A Weak Conscience Seared by Legalism - Ryan Fullerton

I want to read to you one verse

this evening.

I want to read you one verse this evening.

And I'll read it just
after I share with you

what I'm going be speaking on.

And I'll share with you what
I'm going to be speaking on

just after I pray.

So let's pray together.

Father, You told us

that without You we could do nothing,

and we believe it,

even though our flesh
would rage with pride

and try to convince us we'll be okay.

By faith, we believe we can do nothing.

Lord, faith is the assurance
of things hoped for

and we want to put our hope

in what You have promised.

Lord, You said that
whoever believes in You

would do the work that You do,

and greater works than these would he do

because You had gone to the Father.

Would You allow me to do -

it's almost unspeakable, Lord -

greater works than You did?

Would you equip Your saints so that

we could all do greater works than You did

because You have gone to the Father;

You've ascended, and You've poured out

the powerful Holy Spirit.

Father, I want to pray
that You would give us

a spirit of wisdom and of revelation

in the knowledge of You.

Lord, I want to pray that You would just

break chains this evening.

Lord, wherever there are those

who are in bondage,
that You would free them,

and wherever there are Christians
who are returning to a spirit of slavery,

that You would destroy it.

Lord, You know that this topic
that we're talking about

is one that has plagued me, hurt me.

I just pray that I would be able to pass

a little bit of the help I've received on.

Lord, I pray that You'd give
me clarity from Your Word.

Lord, that You'd give me prophecy

if there's something particular
that needs to be pointed out.

And that You would just allow us

to know that Your Spirit was among us,

speaking to us by Your Word.

Now, Lord, let us preach and listen

with confidence in Christ who loves us

and gave Himself for us,

and promises to be with us always,

even to the end of the age.

We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

The topic I want to talk
to you about tonight

is one that can cause
you either great pain

or tremendous pleasure.

What I want to speak to us about

is a topic that can either be

pure and perfect -

something that can either
be pure and perfect -

or, dirty and defiled.

It can be either good or bad.

Seared or soft.

I want to speak to you
about the conscience.

And isn't the conscience where we live?

So much of our lives as Christians

are lived interacting
with our consciences.

If the conscience is dirty,

there's no good day.

If the conscience is pure,

there is no bad day,

no matter what's happening.

If your conscience is clean,

communion with God is uninterrupted.

All hell can break loose against you

and you've got heaven in your soul.

If there's a hindrance
between you and the Lord,

then everything can be going right,

and nothing's going right.

There's no joy in your soul.

And I want to speak to us
about the conscience

from 1 Timothy 1:5

where we're told the goal

of all Christian teaching.

The goal of all Paul's teaching,

the goal of all Timothy's teaching,

the goal of every Sunday
school you ever teach,

and the goal of every interaction
you ever have with a friend

is summarized in this one verse.

1 Timothy 1:5.

"The aim of our charge..."

or as I believe the NASB puts it:

"The goal of our instruction."

"The aim of our charge is love

that issues from a pure heart

and a good conscience

and a sincere faith."

Everything that's ever taught

in the name of Christianity

ought to have a singular goal:

love.

If it's not helping people care

about other people more,

it's not Christian teaching.

If it's not warming your heart

to care more about God

and care more about the people He made,

it's not Christian teaching.

I don't care how orthodox it is,

if it doesn't result in love, it's bent,

and crooked, warped, and sinful,

and self-condemned.

The goal of all Christian teaching

is for you to care more about other people

for the glory of God.

The aim of our instruction is love.

And it issues, it flows out

of the inside.

And the inside of us is described

in three ways:

We're told that Christian teaching

that produces love -

that love actually ought to
issue out of a pure heart -

a heart that's been born again,

a heart that's been cleansed,

a heart that has pure motives before God.

And a good conscience - we'll get to that.

And a sincere faith -
not like the Pharisees.

They prayed in public, they acted holy,

they gave their tithes,

but it was all to have
other people watch them.

It wasn't a sincere faith towards God.

It was a show faith towards man.

And then, the Apostle Paul singles out

the importance of a good conscience

in producing love.

And it should be clear almost immediately

just how very practical this is.

It is very practical to think about

how much we need a good conscience

if we're going to get biblical love.

So you think about how abortion

is justified in our day.

The slaughter of the innocents.

Sixty million Americans dead since 1973 -

legally.

And justified how?

In many cases, because it's loving.

Loving.

It would sacrifice the mother's dreams

to have a child at this point,

and we want to be loving

and let her become all
that she was meant to be.

So, sacrifice the life of the child

so as not to sacrifice
the mother's dreams.

Or, it's argued that abortion is loving

to the child.

Because of course,
if you're born in poverty

or in a family that doesn't want you,

that couldn't be a life worth living.

So you see what happens

is that something is justified
in the name of love,

but it's not from a biblical conscience.

Not from a good conscience at all.

Really, it's self-deceived.

One in every three women in America

by the time they're 40

has had an abortion.

So I realize I'm speaking to dear sisters

who have had abortions,

and men who have helped
them get those abortions.

And I want to tell you,
I'm going to share things with you

that will cleanse your conscience.

That will let you know freedom

and peace and joy.

It should just be immediately apparent

that this whole idea of a good conscience

is really important in the issue of love.

Why do so many churches not practice

church discipline?

Well, it's not loving.

Rebuking,

correcting,

excluding,

putting out.

All of that's inconceivable.

That can't be loving.

And so you've got bad definitions of love

moving people into action,

and you've got a bad idea of love.

You don't have love
from a good conscience.

A good conscience says,

hey, Jesus decides what's loving.

And if you read Matthew 18,

it's all about love.

Go get that brother. Go win that brother.

Go get two or three to win that brother.

Go get the whole church
to try to win that brother.

It's all about love

and winning the sinner in,

and when love divorces
itself from the Bible,

you don't get love anymore.

And the Bible is interested
in cultivating love

from a good conscience.

This is important to know when
you're talking about new Christians.

I have a friend named Darren.

