity in Adam upon the
occasion of the Fall. But also, each faculty and member
is particular or partaker of the Fall individually. Sin is
in each member or faculty, and none have escaped the depravity
of the Fall of Adam, none of mankind, and none of the faculties
of any man. That includes the heart, the
mind, yes, the will, and the affections, the understanding,
all of them, the entire nature. are under the power of depravity,
and that certainly includes the faculty that we now study, the
conscience. Keep in mind that when Adam sinned
and fell, he lost no faculties when he did so. None of his original
faculties were obliterated. None were completely lost. They
all passed under the power of depravity. They all became corrupted
by sin, and spiritual and moral death passed through all parts
and every faculty that God had created in Adam. Now not only
did Adam not lose any faculties in the fall, but we do not receive
or need any new faculties in regeneration and conversion. But the Holy Spirit of God sovereignly
quickens and resurrects those faculties that were former dead
in trespasses and in sin. quickens them, and enlivens them,
and enlightens them, so that they may spiritually function,
that the person may worship God in spirit and in truth. Coming again to conscience, it
has become also a partaker of the corruption of Adam's fall. It is defiled, Titus 115, and
therefore this judging part of the soul must be judged by the
Word of God, and guided only by the infallible truth of the
scripture. The scripture is that final judge
by which the conscience must be operated and how it must be
instructed in order that it might walk in order that it might function
and do its duty before God. Now as we enter into consideration
of its depravity, let us make some opening observations. Here are some distinctions that
will help us on our way, help us to understand the conscience
and its work. Number one, the conscience is
a leading or a chief faculty, both in sin and in salvation. And in either state, the conscience
is to be reckoned with. In fact, the state of the conscience
is actually a reflection of the state of the person as he stands
before God, as to his moral standards and to his way of life, and to
his inner turmoil. The state of the conscience is
a reflection of the person themself. Secondly, the conscience is to
be reckoned with because or for it holds a two-fold power over
mankind. It is to be reckoned with in
two ways. It strongly influences people
in two areas of their life. both of them of imminent importance. A. It has in its power, conscience
does, to put a person at peace. It has in its power to grant
an inner peace, so that they are, as they often say, at peace
with the world and at peace with their self. It has the power
to put them at peace, and often it is a false peace, but they
think little of death and of judgment. and may even believe
all is well with their immortal soul, and they may die under
the false peace that conscience has imparted unto them. To address
this, let us remember this fact and never forget that not every
quiet conscience is a clear conscience, not every conscience that is
quiet is necessarily a good conscience, and is not necessarily so in
the sight of God. But then be, conscience has in
its power to charge a person with guilt, and that both true
and false guilt, for as it can cry peace when there is no peace,
so at other times it can cry guilt and sin when there is none,
as it can make peace when there is none, so it can make sin when
there is none, especially in the religionist and in the legalist. Now in these senses, conscience
may boast the boast of Pilate, that it has the power of life
and death, it has the power of peace or torment, to justify
or to condemn. Now, since we are studying the
depravity of conscience, let us up front list some of the
leading or chief faults of the conscience. Let's speak now of
its shortcomings so that we set a guard to be on the lookout
for its malfunctions as it operates in our life and the life of others.
For there are several ways that conscience can act out its depravity
and thereby affect a person so that they are unaware of their
true standing before God, and thus proceed in gross darkness
and ignorance. Now here's some of its T-false.
The result of it being depraved and defiled by the fall of Adam
and the entrance of original sin into the constitution of
man. Number one, conscience is sometimes
a Judas betraying its Lord to whom it must give an answer.
