We come tonight to Hebrews 13,
18. Perhaps one of the most difficult
verses in this entire book, in my opinion, to clearly understand. And so I want your careful attention. I believe it to be one of the
most important things. The problem with understanding
it is not because of an ambiguity with regard to the Scripture
and the revelation given in the Scripture. but because of the
confusion of philosophy and of religion throughout the generation
in which we live. I want to talk to you tonight
about our consciences. Our consciences. Is it right
to follow your conscience? We've been told all our lives,
let your conscience be your guide. Should we? What is the conscience? What does it do? Should I trust
my conscience? Sometime last week or earlier
this week, I can't remember which, Shelby and I came in late from
the offices one night, started to get ready for bed while we
were changing clothes. I flipped the TV on. Before I changed the
channel, I noticed that they were doing something with Hugh
Hefner, the fellow who had been in charge of Playboy magazine
all these years. There was some kind of Christmas
thing they were having. And he made a statement, just dumbfounded
me. just dumbfounded me. He said,
let's pray for one another. God bless you all. And I thought, does the man have
no conscience? No conscience? It's common for
people in all walks of life to appeal to the conscience for
most everything. I have a book in my library written
by The late Mary Goldwater, senator from Arizona, called the conscience
of a conservative. Larry Flint, publisher of Hustler
Magazine, used to argue that his battle for the right to publish
pornography and peddle it to our society was a matter of conscience. Some time ago, I read a brief
portion of an article while I was sitting in Dr. Hendrickson's
office in one of the magazines. I don't know which one it was.
It was arguing in defense of feminism, abortion, and homosexuality. And the writer repeatedly appealed
to the reader's consciences, insisting that conscience demands
our approval of such perversity. In the religious world, multitudes
based their hope with regard to eternal salvation, with regard
to everlasting life, with regard to our acceptance with God, upon
what they think is their good conscience. Not all of us have
been there. Do you have a good conscience?
Then there are others, sort of like O'Kingfish. Most of us are to remember when
Amos and Andy was on TV, back before they outlawed decent television
and started promoting the stuff they promote today. I remember
when it was a blackface comedy, and as a little boy, just as
a little boy, I remember on one occasion, I believe it was Amos,
or yeah, Amos who was the taxi cab driver, asked King Fish,
he said, King Fish, ain't you got no conscience? And he responded
by saying, me and my conscience have got an agreement, it don't
bother me and I don't bother it. What does the Word of God say
about this? Conscience. Conscience. Does it have anything
to say about our consciences? Or is this just a... philosophical,
psychological thing that we banter about. I took the time today
to look up at least 10 different passages in the New Testament
that deal specifically with conscience. The scriptures speak about an
accusing conscience and an excusing conscience, a conscience void
of offense, a weak conscience and a pure conscience, a defiled
conscience, a seared conscience, an evil conscience, a purged
conscience. And here in Hebrews 13.10, a
good conscience. Look at it. Pray for us, for we trust we
have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly. A good conscience is something
everybody wants and very few people possess. I pray that God
will give us his instruction as only he can tonight. I want
to show you three things clearly and very simply set forth in
the scriptures. And then I want to try to show
you what a good conscience is. Here's the first thing. Turn
to Romans chapter one. Romans one. We all have a conscience. There's
no question about that. Someone said the conscience is
the voice of God in a man's soul. I don't know whether that's so
or not, but I do know that God has put a conscience in every
person, a conscience which constantly either accuses us or excuses
us, a conscience which constantly accuses us of doing that which
is evil, thinking that which is evil, or it excuses us in
our actions, justifying us in what we do. The conscience is
that voice inside you that you just can't silence. You can muffle
it, you can cover it up, you can push it down, you can suppress
it, you can hold it down, but you can't silence it. Conscience
is that faculty of the mind which God has put in every one of us
by which we judge the moral character of human conduct, our own conduct
and the conduct of others. It is an inborn sense. It is
an inborn sense. Now, this is important. It's
not something you get because you're raised in a conservative
society. It's not something you get because
you didn't have the proper influences, but you had a very biased upbringing,
and now you've had a warped personality the rest of your life because
you judge some things right and some things wrong. Not at all.