He went on to become a pastor,

but when he first got saved,

he was smoking pot,

he was smoking cigarettes,
he was drinking alcohol,

he was drinking coffee,

and he got saved and he got so convicted,

and he quit the coffee
and cigarettes right away.

But it took a little more
conscience informing

before it started firing on all cylinders,

and he got convicted of what
he needed to be convicted of

in order to repent

and continue to walk

in a matter worthy of the gospel.

And so we need to
understand the conscience.

It's because of misunderstandings

about the conscience

that so many churches are so small.

Now listen, I believe
that a lot of churches

are small because they're so faithful.

I believe that.

I believe that in the midst of a crooked

and perverse generation,

a lot of times the remnant
is going to be small

and there aren't going to be a
lot of people that join them.

I believe that faithfulness

can keep churches small.

Did anyone hear me say that?

Okay, I said that. Right?

And I believe that if your church

all becomes about what
kind of bread you bake,

and what homeschooling curriculum you buy,

you're going to be small
for the wrong reasons.

And you're going to pat
yourself on the back

for your faithfulness,

while you keep people away
from the kingdom of God.

And that's bad.

And so understanding
issues of the conscience

is critical to living a life of love.

The goal of our instruction is love

from a pure heart,

a sincere faith,

and a good conscience.

Now, let's just ask:

what is the conscience?

We're looking at 1 Timothy 1:5.

It tells us that love is supposed to

come out of a good conscience.

What is a conscience?

And I think the best place to get a sense

of what a conscience is

is by watching a conscience in action

in Romans 2:14-16.

Romans 2:14-16.

Let us look at the conscience in action.

And as we see the conscience acting;

as we see what the conscience does,

we get a glimpse of
what the conscience is.

The Apostle Paul, you might remember,

in the first three chapters of Romans

is proceeding like a lawyer

against the human race;

showing the universal guilt
of the human race,

and how the whole human race

is under the guilt and
under the power of sin.

And, as he goes and proceeds to do this,

he explains that Gentiles -
that is non-Jews,

people who didn't deal with Moses;

didn't have the 10 Commandments;

didn't have the Bible;

the people Francis Schaeffer called,

"the man without the Bible."

He says these Gentiles, even though

they didn't have the 10 Commandments,

none the less, they had the law

written on their hearts.

And their consciences always spoke to them

about that law

that was written on their hearts.

Romans 2:14 says,

"For when Gentiles that
do not have the law..."

They don't have the law of Moses.

They don't have the 10 Commandments

outside their courtyards.

"...By nature, do what the law requires,

they are a law to themselves,

even though they do not have the law,

they show that the work of the law

is written on their hearts,

while their consciences also bear witness

and their conflicting thoughts accuse

or even excuse them

on that day when according to my gospel

God judges the secrets of men

by Christ Jesus."

Every single person has the law

written on their heart.

And we're not talking about this

in the way that Hebrews 8 talks about

the law written on the heart.

When Hebrews 8 talks about

the Christian having the
law written on their heart,

it means that the Christian
longs to do the law.

Here, when we look at Romans 2,

it's just talking about that every person,

whether they're a Christian or not,

is aware of the law.

They know the difference between

right and wrong.

I had the privilege of witnessing

to two gay friends the other day,

and I said to them,

"Listen, isn't it amazing
that you're living

in this time and this culture

where I know there's been persecution

and hatred against homosexuals,

but really, at the end of the day,

this is about as easy a
time as you can imagine

to be gay, and you both feel guilty now."

And they're like, "Yeah."

Because they have the
law written on their hearts.

Because their conscience has not been

completely silenced.

And what the Bible tells us

is that the law is written on the heart,

so we have this knowledge
of right and wrong,

we have this knowledge
of what's good and bad,

and the conscience is a witness

that's always telling us

whether we're doing the good

or doing the bad.

It's bearing witness.

It's like having, as one person put it,

a prosecuting attorney in your heart

and a defense attorney in your heart

at the same time.

So the attorney at one point is saying,

"You are guilty."

And then at the next point, it's saying,

"You are innocent."

That was good. That was bad.

There's this constant self-evaluation

going on within the heart

being done by the conscience

as it compares your behaviors,

your attitudes, and your actions

to God's law.

The conscience bears witness.

It's like an alarm that goes off

when you're about to do the wrong thing.

It's like a knife that stabs your heart

when you do the wrong thing.

And it's constantly reflecting you to you.

And it's a bit wrong to
say it's part of you,

but there's also a sense, isn't there,

where it's independent of you.

I can close my eyes. They're closed.

I can't see you now.

I've not figured out how to
shut my conscience off.

Sadly, there is a way. I'll show you.

But it's not easy to
silence the conscience.

It's there when you go to bed.

I believe the reason that so
many people stay so busy,

so distracted, so constantly
needing noise in their ears

and visuals in front of their eyes

is in many ways, just to keep

their conscience at bay.

They cannot bear the sound of silence

because as soon as you meet silence,

there's a sound.

And it's the sound of your conscience.

So, the conscience is a witness

given by God that reflects

whether we're either disobeying God's law

or obeying it.

It's either excusing us or accusing us

all the time.

And there's debate about how v. 16

fits into Romans 2,

but it does seem that the final judgment

is not far off from the
eyesight of the conscience.

"On that day, when according to my gospel

God judges the secrets of men

by Christ Jesus."

Your conscience right now is secret.

I can't see your conscience.

I don't know who in front of me

is tormented with guilt,

and who is genuinely joyful in the Lord.

I don't know.

And you can't see mine.

Our consciences have a secret operation.

But there will come a day

when those secrets are all brought up

before the Lord.

And where the Lord will assess

whether we've done right or wrong

on the judgment day.

And I'm going to tell you,

I believe the conscience knows

we've done wrong.

Look at Romans 1:32.

Romans 1:32.

He's speaking about the Gentiles.

He's just listed off this
whole list of sins.

Homosexuality, lesbianism,

gossip, slander,

disobedience to parents.

He's listed off all these things

that Kevin pointed out so well.

We ought to feel compassionate about

when we see them in other people.

And he tells us how the Gentiles

feel about all these sins they commit.

They tell you it doesn't bother them.