And when it does this, it sides with sin or it ignores sin. at least great and obvious ones,
sometimes like a false prophet or like a Judas for filthy lucre. Yes, conscience is sometimes
a Judas betraying its Lord, the Lord God Himself. Secondly, conscience
sometimes is as a corrupt judge receiving a bribe to render a
false or a corrupt verdict in the court of conscience. ignoring
when it does the law of God, finding a way to pronounce a
false verdict, ruling contrary to the works of the law written
in the heart of men by the finger of God. For the verdict of the
judge should be according to the law, and in righteousness
he should render a verdict that is in accordance with those things
prescribed in the law. Thus guilty sinners By this corrupt
judge, the conscience are often declared not guilty when they
stand grossly guilty in the sight of God. But then third, let me
say, that sometimes conscience is a sentry asleep at the watch,
failing to warn of an approaching enemy, and allowing the soul
to be overrun with sins which come in like a flood and take
it captive. It does not sound a proper warning. It is a watchman, unfaithful,
a sentry asleep upon the wall. Pity those poor souls who trust
such a conscience to keep up a proper and a diligent warning
and watch, who feel that conscience is atop the wall and will sound
a warning in time to spare the city. And they cry out, Watchman,
watchman, what of the night? But alas, in a critical hour,
it is but a century asleep, and the enemy comes in like a flood,
and conscience gives absolutely no advance warning. I might make
the point here that seldom does conscience give an advance warning
when it's strictly in its natural and depraved state. It works
more after the fact, convicting of things already done or said. rather than things about to be
done or planned to be said. But then, fourthly, other times
it is a soldier, and it fights against sin only half-heartedly,
and in the fierce salt and struggle with the enemy in the field,
It often abandons its post of duty, and sometimes it even goes
over on the other side and aids sin's assault upon or against
the soul, or, if not this, it surrenders, claiming that the
battle is not its to fight and is not worth the fight. Fifthly,
and finally, more often than not, yes, more often than not,
the conscience is a slothful servant of God, partial and indifferent,
lazy and sluggish, and in its depravity and corruption, for
a few shekels of works of religious posturing, it will excuse a man
the larger part of his duty, and pronounce him at peace with
God and not guilty. Now the reason for such actions
of the conscience, Paul gives us in our text, the conscience
is defiled, it is corrupt. Let us look at this verse in
its native context. Titus is one of three pastoral
epistles from the pen of the apostle Paul. And in chapter
1, verses 1 through 3, Paul gives his usual greeting to the brethren,
this time to Titus. Then he lists, in verses 4 through
9, the qualifications for those who are to be the ministers of
Christ. For Paul had left Titus upon
the Isle of Crete, that he might ordain elders in every place.
And here he gives him the qualification of those that are to be installed
in the office of elder. And beginning with verse 10,
chapter 1, Paul then warns the minister what wicked and unreasonable,
ungodly characters there are out in the world. Notice the
words, unruly, deceivers, subverters of houses, prophets for hire. And jumping down to verse 16,
he says, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny
Him, being abominable, disobedient, and under every good work Reprobate? Yes, in the midst of the context
we find our text. Even their mind and conscience
is defiled. defiles, the word used by Paul,
is the word mi-a-ino, to sully, to taint, to contaminate. It means, say some, to dye or
to stain an off-color. It means to pollute. It is the
defilement that Paul intends, and it is not of the ceremonial
sort, this defilement that Paul speaks about, not that sort that
was under the Mosaic institution or law. For Paul speaks of moral
defilement. For you see, no inward faculty
can be ceremonially defiled, and neither can it be ceremonially
cleansed. In the Old Testament, ceremonial
cleansings applied only to the flesh, and were typical of the
cleansing that was to be in Christ. Now to get at his point, he uses
a common saying, and there we call it a proverb, which has
two parts. To those pure, all things are
pure. That is, such things as are pure,
so are those to whom have pure hearts. These things are pure. Such things are as truly pure,
are reckoned so, and used as such by those who themselves
are pure. And by pure, I understand the
apostle to mean those that are saved, Those that believe are
regenerate and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. But he
says further, "...to the defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,
to the unregenerate and to those that are morally corrupt in the
sight of God. For actually nothing about them
is pure, nothing they are, nothing that they can do, nothing in
their works or in their religion is pure in the sight of God. Because, you see, their state
is summarized by the Apostle in the 16th verse. In works they
deny God, being abominable, disobedient. Under every good work, reprobate. Please, again, notice the three
descriptive words in verse 16, none of them flattering to any
man. Abominable. disobedient and reprobate. Now there's no doubt about the
state of such people. They are lost and their whole
frame of life is one of corruption and putrefaction and defilement
and no wonder says Paul no wonder their life is a life of corruption
and no wonder back in verse 10 through verse 14 he describes
the activity of their depravity that they're unruly and vain
talkers and deceivers whose mouth must be stopped, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. And then he confirms
it by saying, one of their own, even one of their own prophets
said of them that the Christians are always liars and evil beasts
and slow bellies. And now says Paul, no wonder
for even their mind and their conscience is defiled. Now, it is important that we
remember that the Jew regarded, as to morality and immorality,
mostly outward things. And then, following behind it,
Gnostic asceticism, just as strongly measured good and evil by outward
behavior and distinctions. And so do most people even today. Most people today look only at
outward behavior and impute good or evil based upon the perception
that they have of outward behavior. The whole Jewish system had come
to be of this sort, and in our day, the entire Pentecostal,
the deeper life, the higher life movement is again, like that
of the Jewish, predicated upon outward distinctions. as is Arminianism,
as is Fundamentalism. As we view it, when we strip
it down, we find that the greatest emphasis is upon outward things,
not upon the heart. But Paul says here, or he shows
here, that the real corruption of life is spawned from within. He says that moral debauchery
is a product of the moral depravity from within. And that is so important
that I want to say it again. That the real corruption of life
is spawned from within. That moral debauchery is a product
of the moral depravity and is spawned from within. Did not
our Lord say the same? Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, blasphemies, adulteries, and such life. Now, this shows
us that a defiled life is the product of a defiled mind and
a defiled conscience. That is, the moral compass, the
conscience, is defiled and the mental process is under the power
of depravity. Now, let us note. the two leading
faculties which Paul declares to be depraved, which in turn
leads to the outward corruption of life that he has just described. First of all, the mind. Paul
says that the mind is defiled. And this means that the whole
mental process is impure and that such things, therefore,
as reason, as thought, understanding, and judgment, are all sinful
because they are a part of the mental process. Now as such,
the carnal mind is enmity against God, Romans 8 and 7, so that
a fallen one cannot understand the things of God, 1 Corinthians
2 and 14, so that they are enemies in their mind by wicked works,
Colossians 121, and that the understanding is darkened and
therefore leads to their alienation from God in this ignorance. Ephesians
4 and verse 18, so that the whole intellectual or the whole mental
process of man is under the corrupting power of sin and depravity. But now, second, the conscience
is defiled. Now, this is the faculty of the
soul responsible for moral judgments. responsible for the moral oversight
of the individual. It applies the law to our deeds.