Conscience is an inborn awareness. of that which is right and that
which is wrong. It's an inborn awareness, something
God has put in us by creation. Charles Buck put it this way.
He said, conscience is the secret testimony of the soul, whereby
we approve things that are good and condemn those that are evil.
And look here in Romans chapter, I said Romans 1, I meant Romans
chapter 2. The conscience really is the law of God written on
our hearts. When the Scripture speaks of
God in New Covenant grace, writing His law on our hearts, He's not
talking about writing on our hearts the Ten Commandments,
those things that are considered principles of the moral law,
those things that are often spoken of as the moral law. That law
was written on our hearts from the beginning of the world throughout
the ages of time. Every person born has that law
written on his heart. It is his conscience. The law
written on our hearts in the New Covenant is the law of faith,
the law of love and faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Look here
in Romans 2 verse 14. Paul is showing the guilt of
the whole world before God. 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. Now what
is that? Which show the work of the law
written in their hearts. Now watch it. Their conscience
also bearing witness. and their thoughts, the meanwhile,
accusing or else excusing one another. It is by no means a
perfect or a clear revelation of that which is right, but it
is an inborn, divinely ordained, God-given sense of that which
is right and that which is wrong. All men know right from wrong
to a greater or lesser degree, and that reflects the law of
God written on our hearts, the conscience of a man, often produces
a sense of guilt. And man, the religious world
loves to play on it. A sense of guilt, a sense of
legal fear, a sense of the dread of God's wrath, which men often
mistake for real conviction of sin. And nothing could be further
from the truth. Turn to John chapter eight, John
chapter eight. I do not doubt that when God
the Holy Spirit begins the work of grace in a man's heart, He
causes him to know his guilt and depravity and seizes him
with a terror of God's law for a sense of condemnation and seizes
him. He's made to know that he's justly
condemned. But the conviction that causes
men merely to tremble, merely to fear the wrath of God, is
not Holy Spirit conviction. Look here in John 8 verse 9.
Our Lord Jesus, you'll remember, is dealing with this woman taken
in adultery, and he declares that she is free, not condemned,
justified. As he wrote on the ground, whatever
it was he wrote, we read of these self-righteous legalists who
stood before him, and they which heard it, being convicted by
their own conscience, went out one by one. They didn't hang
around for his grace. They didn't hang around for his
pardon. They didn't hang around to get to know him. They left
him. They were convicted by their own conscience. Holy Spirit conviction
is something else. Holy Spirit conviction is that
gracious work of God by which he makes us to know our sin,
yes. But making us to know our sin,
he makes us also to know that the matter of sin is faith in
Christ. It is a matter of rebellion before
God. Christ alone is and must be the
object of faith. He says when the spirit of truth
comes, he'll convict you of sin because you believe not on me.
That's the issue. Because you believe not on me.
Brother Maurice called last night and was asking me some questions
about this thing of why men go to hell. Not because of Adam's
transgression. No, no, no. Not at all. Nobody
ever went to hell because of what Adam did in the garden.
We are born sinners because of what Adam did in the garden.
But Romans 5 makes it clear that those who sin not after the similitude
of Adam's transgression will not perish under the wrath of
God. Men and women do not go to hell because God's predestined
them to hell. Men and women go to hell because
they reject, defy the law of God revealed to them. Whether
it's revealed by the word or whether it's revealed by conscience,
it is that which God has revealed. And they say, we will not bow
to him. We will not submit to him. Righteousness
is also a matter of true conviction. When God, the Holy Spirit, brings
conviction, he convinces the sinner that righteousness is
fulfilled. Righteousness has been established
by Jesus Christ, the Lord. And he convinces us of judgment.