They tell you it's no big deal.

They tell you they stopped feeling
guilty about that years ago.

Romans 1:32.

"Though they know God's righteous decree

that those who practice such things

deserve to die,

they not only do them,

but give approval to those
who practice them."

People know that God has decreed

the death sentence against their sin.

They know that.

Deeply.

Their consciences remind them

that they deserve to die

because of their sin.

And they gather around them people

who go, "that's okay. It's no big deal."

"Oh, don't get into that
old antiquated morality."

"That's all false. That's all lies."

"You need to understand that
we're free of all that stuff now."

And they surround
themselves with voices

that say it's all okay.

But when they put their
head on the pillow,

or have a moment of silence,

it's there.

I've done wrong.

And I deserve to die.

And I wonder how many of you here

know you've done wrong

and you deserve to die,

and tonight will be the
time you taste freedom

for the first time.

Wouldn't that be great?

Come out of the shadows?

Come out of the secrets?

And have your conscience cleansed?

I used to teach a Bible study in prison,

and there were a number
of men in the Bible study

who had killed their wives.

One of them denied it for years and years

and years and years and years.

And when he finally admitted
that he'd killed his wife,

they said he changed color.

It was just life giving

to come clean;

to confess.

So, here is a definition.

I've been helped out with this.

The conscience is that aspect

because we're made in the image of God -

the conscience is that aspect of us

that tells us what's right

and what's wrong.

The conscience is that aspect of us

because we're made in the image of God

that witnesses to us

about what is right and what is wrong.

We're made in the image of God,

and God is the kind of God who says,

that's good; that's good; that's good.

Man alone? Not good.

Man with a wife? Very good.

He is the God who says what's good,

not good, and very good.

We're made in His image.

And so we have a conscience
that bears witness

to good, evil, not good, very good.

We're made in the image of God

and so like God, we cannot help

but to witness to the reality of morality.

That's what the conscience is.

Everyone has one.

Only you experience yours.

It witnesses to what's
going on in your heart

regarding God's law -

whether you're obeying it and
you should be excused,

or you're disobeying it
and should be accused.

And ultimately, all of our secret thoughts

will be brought up to the judgment of God

on the last day.

This is my second point
if you're keeping notes.

If you're keeping notes, I'm sorry.

I'm just the worst preacher for that.

But, here's the second point.

We've looked at what the conscience is,

and now we want to look at the fact

that the conscience has different states.

The conscience can be in different states.

And I don't mean the conscience can be

in Mississippi and Alabama.

I mean that it can be in
different places before God.

It can be in different states.

This is implied in the verse.

We wouldn't really need to go
further than 1 Timothy 1:5.

We will go further than 1 Timothy 1:5,

but it's implied right
there in 1 Timothy 1:5.

The goal of our instruction is love

from a good conscience.

So one of the states

that a conscience can be in

is it can be good.

You can have a good conscience.

The implication of the verse is

that when you start your Christian life,

the conscience isn't as
good as it should be

and so you need Christian teaching

to learn how to walk
with a good conscience.

The conscience can be in different states.

And it's going to benefit us, I think,

this evening.

It's going to benefit us to think through

some of the states

the conscience can be in.

This isn't exhaustive,

but I hope it's helpful.

The first is the conscience can be weak.

The conscience can be weak.

Look at 1 Corinthians 8.

1 Corinthians 8, if you will.

And we'll read verses 7-12.

We'll put our fingers on v. 10.

1 Corinthians 8:7-12.

The situation is that
some of the Corinthians

were eating meat sacrificed to idols.

And they'd gotten saved;

they's realized that Zeus and Hermes

and all these idols, they were nothing.

They didn't even exist.

And so the fact that in Corinth,

all the meat in the meat market

was sacrificed to idols didn't bother them

because all the idols didn't exist.

But Paul says in v. 7,

not all possess this knowledge.

Not every Christian's worked it out.

Even though there's only one God,

and Zeus and Hermes don't exist,

not every Christian has
fully appreciated that,

fully understood that,

fully gotten that.

They're worshiping God and God alone,

but man, Zeus and Hermes are real,

and I don't want anything to do with them.

And it says there,

"not all possess this knowledge..."

this knowledge that there is only one God,

and there are no idols,

"...but some through former
association with idols

eat food as really offered to an idol

and their conscience being weak

is defiled.

Food will not commend us to God,

we are no worse off if we do not eat,

and no better off if we do,

but take care that this right of yours

does not somehow become a stumbling block

to the weak.

For if anyone sees you who have knowledge

eating in an idol's temple,

will he not be encouraged

if his conscience is weak

to eat food offered to idols

and so by your knowledge, this weak person

is destroyed,

the brother for whom Christ died,

thus sinning against your brother

and wounding their
conscience when it is weak,

you sin against Christ.

Therefore, if food makes
my brother stumble,

I will never eat meat,

lest I make my brother stumble."

The idea here is that

some of these Christians,

they couldn't get over the connection

between the meat and the idols.

They couldn't get over it.

They couldn't get it out of their mind.

It was like when I got saved.

I had been to every nasty punk show

before I got saved,

and when I got to Bible college

and found all these Christians

listening to Christianized punk music,

I couldn't understand
how it could be good.

It couldn't possibly be decent,

because it had too many associations

with the evil I had come out of

for me to even conceive
of it possibly being good.

And these Christians in Corinth

had so many memories of the pagan temples

and so many memories of the wickedness

that happened there,

that the idea of eating meat

that was sacrificed to those gods,

they just couldn't handle that.

They couldn't tolerate that.

And so their consciences were weak.

They were weak because they were not

walking in the fullness
of what God has revealed.

And what God has revealed

is that Zeus and Hermes don't exist.

Mohammad and Allah don't exist.

Vishnu doesn't exist.

All the gods, all the false
gods of this world,

don't even exist,

so you can sacrifice food
all you want to them,

they don't exist!

But these believers had not been

fully able to appreciate

all of God's truth.

Now, we're going to get into this later,

but notice Paul's approach is not:

"What's wrong with you not appreciating

all of God's revealed truth?"

His answer is:

care for the weak brother.