It judges them to be either right or wrong, based upon the work
of the law written in the heart, and based upon that, it either
accuses or excuses, as Paul said in Romans 2, 14 and 15. Now, let's make some application
before we continue on our way. This means that the outward life
will never become moral until there is a change that is wrought
from within the individual. It means also that the mind or
conscience in its present state can never guide one to God, for
it is under the power of depravity and defilement. It means that
sovereign regeneration must be the first work of God in saving
a sinner. It means that the mind must be
enlightened. The conscience must be purged from evil works. by
the holy blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed at the cross of Calvary. And conscience is never pure
or good or right in the sight of God until it has been purged
from its evil works by the blood of the Lord Jesus. As for the
depravity of the conscience, now in the fall, conscience did
not cease to exist. For as we said, man lost no faculties
in the Fall, nor are new ones created in regeneration. Conscious
became depraved. It lost its former uprightness
and its ability to form judgments as it had before the Fall. It
became, if we may use the word, natural as opposed to spiritual. It became corrupted by sin, so
that as we read of the natural man, 1 Corinthians 2.14, and
a natural body, 1 Corinthians 15.44, so there is the natural
conscience as it exists in Adam, fallen, and corrupted, and defiled,
depraved by sin. And as such, natural, it has
only natural light, that is, the light of nature, to light
its way, to let it see how to walk, and is capable of only
natural judgment. And that is very important. For
when the conscience has only the light of nature to guide
it, it can make only those judgments that regard nature itself. Remember that the verdicts of
conscience are directed by the degree of light, i.e. knowledge,
which it possesses. Thus, it might accuse and condemn
for murder or theft, but not for pride or lying or self-righteousness. This is a common tactic of the
conscience of almost everyone on regeneration. Or, it might
accuse and condemn for atheism, but not for idolatry. And it
will speak peace to an idolater, but not to an atheist. that he recognize some god, any
god, is preferred by conscience to outright atheism. And almost always, conscience
will concern itself only with the more gross, the more vile,
outward sins of a man, while excusing such deadly sins that
lie within as unbelief, and envy, and jealousy, and anger. It is
like a person, the conscience is, with very pure sight, very
poor sight, correction, who sees only large objects, or like a
person who has poor hearing, hearing only the loudest noises
that occur in the area. Thomas Boston has written a book
called Human Nature in its Fourfold State. He said this about the
corruption of the conscience, quote, The light of the natural
conscience in good and evil, in sin and duty, is very defective. Therefore, though it may check
for gross or sins yet, as to the more subtle workings of sin,
it cannot check them, listen now, because it discerns them
not." It discerns them not. It discerns only the more gross
and the more vile and the more violent. Thus, it lets them pass
without condemning them, those that it discerns not, crying
out only against the more vile of sins. Still, I believe that
it is probably true that a person trusts their own conscience more
than they trust a very best friend and expect betrayal from a trusted
friend before they expect betrayal from their conscience. for they
are wont to ascribe honor to their own conscience, and require
no bond or guarantee that it perform its best, its work in
the best interest of the soul, nor do most require to be calibrated
by the truth of the sacred Scripture of God. You know, there are certain
machines that need to be calibrated ever so often to make sure that
they're functioning right and that they are accurate. And when
they are inaccurate, they give off a false reading. And as to
the area of their expertise, can cause great problems, whether
it be in medicine, whether it be radar, whether it be in the
military, or whatever it might be. And so those machines are
required to be calibrated ever so often to make sure, make certain
of their accuracy. Now the conscience need be calibrated
by the Word of Truth, the inspired Word of God. We bring it to the
touchstone of the Scripture and calibrate it for accuracy by
the Scripture. Is it operating in accordance
with the knowledge of the sacred Scripture? Now let us speak or
take note of the specific ways in which the conscience acts
according to depravity. how it has turned traitor to
God to whom it must give an account, how it fails to hold to the high
standard of God, how it acts partially, how it leaves off
a part of every person's duty and obligation, and how it sanctions
the corruption of true religious worship. perhaps the cardinal sin of conscience,
perhaps the thing that it stands the most often guilty of, perhaps
its leading fault is, number one, that conscience tells a
person only a small part of their duty and obligation before the
just and the holy God. Yes, conscience excuses much
more than it requires. It will write off much of the
debt and pronounce it forgiven and clean. It will contain itself
without morality, rather than heartfelt devotion. And it, as
Thomas Goodwin the Puritan said, quote, it is well satisfied and
will take no notice though God have but half of his due, unquote. If conscience can exact but a
half of the due, then it justifies and allows the person to go on
its way, and in this I must remind us that it is a poor steward
of God who crosses out the whole debt when but a part is given
or is paid, and it only censors the worst of sins and winks at
the lesser, but the lesser sins, let us not forget, have damning
power also. Second, perhaps its next most
serious offense or fault is the false peace that it speaks to
guilty sinners, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.