That is, he convinces the sinner. The sinner born again, the sinner
called by grace, is convinced. Now, this is not a maybe-so thing,
this is not a hope-so thing, this is not, well, I sort of
do believe it. When a man has been born of God,
when he's been called by God the Holy Spirit, read it for
yourself in John chapter 16, he's convinced of judgment because
Christ, who was made to be sin, goes to the Father. And he could
not go to the Father, David, if he still had sin on him. He
could not ascend to glory. He goes to the Father because
the sin, which was made to be his, has been put away. Christ
alone, then, is the object of faith. Adam and Eve in the garden
had this sense of dread and terror. You remember when they sinned
against God. Something happened. Adam and Eve looked at each other
and said, we're buck naked. We're naked. Why, they'd been
naked all the time. But suddenly they realized they
were naked. And they decided to hide from God under some fig
leaves. They decided they needed something
to cover them up. Something to shelter, something
to stand between them and God. And they thought they could hide
from God among the trees in the garden with a covering of fig
leaves. That shows that their consciences were awakened. Their consciences were filled
with guilt and with dread and with terror. They feared now
to hear the voice of the Lord coming in the garden. But their
consciences were depraved. Their consciences were corrupt.
Their consciences were perverse. So we must not trust our consciences. The scriptures tell us plain
that men by nature have an evil conscience, Hebrews 10, 22, a
defiled conscience, a conscience so defiled that we may, in a
sense, have a good conscience in our own minds while performing
the most abominable things. Turn to Romans chapter 9 for
a moment. And just hold your hands there and listen to Paul's
testimony. In Acts 23, verse 1, Paul earnestly beholding the
council said, men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience
before God until this day. Saul of Tarsus, that persecutor,
he said, I've lived in good conscience. He said, I barely thought with
myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of
Jesus of Nazareth. Now, here in Romans 9.1, he says,
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing
me witness in the Holy Ghost. Now, this passage can be read,
and it does no harm to the scripture to interpret it this way, that
Paul is saying he speaks vicariously of a great passion he has for
his brethren that they might now be saved. But it would not
be at all proper for you or I or him to wish ourselves accursed
from Christ for somebody else. No, sir. No, sir. I love that
dear lady, but it is my responsibility to love Christ more. Not to wish
myself accursed from Christ for her sake. Oh, no. No, no. Quite literally, Paul's past
language here ought to be read in the past tense. What he's
saying is, I was wishing myself a curse from Christ. He said
my conscience was also bearing me witness. And he thought it
was the work of God's spirit. So Paul, writing by divine inspiration,
tells us that when he was persecuting the church, wishing himself accursed
from Christ, wishing Christ never existed. His conscience was bearing
him witness, and he was fully convinced he was doing the right
thing. Fully convinced. So men can't do that, have a
conscience. Oh, I beg to differ. Some are so hardened by free
will, works, religion, or by ungodly behavior, often by both,
they go hand in hand, that they live with what Paul calls a seared
conscience. Turn to 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy
4. Now remember, Paul here is talking
about religious folks. He's talking about folks like
the people and generation in which we live. Bible-going, hymn-singing,
amen people. The Lord bless you people. I'm
blessed. That's the kind of folks he's talking about. 1 Timothy
4. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly. that in the latter time some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy." Watch it
now. Having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. I reckon what the result of that's
going to be. The result was that these folks whose consciences
are seared with a hot iron taught men and women How to live in
self-righteous delusion. Convincing themselves that they're
right before God when they have no righteousness at all. Look
at it. Verse 3. Forbidding to marry, commanding
to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. Oh, they're
so sincere. They're so religious. Look how
they deprive themselves. Look what they do for God. Convince
other folks that you're righteous, and convince yourself too. Such
men and women, and the children of such, have their consciences
so catererized, so hardened, that they're past feeling. How
on this earth could children go into that high school up there
in Littleton, Colorado, and just massacre folks? Son and daughter go in and plot
and plan, walk in and murder their own parents. A woman murder
her own children just because she wants something different,
because the conscience is seared. John Gill wrote it this way,
under a cloak of sanctity. Under a cloak of sanctity. that commit the most shocking
impieties. And he wrote that nearly 300
years ago, under the cloak of sanctity. If you work at it, if you hold
down the truth of God low enough, persistently enough, you can
cauterize your conscience. You can so sear your conscience,
so harden yourself that your conscience will excuse the most
abominably wicked deeds and justify the most blatant self-righteousness.