Don't offend him.

He doesn't understand
everything in the Bible,

but he understands the
things that save him.

Don't hurt him.

His conscience is weak.

And there are people in our day

who think that any touching of alcohol

is a sin even though Jesus made wine.

And your conscience is weak.

There are people who think

one day is holier than all the others,

and Paul says their consciences are weak.

Now, that's kind of hard, right?

Because when your conscience is weak,

you feel like it's pretty strong.

Right?

I've got a few of those issues myself.

I've got a pretty good unbiblical case

for what I believe.

Nonetheless, Paul identifies

certain consciences that have not

walked into the fullness
of God's revelation.

He identifies them as weak.

You're going to have a weak conscience.

And conversely, you can
have a strong conscience.

A strong conscience is
one that fully walks in

what God has revealed to be okay.

A conscience can also be seared.

1 Timothy 4:1 please.

A conscience can also be seared.

1 Timothy 4:1

Remember we're now in the same book

that our first passage comes from.

Paul says, "Now the Spirit expressly says

that in later times, some will

depart from the faith
by devoting themselves

to deceitful spirits

and the teachings of demons

through the insincerity of liars

whose consciences are seared,

who forbid marriage,

and require abstinence from food

that God created to be received

with thanksgiving by those who believe

and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good

and nothing is to be rejected

if it is received with thanksgiving,

for it is made holy by the
Word of God and prayer."

Now some of you could come up to me

after the service,

and if my experience is true,

some of you will,

and you've got burns.

Places where your skin has been seared.

And of course, you know,

if you put out a match
with your two fingers,

it's no big deal,

but if you fall onto the top of the stove

or you wind up in a fire,

you wind up with skin
where the nerve damage

is terrible, where you can no longer feel

what's going on on the skin.

And so what ought to be sensitive

and sensitive to touch,

you actually can't feel
because it's seared.

And the Bible says that the conscience

can become like that.

You know, one time, you say

your first cuss word.

Then years later, you're
swearing like a sailor

and you don't even notice.

A person looks at their
first pornographic image,

and it's seared into their minds.

It's blazed in there.

And then, ten years later,

they can't even remember how much

garbage they've seen.

The first time, it just bothered them,

it tormented them.

Ten years later, they didn't even realize

it was wrong.

That's a seared conscience.

It's not sensitive

the way it ought to be.

And we tend to think about that

with drugs and alcohol.

If you get into drugs and alcohol,

you'll sear your conscience,

and you really will.

But Paul's concern is
actually with legalism.

There's some people
that say marriage is bad,

and I'm here to tell you they're demonic.

Isn't that what the verse says?

"By devoting themselves
to deceitful spirits

and the teaching of demons."

Some people forbid marriage.

Some people make new rules and regulations

where you've got to be
just about like Jesus

before you're allowed to marry anybody.

They make it almost impossible

for anyone to get married.

You can court my daughter
once you're perfect.

That sounds godly.

Sounds a lot like 1 Corinthians 7.

If you're struggling,
let them get married.

Some people don't realize

that tacos are a gift from God.

Amen?

If you don't agree,

well, go back to that demonic verse.

And we need to watch those things

because it can feel very holy

not to do certain things.

When you get a zeal for the Lord,

it's very easy for Satan to hijack that

with a do not taste, do not handle,

do not touch mentality.

I used to do those things,
but now I don't.

Well, if what you mean is you used to be

an adulterer, but now you're not?

Good.

But if you mean you used to enjoy food,

but now you don't?

Bad.

Your conscience is being seared.

Another aspect or state of the conscience

can be in is guilty,

or in the words of Hebrews in the ESV,

"evil."

Hebrews 10:22.

Hebrews 10:22.

Here the writer of Hebrews writes

in Hebrews 10:22,

"Let us draw near..."

meaning, draw near to God.

"...With a true heart

in full assurance of faith,

with our hearts sprinkled clean

from an evil conscience..."

Or as some translations put it:

"from a guilty conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water."

Isn't this interesting?

When we draw near to God,

the conscience comes up, doesn't it?

Because as soon as you
go to draw near to God,

ooh, that thing you said
to your wife pops up.

The fact that you weren't just

biblically correcting your children,

but you were screaming comes up.

Years ago, I was preaching,

and I hadn't planned on mentioned it,

I just mentioned,

maybe some of you have
cheated on your taxes,

and immediately, a lady
comes up to me

after the service and said,

"I've never cheated on my taxes before.

I cheated on them this year."

It's amazing how things can just surface

when we go to approach God.

And if we're going to approach God

and really enjoy it and actually

commune with God,

the guilt or the evil

that's on our consciences

needs to be cleansed.

It needs to be washed away.

Because otherwise, you know

you're approaching a holy God

as a dirty sinner.

And that's simply not possible,

because His eyes are too pure

to behold what's sinful.

So there's a guilty or evil conscience.

And then, let's remember
this one really quickly.

There is such a thing
as a purified conscience.

A cleansed conscience.

Hebrews 9:11-14.

We'll look at v. 14.

Hebrews 9, "How much more

will the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal Spirit

offered Himself without blemish to God,

purify your conscience

from dead works...

(works that call out for your death)

to serve the living God."

The apostle here is talking to us

about how in the Old Testament,

worship of God and the approach to God

was when you approached His temple

and approached His tabernacle,

and this was done by sacrificing animals

year after year after year.

And we're told that the
sacrificing of animals

never took away the knowledge of sin.

But how much more the blood of Christ,

who was the Sheep without a blemish;

who wasn't just one lamb,

but was the Lamb of God.

Behold, the Lamb of God,

who takes away the sins of the world.

It says here, "How much more
will the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal Spirit

offered Himself without blemish to God,

purify your conscience from dead works

to serve the living God."

Listen to me.

Your conscience screams
out for your death.

Your conscience gnaws away at you

for your death.

Your conscience screams

like the blood of guilt and says,

"you deserve to die for that thing you did

and for those things you did

and for those attitudes you harbor.

You deserve to die."

And then Christ comes
shedding His own blood

and says, "I died."