I ask you, should a perishing sinner have peace with God? Should
a man under a sentence of death feel at ease? Should a man who
owes a great debt feel peace about the debt that he has contracted? Does he not think the creditor
will come and eventually take away all that he has. Now this
peace that conscience falsely gives is deadly and that for
two reasons. A. There is no just reason or
basis for conscience to withhold guilt and charging us with sin
and depravity. And second, it does not rest
this peace upon a sure foundation, which is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is more often based upon some
sort of works rather than being based upon the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so having considered the
deviousness of conscience because of its corruption and depravity,
let us sound this warning that not every quiet conscience is
a good conscience. Because conscience does not roar
is no sign that an acquittal is justified. It betrays many
sinners by holding its peace all during the course of their
life of sin, and then betrays them in the end, in the hour,
in the face of death, by roaring louder than ever, and putting
great terror and fear in their approaching death, and falling
into the hands of God in the coming judgment. Conscience,
however, hath another deception, excusing sins that it has grown
accustomed to, those of long habit it has a tendency to excuse. It may protest some new sin that
is practiced, while it says not a word about sins long committed
And in this again, it is deficient and partial, and we have here
another evidence of the depravity and the defilement of the conscience
of man. Now, this deception works in
both ways. A sin never committed before,
gross and vile, when committed for the first time, incurs the
wrath of the conscience. And it is very uneasy, it is
disquieted, and it passes that guilt and anxiety along to the
person. But on the other hand, a religious
duty, long-performed and long-practiced, we'll just use as an example
going to church. The first time that a person
lays out of church and misses church for no good reason, simply
because they were too slothful or sinful to go, conscience may
cry aloud in great protest. But if that new sin is committed
or that old practice is omitted, conscience soon loses its accusing
power and strength, and is silent and quiet about the two things,
and in this is dangerous in both ways. Now we've seen the depravity
and defilement of conscience, and therefore that we must bring
it to the judgment of the Scripture. And I close with these warnings,
applications, and exhortations. And remember, remember, Christian
friend, Judge the work of conscience by the written law or word of
God, the inspired word of God. Always calibrate the conscience
by the sacred holy scripture in order to avoid two extremes. A. Conscience being too lax or
B. Conscience being too strict as
in the case of the legalist. Always bring conscience to the
touchstone of the scripture. Judge it by the light of the
sacred word of God. Cause it to walk in the light.
Let it be instructed by the truth of God so that it may operate
in honesty and integrity before the just and the Holy God, remembering
that it operates upon the knowledge or the truth of the light that
it possesses. Therefore, a Christian's conscience
needs the light of the sacred Scripture, of the Word of God,
to guide it and to let it walk, to calibrate it and to check
it for accuracy, and to bring it to the touchstone and to correct
it when it is off. The Word of the Lord performs
that important function in behalf of the conscience of those that
believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and are cleansed by the blood
of the cross of Calvary. I close again by exhorting us
to remember that the conscience is defiled and that we follow
it only as it follows the Lord and we accept its judgments and
verdicts only as it bases them upon the scripture, the written
word of the Almighty God. Let us therefore be instructed
about the work of conscience and ask perhaps the Lord might
help our conscience to be enlightened by the sacred scripture that
we might indeed have a good conscience before God Almighty and walk
before Him in a pure and in a good conscience. All right? Let's
all stand and bow our heads together for a closing word of prayer
as this service is brought to an end. May God bless His Word
to our heart, and may we hear with our heart and with our understanding.