I often think of this. Shelby and I were talking about
it yesterday as we were driving over to Lexington. Brother Paul
Hibbs, one of the men in the church down at Madisonville,
made this statement a long time ago. after learning the behavior
of someone who professed faith in Christ. He said, if the Lord
left us to ourselves, there's nothing we wouldn't do and justify
ourselves in doing. Nothing. What a profound statement. What
a sobering statement. But if He just left us to ourselves,
There's nothing we wouldn't do and fully convince ourselves
that we were right to do it. Nothing. We must never trust
our consciences. We must be careful not to violate
our consciences. There's some things I'm just
not going to do, God helping me. For conscience sake, I'm
not going to violate my conscience for anybody. But don't trust
your conscience. He who trusts his own conscience
is like a man who trusts his own heart. He trusts both the
fool and the devil, because that's what your heart is, Bob, and
that's what your conscience is. Our guide in all things must
be the Word of God alone. Not our feelings, the Word of
God. Not our assessment of the situation,
the Word of God. Not our understanding of the
times in which we live, the Word of God alone. Not the opinions
of others, the Word of God alone. It doesn't matter what somebody
else approves of or disapproves of. It doesn't matter what somebody
else looks at and says is evil or looks at and says is good.
We must form our judgment of all things by that which God
has written in his word. And that must be our guide. All
right, here's the second thing. We all have a conscience. Secondly,
we all want a good conscience. Pray for us. We trust. that we
have a good conscience. What would a man not give to
have a conscience which would let him sleep at night? A conscience
that would let him draw near to God with full assurance. How can a sinner like Larry Bram,
a vile, wretched, loathsome sinner like Larry Bram
or Don Fortner, draw near to God Almighty in His holiness,
in His purity, in His glory with full assurance that everything's
all right. Now find out the answer to that,
and you're going to learn something about the gospel of God's grace.
It doesn't depend on how I feel. It doesn't depend on my goodness. It doesn't depend on how well
I've been able to restrain and brighten my tongue. It doesn't
depend on how well I've been able to restrain and brighten
my passions. What would a man give to have ease? real ease of heart and peace
of mind in the prospect of meeting God in judgment, face to face. Now, you folks have been exposed
to religion about all your lives. And you've heard preachers try
their best to use Judgment Day to scare folks into Christ, scare
them into heaven, scare them into a profession of faith. Some
years ago, all the churches in town, of course these preachers
don't ask me to do any of that stuff anymore, they didn't know me
back then. They got together over here at Boyle County High
School, showed a film called The Burning Hell, and scared
the hell out of everybody. I mean, there were professions
of faith, little children, professions of faith, older folks, professions
of faith, folks who had made two or three professions of faith
already made another one. Everybody was scared to death. Oh, why
wouldn't you approve of that? Because it doesn't do anybody
any good, and it only sears the conscience with a sense of peace
when there is no peace. And folks will tell you, if they're
honest, they'll tell you, they don't have any peace. The religious people you know, ignorant of the gospel of God's
grace. They get a little sick. All of a sudden, they're in a
tizzy. They get some indication that
they're going to soon have to meet God. They're just terrified,
just terrified. How come? Because their conscience
speaks loudly and gives them no peace. You see, all the religion
and the religious practices All the ceremonies and sacrifices
of religion in the world cannot give a man a good conscience.
All the gifts, all the works of charity and philanthropy imaginable
can't buy peace with God. Good works of moral reformation,
good works of religious devotion, no matter how earnest, no matter
how sincere, can ever earn a man peace with God. Can't be done.
Our consciences demand, remember, God has stamped a God consciousness
somewhere back here. And our consciences demand exactly
the same thing God Almighty demands. Our consciences demand exactly
what God's holy law demands. Our consciences demand complete
atonement for sin. complete atonement. My conscience
cannot speak peace inside me except all my sin is fully paid,
fully settled, justice fully satisfied so that God Almighty
has no record at all, has no reason at all, has no cause at
all for fury toward me. My conscience can't give me peace
until I have no sin. And my conscience demands something
else. It demands perfect righteousness. We're fixing to go meet God Almighty
just and righteous. Well, how on earth can you prepare
for that? You can't. You can't. You're not going to put away
sin. And you're not going to bring in righteousness. But the
Son of God did. Look here in Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. I love the picture. I've told
you numerous times. It's time to get Pilgrim's Progress
out and read it again, and you too. That picture of Pilgrim
going up with his heavy burden on his back. He'd gone to Mount
Sinai and couldn't get any relief. And he'd gone to Evangelist,
couldn't get any relief. But Evangelist told him to go
up to Mount Calvary. And he said, no sooner did I
approached Mount Calvary and I saw the Lamb of God hanging
on the curse tree. And my burden fell off my back
and rolled into the abyss of forgetfulness. And it's never
been found since. That's what I'm talking about.