Your conscience screams
for the wrath of God

to be poured out on you.

And Christ stands before you

and takes the wrath of God;

propitiating the wrath of God;

taking all the wrath of God on Himself.

The way to deal with the conscience

is not to say, "Oh, everybody does it."

"Oh, it's not that bad."

"Oh, I'll forget about it eventually."

Beloved, some of you will find

that the conscience comes to haunt you

in your last minute

before you die.

Those secrets will not go away.

They must be dealt with
by the blood of Christ.

You feel dirty? He is clean.

You feel defiled? He is pure.

You feel like your conscience rages

and calls out for the wrath of God?

He has satisfied the wrath of God

by taking upon Himself in His body

on the tree.

Beloved, you can be clean.

I don't care if you killed your children,

or if you drove your girlfriend
to the abortion clinic,

or if you've shot someone

that you've never told anyone about,

or if there's a harem in your mind

from all the pornography you've looked at,

or if you told a lie to your
mother or your father,

or you stole from your children,

or you stole from your parents,

or you stole from your boss -

whatever it is, if you
will lay it before Jesus,

He will cleanse it.

And He will take away

even the consciousness of guilt.

He will cleanse your conscience.

A cleansed conscience is not a conscience

that managed to forget guilt.

It's a conscience that has experienced

guilt dealt with by the
price being fully paid

at the cross.

Oh, in the sea of God's forgetfulness.

That's good enough for me.

Praise God, my sins are gone!

And then a conscience - 1 Timothy 1:5 -

can be good.

What's a good conscience?

A good conscience is a conscience

that is purified

and is learning God's path.

The good conscience is a conscience

that is purified

and is learning God's path.

Think about the rest
of the book of 1 Timothy.

It unfolds how we ought to behave

as people of the church.

It teaches us how a person ought to behave

when they are part of
the household of God.

And they way they ought to behave

is explained and it's
conscience-liberating

to read the Word of God

to realize what God expects of you.

There are some pastors
who feel terribly guilty

because they're caring for their wives,

caring for their children;

they feel like they should
be out every night.

They need to go, go, go, go, go

because people are
dying and going to hell.

And then the Bible comes
along to their conscience

and says no, you need to manage
your own household well.

Because if you can't manage
your own household well,

how will you manage God's church?

And there's moms who think,

I should be counseling;
I should be evangelizing.

but instead I'm just caring for these
kids and caring for this husband.

Kids and husband.
Kids and husband.

All the time. All the time. All the time.

And then 1 Timothy comes along

in 1 Timothy 2 and says,

you'll be saved through childbearing.

"...If you continue in faith and love

and holiness with self-control."

That doesn't mean you have
a baby, you go to heaven.

It means the ordinary context

in which a woman who's married

will work out her salvation
with fear and trembling

will be in the task of mothering.

Are you preoccupied with mothering?

Well, if you're a mother, praise God!

Let the truth of God's Word

inform your conscience

so that it's good.

You know how many
places it says in the Bible

that if you have a pile of
laundry in the basement,

you're in sin?

Nowhere.

And if you let it bind your conscience,

it will ruin you.

We're laughing, but there are

depressed, demoralized, discouraged women

who are binding their consciences

with the things the Word of God

says nothing about.

You've got a friend,

and they're selling vitamins,

and if you buy these vitamins,

you'll be broke but your
kids will live forever.

What kind of a mother am I

buying Happy Meals?

Well, you're a good mother.

There's good toys in the Happy Meals.

We don't dare bind ourselves.

It's no small issue.

Calvin said people think that we reformers

are making a big deal

by speaking about holy days and vestments

and saying that they have
no place in the church.

He said we are right on target

because as soon as the conscience

binds itself with things that are

beyond the Word of God,

it produces no end of misery.

He says that first, a person will say

I can't drink wine.

And then, they'll think,

I can't drink sparkling water.

And then they won't be able to
find a water that's clean enough.

That's what your conscience will do

if it's not gripped by the Word of God

and the Word of God alone.

I remember as a young pastor,

I was pastoring all these young people.

I'm still pastoring all
these young people.

And I was really young.

I'm still pretty young,
but I was even younger.

And they were even younger.

So we were just the
blind leading the blind.

And I thought I need to preach
on marriage and the family,

and I need to give them

all kinds of instructions
on how dad's need to

take their kids deer hunting

to make them real men
and eat steak with them.

And moms need to do this and that.

I need to give them all these

incredible, great family values

to protect them from the
ungodliness of the world.

And then you read your Bible, and?

None of it's there!

Paul's writing to pagans

converted to Christianity in Colossians.

And he's going to teach them

how to do marriage.

Husbands, love your wives. Next verse.

What about the date night?

What about the full financial plan?

What about putting a
maximum security prison

around your daughter until she's 25?

Who forgot that part?

Listen to me.

Believing in the
sufficiency of Scripture -

that's the doctrine that
Scripture is enough

to lead us into all godliness -

believing in the sufficiency of Scripture

not only means that you

say all that Scripture says,

but that you don't say

what the Scripture doesn't say.

Because if God shuts His mouth,

He knows what He's doing.

And what happens when you pare down

godliness to those basic things,

is you get a gospel that can

take the planet by storm,

instead of getting caught up

in your cultural baggage.

You wind up with a gospel

that can go to every
single part of the planet

not wrapped in American clothes

or Victorian English clothes,

but wrapped in the clothes of Christ,

bringing people to the
essence of godliness.

Love your wife. How do you do it?

Well, we do a date night.

Oh yeah? We don't. But I love her too.

Which one of us is godlier?

That's not the point.

A good conscience is one

that is led by the Word of God alone!

And it's not a little holier to add to it.

It's demonic.

And it wrecks people souls,

and it eats their consciences up,

and it steals their joy from loving

the pure sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not a joke.

We've got people who are so serious

about not being worldly

in the drugs and alcohol way,

but who love to flirt with worldliness

in the legalism way.

Deadly!

Now, what I want to do with the time

we have remaining -

and I'm planning to have
quite a bit of time remaining,

just in case you're curious -

what I want to do in the time remaining

is I want to discuss the relationship

(incomplete thought) -

three different relationships
your conscience is in.