Look here in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1. The law having a shadow of good
things to come. In other words, there wasn't
really anything good in all the ceremonies of the law except
that which it portrayed. A shadow of good things to come,
not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers there
unto perfect. That's what the conscience requires.
That's what the law requires. For then, look at it now, for
then would they not have ceased to be offered? Looks to me like
they'd take care of it. If I could bring a sacrifice,
if I could bring some kind of an animal sacrifice, some kind
of a blood sacrifice, some kind of a human sacrifice, if I could
bring some kind of a sacrifice by which I could take this sacrifice
and present it to God and say, God says that's enough, then
I don't have to offer any more sacrifice. That's his reasoning. But we don't. Would they not
have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers,
once purged, should have had no more conscience of sin. You see, conscience then, Bobby,
is not a feeling. It's a fact. Well, I feel justified. Your
feeling ain't got a thing to do with anything. I feel like
God's accepted me. What you feel doesn't matter.
It just doesn't matter. Let me see if I can illustrate it.
I haven't had a speeding ticket or traffic violation in a long
time. Last one I got was up here in town, up on Lexington Avenue,
coming in town, that 45-mile-an-hour speed zone, dropped to 35, and
sitting right there in that Camberlite parking lot. Good place for a
lawman to sit. He's sitting right there in that
Camberlite church parking lot. He caught me doing 46 miles an
hour in a 35-mile-an-hour speed zone. And I was guilty. I was guilty. And I've got to
go face that judge, this new preacher in town. I've got to
go face that judge. And I've got to plead guilty.
And there's not any excuse. Didn't you know that it was going
to be 35 miles an hour? Yeah, but there was a fellow
there going too slow to suit my impatience, and I wanted to
get around him. I don't think that'd fly very
well. But that was the fact. That was the fact. And you know
what I did? I went up there and settled the
issue by giving everything the law could and did demand. And I don't have any more conscience
about it. It's not an issue anymore. When I see the lawman, he doesn't
bother me anymore. Wave at him. Matter of fact,
I've gotten to know him a little bit since I've been here at Nystalla.
But he's got nothing against me. He's got no reason to stop
me. Because the fine has been paid, justice is satisfied, the
law is now silent. He's got nothing else to say.
Listen to me. God help you to hear me now.
I tried all my life to make up with God. I tried. I tried. But I couldn't make
up. I couldn't. I told you some time
ago, I caused my parents so much pain.
After God saved me, I spent the rest of my life, in every relationship
with my mother, trying my best to make up. And there wasn't anything I could
do to make up for the pain. Now, she wouldn't have said that.
She wouldn't have said that. But, buddy, there was no way
on this earth I could be satisfied that I'd done enough. I couldn't
do it. I couldn't do it. Couldn't do
it. And I can't make up with God.
But somebody was able and has made up to God Almighty for me. Look here in Hebrews 10. Since
the law couldn't take away sin, since sacrifices couldn't take
away sin, Christ came into the world. And the Holy Ghost is
witness to us. And He, with His own blood, has
obtained eternal redemption for us. And He has, by His blood,
sanctified all His people. He has forever put away our sins. He has now sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on High, having perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now look at verse 15. Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is witness to us." Where? Oh, boy, the Holy
Spirit just, He spoke right here. No, He didn't. No, He didn't. He spoke right here. Now, He
may, I hope He does, through His Word, speak right here in
your heart. But if all you got is what you
feel in here, you ain't got anything. He speaks through his word. Where
does he witness to us? Right here in this chapter. Look
down at verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness. The word is confidence. Confidence. To do what no man could ever
do before. To enter into the holiest. The
only man who could enter into the holiest was the high priest,
him once a year, then with the blood of a lamb, and then only
exactly as God said, do it. No other man dared enter into
that holy place because that represented God's holy presence. No man could come there. But
this man did. And now, I do. I do. Come to God Almighty. Nothing in my hand I bring, simply
to thy cross I cling. Helpless, look to thee for grace. Naked, come to thee for dress.