The relationship between your
conscience and the devil.

The relationship between your
conscience and the world.

And then your relationship

between the conscience and the church.

First, your conscience and the devil.

You can turn to Colossians 2.

Relationship between your conscience

and the devil.

It all sounds so easy
when I say it, right?

A good conscience is one that's purified

and follows God's path.

Go.

A good conscience is one that's purified

and follows God's path,

but we have an enemy who's called

the accuser of the brethren.

And he loves to accuse our consciences.

He likes to throw fiery darts at them.

He likes to hail us with accusations.

He likes to assault us

by reminding us of the
condemnation of God's law,

and then he'll even condemn us

with laws that go beyond God's law.

And you need to know
how to deal with the devil.

Because you can lay hold of Christ,

and you can try to follow God's path,

and the devil will be there pelting you

with accusations.

You didn't do that one perfectly enough.

Have you ever thought about it -

the devil doesn't have a conscience

holding him back.

He doesn't have a heart holding him back.

Even the wickedest human being

has some semblance of good left in them.

There is no good in the devil.

He is all evil.

And he wants us all dead and destroyed.

He will accuse you until your joy is gone.

And if he can, he'll have you leave Jesus.

And you need to know what to do

when he comes to you with accusations.

And I would suggest one thing to do

is to remember Colossians 2:13-15.

Paul talking to Christians says,

"You were dead in your trespasses and sins

in the uncircumcision of your flesh."

You were dead - walking in the way of sin,

following the way of the devil,
Ephesians 2 says.

Unresponsive to God.

"And God made you alive
together with Him..."

Together with Christ.

"...Having forgiven all of our trespasses

by cancelling the record of debt

that stood against us

with its legal demands.

This He set aside,

nailing it to the cross."

So the law says to you,

"you owe God perfect obedience

and if you're not perfectly obedient,

you deserve to die.

You owe God your life.

You deserve to die."

But Christ came and died for believers.

He came and took the curse of the law,

says Galatians 3, on Himself,

so that the death penalty
that you and I deserve

was poured out on Christ,

so that that death penalty
is no longer there to be had

because it's been, as our
brother said yesterday,

paid in full.

Now what the devil will do

is he will put a gun to your head,

and he will say, "you are guilty

and you will be condemned.

You are guilty and you will be condemned.

You have not loved God
with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind,

and you have not loved
your neighbor as yourself,

and you are going to be condemned."

And when the devil does that

with his gun to your head, you say,

"There's no bullets in the gun, devil."

"This He set aside,
nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed (that is, God disarmed)

the rulers and authorities

(that's the satanic powers -

the principalities and
the powers of this world) -

He disarmed the rulers and authorities

and put them to an open shame

by triumphing over them in Him."

The devil comes and tells you

you're condemned;

your sins can't be forgiven,

you've got that one sin;

or your sanctification
hasn't been fast enough,

and he puts you under God's law,

and he tells you you're condemned,

and he will roar and he will rage

and he will do everything to convince you

that he has all the power to condemn you,

and you need to remind him,

he is disarmed.

Because what's he threatening you with?

The condemnation of the law?

Well, if Jesus did anything,

He took the condemnation of the law away.

"God made Jesus who knew no sin

to be sin for us, that we might become

the righteousness of God in Him."

"There's no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus."

And the devil has only empty threats.

You remember that when
he comes to rage at you.

You hold on to that, and he will flee.

The other thing you need to remember

when you're dealing with the devil

is that he always wants
you in front of the law,

not in front of the Father.

The devil always wants
you in front of the law,

not in front of the Father.

The law says you've got to do everything

I've commanded, or you're dead.

The Father says I had everything done

for me in Christ, and you're Mine.

The law accepts only perfect obedience

or you're dead.

The Father has received perfect obedience

through Christ and now delights

in your growing imperfect obedience.

The law expects perfection

and executes perfect righteousness.

The gospel says perfect righteousness

has been satisfied

and now delights to see

the flower of the new birth

growing in your soul.

You say, where's that in the Bible?

Well, there's one example in John 17:6.

John 17:6.

Here's Jesus praying for Peter,

and James, and John,

and all those disciples who would

fight about who was the greatest.

And who would stumble

in their discipleship.

And Jesus prays in John 17:6.

Now remember, He's praying to God.

He's not putting on a show for man.

He's praying to God.

He says, "I have manifested Your name

to the people whom You
gave Me out of the world."

I showed Your people You.

I have manifested Your name -

Your character -

to the people You gave
Me out of the world.

"Yours they were,

and You gave them to Me,

and they have kept Your Word."

Do you know who He's talking about?

Have you read the Gospels?

Peter, James, John...

the other ones.

"I want to be on His right hand."

"Go tell mom to argue that I should be

on His right hand."

These guys.

"They have kept Your Word."

Now Jesus isn't saying they were perfect.

But He's saying that the direction
of their life was pleasing.

And He was assessing their life

like a father assesses his own child.

Have you ever seen a 5
year old clean their room?

It's fairly pathetic.

But if you walk into that room

and see that the covers were basically

moved in the direction,

and the toys weren't all
just hidden under the bed,

if you're a halfway decent father,

you celebrate right then and there.

You did what I said.

And the Lord loves to delight

in the imperfect
obedience of His children.

Oh, He will discipline His children
when they're disobedient,

but there's only imperfect obedience,

and He delights in it.

And you need to know

that the devil will
never let you see that.

But Christ will keep that
before your eyes.

Without that, you'll have no
freedom in your conscience.

Second one, real quick.

Your conscience's
relationship to the world.

2 Corinthians 4:1.

Our brother gave such a good definition

of natural Christianity;

being a normal person;

hanging out with your unbelieving friends

and relatives in a normal way.

Kevin did such a great job of that.

What's your job once you're
washing the dishes with them?

Maybe even occasionally
singing the secular song

that's in the background
while you're doing it?

But not if it's a bad one.

What's your job then?

2 Corinthians 4:1.

"Thereby having this ministry
by the mercy of God

we do not lose heart.

But we have renounced
disgraceful, underhanded ways.

We refuse to practice cunning

or to tamper with God's Word..."

We're not slick and fancy in our ministry.

"But by the open statement of the truth,

we would commend ourselves

to everyone's conscience
in the sight of God."

That's all we're called to do.

Openly state the truth

and place it on people's consciences.

But when I say that we're sinners,

they don't listen.

When I say Christ died for sins,

they don't listen.

No, they just haven't
repented and believed yet.

They heard you.

That seed's been sown.

It's laying on the conscience.

It can do its work when the head

goes on the pillow.

And God will redeem all of His own

who hear the Gospel.

You lay it on their conscience

in gentleness and love.

If they hate you or love you,

you simply make an open
statement of the truth

and lay it on men's consciences

in the sight of God.

You don't need to be fancy.

You don't need to get a blimp
and get the gospel up in the air.

You don't need to do anything like that.

You just need to talk to people honestly

about sin and salvation,

laying it on their consciences

and God will do His work.

You know, oftentimes people think,

well, I can't share the gospel.

These people don't even believe in God.
They don't understand the Bible.

They don't really believe any of the
same things I do about right and wrong.

We have missionaries now in our day

who don't think they can just go to
other countries and share the gospel.

They have to do like six months

of ethnographic research

before they can even share the gospel.

Listen, there isn't a place on the planet

where people don't have consciences.

It's part of the image of God.

You have an ally in evangelism

everywhere you go.

And the minute the Spirit wants to

make that conscience alive and awake,

He will do it.

You just ask Him that you would speak

the open statement of the truth

and commend yourself to
every man's conscience

in the sight of God.

What a liberating look at evangelism!

Lastly, and by lastly,
I don't mean briefly.

So turn to Romans 14.

Romans 14.

This issue of the
conscience is so critical

in our relationships in the local church.

All of the members of local churches

have consciences.

And when they're members
of churches like ours,

they have enlightened consciences.

And when they're members
of churches like ours,

they have convictional consciences

that believe things strongly.

And that's good.

But you've got to know how to handle it.

You've got to know how to handle it.

It's good to have 50 people

or 100 people or 1,000 people

who are fully convinced in their own mind

that they are doing the will of God

in every detail of their lives.

That's good.

I'm not saying anything to lessen that.

We need more of that, not less of it.

But you need to know how to handle it.

Or it will destroy the unity

and the love of the church,

and if you destroy the unity

and the love of the church,

you destroy the witness of the church.

Let me read to you Romans 14:1.

We'll bring out a few things,
and then we'll be done.

"As for the one who is weak in faith..."

That's another way of saying
has a weak conscience.

"As for the one who is weak in faith,

welcome him, but not to quarrel

over opinions."

My brother used to have a
"Whole Foods" bumper sticker.

You know Whole Foods grocery stores?

Everything in there is awesome.

We call it "Whole Paycheck" at our church.

And that bumper sticker said,

"Friends don't let friends eat junk."

And I cleared it with him
before I preached on this.

But I said according to Romans 14:1,

sometimes friends do let friends eat junk.

"As for the one who is weak in faith,

welcome him, but not to quarrel

over opinions."

Secondary, tertiary matters

that are so far from
the center of the gospel.

Do you use nutberries in your bread?

I had a guy show up on
my doorstep one time -

one of our members -

and he said to me,

"You know, Ryan, I've just
been learning so much

about the biblical diet lately."

And I just said, "No, you haven't."

"As for the one who is weak in faith,

welcome him, but not
to quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he can eat anything,

while the weak person
eats only vegetables."

No, I don't mean to harp on this,

but do notice that the weak person

is the more restrictive person.

It's humbling.

"Let not the one who eats

despise the one who abstains.

And let not the one who abstains

pass judgment on the one who eats.

For God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment

on the servant of another?

It is before his own master

that he stands or falls.

And he will be upheld,

for the Lord is able to make him stand."

Even if he listens to Christian
hip-hop, he can stand?

Yes, even him.

He can be made to stand.

What if he only listens to the Gaithers?

Yes, he can stand too.

God can keep him standing.

I know it's hard to believe.

You get these differences
in the church, right?

One guy's like, "I would
never get a tattoo."

Another guy's like,
"Revelation 7's right here."

You're like, how is this
guy going to stand?

His Master is going to make him stand.

That's how it's going to happen.

His Master has a personal interest in him.

And He's going to make him stand.

"He will be upheld, for the Lord is able

to make him stand.

One person esteems on day
as better than another,

while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully
convinced in his own mind."

We're not diminishing
convictional Christianity.

We're learning how to deal with it.

If you will never get a tattoo,

you should be fully
convinced in your own mind.

If you're going to get a tattoo,

you better not get one because
everyone else got one.

You should be fully
convinced in your own mind

or you ought not to touch that thing.

"The one who observes the day,

observes it in honor of the Lord.

The ones who eats,
eats in honor of the Lord

since he gives thanks to God,

while the one who abstains,
abstains in honor of the Lord

and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives to himself,

and none of us dies to himself.

For if we live, we live to the Lord,

and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So whether or whether we die,

we are the Lord's.

For to this end, Christ
died and lived again,

that He might be Lord both of the dead

and the living."

Three principles and I think we're done.

Your primary responsibility

towards people who differ with you

on secondary matters

is to have them over for dinner

and make it a welcoming, warm experience.

"As for the one who is weak in faith,

welcome him, but not to quarrel

over opinions."

If all the people who
ever get into your house

homeschool just like you homeschool,

you're doing something wrong.

If you only let your kids play with

the other public school kids,

you're doing something wrong.

If two Christians can't differ
on schooling methods,

we've got a problem.

If you only invite people
who eat your special diet,

you've got a problem.

And maybe you ought to be willing,

if it's not a convictional issue,

to not eat your diet,

to be able to get over and show

hospitality in someone's home.

And when you get together,

the point isn't:

here's the roast beef.

There are some issues I've been
wanting to talk to you about

in the Lord, brother.

Just let it go.

Just let it go.