Nothing, nothing. But with confidence, how is that?
By the blood of Jesus. What's that talking about? His
blood represents the totality of his
life. the totality of his sacrifice. When the blood is poured out,
the life is given. What he gave for us, Bob Pruitt,
was himself in his whole obedience. Now, I come to God by the blood
of his son, in his righteousness, with his blood, with confidence. Verse 20, by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. How can that be? Having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience. Horatius Bonar was exactly right.
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 that righteousness which covers us from head to foot, in virtue
of which we are unassailable by the law, as well as shielded
from wrath. Here I stand, my God, before
you. Behold me now. Watch me. Look
on me. Look, oh Lord, look on me! Washed in the blood and robed
in the righteousness of your darling Son, unassailable, unaccusable
before God's holy law. In the Old Testament, anybody who touched anything
unclean was unclean. And it was all ceremonial. If
a man in your business, Bob, you'd be unclean all the time.
Touched a dead corpse, or anything the dead corpse had touched,
he's unclean. He's unclean. He must be ceremonially
purified, ceremonially cleansed by blood being sprinkled. And
he could not come to offer sacrifice to God in the tabernacle or in
the temple. He could not worship God. He
could not walk into the house of God until he had been ceremonially
cleansed. Now, touching the dead corpse
didn't make the man dirty. Being around where his clothes
were didn't make him dirty. But he was ceremonially dirty.
And having blood sprinkled on an altar didn't make him clean,
but it made him ceremonially clean because of what it pointed
to. We died in our father Adam. And we all became ceremonially
and literally unclean when Adam died, so that before the law
of God, we were unclean, not just in a ceremonial way, but
literally unclean, unclean within and unclean without, so that
even our consciences and understanding are defiled in all the details
of life. And now we come to God with blood
sprinkled, with He, with His own blood. entered in once into
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now,
this is what I want you to see thirdly. The only way we can
ever obtain a good conscience before God is having our consciences
sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what we read in Hebrews
10, 22. Only the blood of Christ answers all the demands of God's
holy law. And the blood of Christ alone
answers all the demands of the conscience. How many ways can
I say it? When God Almighty looked on His
Son, who was made to be sin for us. And he buried the sword of his
angry, hot justice in the soul of his darling son. And his son
said, it's finished. God Almighty said, it's finished. That's enough. That's enough. And when my soul was terrorized
with a guilty conscience, a screaming conscience that I couldn't silence,
oh, thank God He wouldn't let me silence it. I tried reading
the Bible, and I tried making bargains with God, and I tried
changing my life, I tried to behave better, I tried to go
to church, I tried to do the right things, tried to quit this
and start that. Because everybody thinks he can
work his way into God's favor. Everybody does. Everybody does.
Some folks lie and say otherwise. But everybody, by nature, thinks
he can work his way into God's favor. And I tried. But it didn't
matter what I did. That ain't enough. Until at last, the Lord God gave
me eyes to see and a heart to believe on his darling son. And that's enough. That's 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. All right. One more thing. What
is a good conscience? In Bible terms, a good conscience
is a conscience purified from guilt, the guilt of sin by the
grace of God and purged from sin by the blood of Christ. Does that mean your conscience
never has any struggles? Oh, no. Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians
8 of believing men and women with a weak conscience. But a
good conscience is a conscience. freed both from the guilt of
sin and the dead works of legal religion, relying upon Christ
alone for all things. A good conscience is a conscience
that understands before God. Before God. Let's just limit it to that right
there. A good conscience is a conscience that understands this much, before
God, for me, Christ is everything. That's all. That's a good conscience. A good conscience is a conscience
leaning all the weight of your soul on the Son of God. not my feelings, not even my
faith, not my good works, not my sorrow for my bad deeds,
not my repentance, not my knowledge, but a good conscience looks to
Christ alone for wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
before God Almighty. All right, let's see if we can
sing number 31 in our Songs of Grace book. My conscience now
is free and clear.