Now, that doesn't mean there can't be

those conversations among the body,

but let there first be

a warm environment of hospitality and love

where it's abundantly
clear that I view you

as a fellow servant of Christ.

Now, I'm going to talk to people

who watch movies I wouldn't watch,

and I'm going to have
a conversation with them.

Sure I am.

If I'm worried about something,

I'm going to talk to someone about it.

But first, first is not

the quarreling over opinions.

First is the warm relationship

of welcome and love.

Second, you need to realize

that the weak and the strong

both have unique temptations.

The weak and the strong both

have their unique set of temptations.

You notice that?

"One person believes he may eat anything,

while the weak person
eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise

the one who abstains.

Let not the one who abstains

pass judgment on the one who eats."

Despising and judgment.

Okay, strong people are
tempted to despise.

Weak people are tempted to judge.

And this was so clear years ago

when everything on the blogs was about

who could drink beer and who couldn't.

The people who could drink beer

despised - "how do you even live

without tasting a craft beer?"

"How do you even be a Christian?"

"How do you enjoy life to the full,

you fundamentalist fools?"

And then on the other side,

nothing but judgment.

Worldly.

Backslidden.

Heathen.

Both are displeasing sins to Jesus.

Both of them.

They are both wrong.

It's wrong to judge someone

in a way that condemns them,

when they're different than you
on a secondary matter.

And it's wrong to despise someone

who doesn't have the same freedom as you.

It's wrong because the
goal of our instruction

is love.

Love. It's always love.

We're always after love.

But Ryan, how do I love

when I feel the person's compromising?

I mean, I'm really, I'm
trying to be faithful,

and I really believe that I should only

listen to Christian music.

I believe it.

I'm not trying to be a legalist.

I love Jesus.

And that's just where I'm at.

And that's where a lot of you are at,

and praise God for you,

for just trying to live before
the Lord in everything.

And others of you are like,

Ryan, I really believe I have the liberty

to do this, and I'm not trying to sin.

I'm not trying to get away with anything.

I want to be holy in everything I do.

Praise God for you.

How do those people get along

without feeling like they're compromising?

Because that's what
you're afraid of right?

You're afraid if you
welcome this person in,

you're going to compromise
your walk with Jesus.

How do you do it?

You learn to recognize something deeper

than the superficial stuff.

You learn to recognize a heart

that wants to honor the Lord,

even though they're not honoring the Lord

exactly the way you would.

You see that in the text?

It says there,

"Who are you to pass judgment
on the servant of another?"

We're in v. 4.

"It is because of his own master
that he stands or falls,

and he will be upheld, for the
Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one
day as better than another,

while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should be fully
convinced in his own mind.

The one who observes the day (listen here)

observes it in honor of the Lord.

The one who eats,
eats in honor of the Lord

since he gives thanks to God,

while the one who abstains,

abstains in honor of the Lord,

and gives thanks to God."

When we put all the focus

on these secondary matters,

all we notice is:

you watch movies I wouldn't watch.

And we miss a heart to honor the Lord.

Come on, are there too many hearts

in the world that want to honor the Lord

that you want to miss even one of them?

What we want to learn is how to detect

a heart that wants to honor the Lord

and is thanking the Lord.

Now, you may not be able
to do what they do.

And don't do what they do,

if you're not convinced in your own mind.

But notice a heart that wants to honor

the Lord, and when you notice that,

you have the most
important bond in the world.

And God's going to uphold people

who try to honor Him.

Even if they don't get it
exactly right in every detail.

Let me give you an example of this.

In the church I pastor,

if I knew a guy was
looking at pornography,

was messing around sexually,

and was watching movies -

they weren't pornographic,
but they were just risque,

I would get right into his face

and say you are so compromised.

You are just flirting with
all kinds of temptation

and you need to get out of that.

You need to cut off your hand

and gouge out your eye.

End of story.

That's absolutely what you need to do.

In the words of Titus,

I insist on these things.

I will not let you ignore me.

And then I've got another
guy in the church

who teaches the Bible,

loves the Bible, visits widows,

cares for his wife,

seeks to honor the Lord,

and there's a few movies he watches

that I wouldn't watch.

I'll be honest. I don't like that.

I don't like it.

I want everyone to draw their movie lines

right where I draw them.

I do.

I'm fully convinced in my own mind.

And I'm going to have a warm lunch

with that guy.

I'm going to commend
all the godliness within him,

and then, we may get
around to talking about,

hey, what are these different convictions?

Because this is looking like
it would be bad for me.

For me, that would be sin.

How do you do that?

But the way you're handling that

is so different,

than just going on a
tirade against everyone

who is not holding the
exact same convictions as you.

So beloved,

I leave you with this.

The goal of every sermon you ever hear

is love.

Caring for people.

Having a warm regard for them.

And it needs to come
from a good conscience.

You get one of those by plunging

your dead, evil conscience

under the blood of Jesus

that purifies you from
all unrighteousness.

And then you begin to walk in His path.

And as you walk in His path,

you will face many people who aren't quite

figuring out His path
exactly the way you are.

And our job there is to discern

an honor for the Lord,

and a thankfulness for the Lord.

And to just shower those people with love.

When that kind of
love relationship exists,

you will have the best kind of context

to actually have the good discussions

to refine our consciences with

and to think about
following Him more closely

and walking in love before Him together.

Oh, may God make us as free

as the gospel wants us to be,

and just enjoy Jesus as much as the gospel

wants us to enjoy Jesus.

Father, thank You so much

for Your grace.

Lord, I have probably revealed

some convictions of my own

in the course of this sermon

that would tempt some to despise me.

I pray that You would just
keep us from despising.

I'm probably sure I'll meet some folks

who hold convictions that I think
are weaker than my own.

I pray that I would not judge them

or despise them.

Lord, fill us with love.

Lord, we pray that this teaching

would not be used to justify anything

that is clearly wicked or sinful.

Lord, Christian liberty is meant

to help us walk in love and holiness;

not sin and degradation.

Lord, we pray that You'd use this teaching

to free us from all the
extra-biblical expectations

we heap on ourselves

that destroy our joy.

Lord, we pray this in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.