Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002701
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00:09 It's been 2000 years since the glorious light of the cross 00:12 illuminated the world veiled in darkness and confusion about the 00:16 character of God. And still today the greatest need of 00:19 mankind is a revelation of God's love as revealed in the 00:22 life of Christ. Amazing Facts presents the everlasting gospel 00:26 with Pastor Doug Batchelor coming to you each week from 00:29 Sacramento Central Church in sunny California. Discover 00:33 hidden treasures in God's word today. 00:39 Thank you for letting me be your pastor. It is a privilege. 00:43 We get together as a staff each week and I tell the pastors, I 00:46 say, boy we are so thankful. We've got a great church here 00:50 and it is a blessing to be here. I just want to thank you again 00:55 personally for that privilege. So thankful for a staff and the 00:59 hard work they all do. This morning I'd like to talk to you 01:03 about a message I thought was something important to think 01:08 about at the beginning of a new year and it's the subject of 01:12 your conscience but more specifically the care and 01:18 the feeding of your conscience. I couldn't find a photograph of 01:21 a conscience so I used the brain That was the closest think I 01:24 could find. If you have one of the conscience you could e-mail 01:28 me, I'd like to use that. But maybe I should begin introducing 01:33 this with a true-to-life story. You've heard people talk before 01:37 about committing the perfect crime. Well back in 1993 01:41 somebody thought they had committed the perfect crime. 01:44 Matter of fact the FBI thought the perfect crime had been 01:48 committed. Somebody stole an armored truck with about three 01:52 million dollars in it in Las Vegas. They vanished then. Ten 01:56 years went by. It appeared that they had committed the perfect 02:00 crime. Well at least one of those two people that were 02:04 involved in this crime was living a double life in 02:08 Amsterdam. The money was gone. They realized, of course, that 02:12 they were on the FBI's most wanted list. Her name was 02:16 Heather Katherine Tall Chief. At this point now she was a mother, 02:21 still a young lady; committed the crime in her 20's and now 02:26 she was in her early 30's and had a son about 10 or 11 years 02:30 old and just got where, even though she was free, no one 02:34 suspected what she was guilty of, that she was on the FBI's 02:37 most wanted list. She was living in Amsterdam and had to 02:40 jobs just for cash. She got to where she couldn't take it any 02:44 more. Her conscience was bothering her. Who would want to 02:48 go turn themselves in to the FBI when you're on the 10 most 02:53 wanted list and spend who knows how many years in prison when 02:57 you're free? Someone asked her that question and this was her 03:02 response. Because you get very tired of running. This is not a 03:07 life. Because I have been assuming someone else's life 03:11 that is not my life. If you're living in a prison mentally 03:14 then what is a box, a room, in other words, compared to 03:17 going to a prison cell, the prison I'm in now mentally 03:21 because of my tormented conscience. It's nothing. What 03:24 is a box with restricted privileges. It's nothing 03:27 compared to what I've already been through. I truly feel like 03:31 I'm setting myself free. And so in September 2005 she turned 03:36 herself in to Federal authorities in Las Vegas, has 03:39 subsequently been tried and I think they only gave her five 03:43 years because she cooperated so much and basically turned 03:46 herself in. Now I'm not weighing in on whether or not she got the 03:51 just sentence or not. The reason I mention this story is it's one 03:55 of many I could tell you. I can't remember the name of the 03:59 lady who was involved in the murder of a policeman during 04:03 the hippie movement in the 60's. She lived on the lam for 30 04:07 years, had a family, restaurant business; nobody knew who she 04:11 was. She couldn't take it any more, turned herself in. You 04:15 remember who I'm talking about? You hear about this often. Why? 04:20 Their conscience was tormenting them. The Bible tells us that 04:26 God is inviting us to live before him with a clear 04:29 and a pure conscience. Jesus came to save us from guilt and 04:33 he came to save us from one of the side effects of guilt which 04:37 is a guilty conscience. He wants us to live before him with a 04:41 pure conscience. And before I dive very deep in this message 04:45 I think it's a good time to get a definition. Conscience: The 04:49 word conscience actually comes from the combining... This is 04:53 how I learned to spell it... of con science. Science means 04:56 knowledge or the study of. It's a knowledge or understanding of 05:00 the study of yourself and what your values are. Dictionary 05:05 definition is: A. Motivation deriving logically from ethical 05:10 or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions. 05:15 B. Conscience is conformity to one's own sense of right 05:19 conduct. That's a simple definition I like. C. A feeling 05:23 of shame when you do something immoral. D. The awareness of a 05:28 moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge 05:33 to prefer right over wrong. E. The part of our mind that judges 05:39 the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then 05:43 processes such determinations for consideration. I was looking 05:46 with my son Stephen last night. We were going through the 05:49 internet, a bunch of dictionaries, thesauruses and 05:52 encyclopedias. You would not believe how much there is on 05:56 just trying to define what is the conscience. What is this 06:00 inner voice in people that governs them that you can't find 06:06 with a scalpel? But it's there isn't it. It's this guiding 06:11 voice, this urge. Now to some extent, you have to listen 06:17 carefully to everything I'm going to say, we all come 06:23 factory equipped with an element of conscience to some extent. 06:28 It is standard equipment. I'm telling you that being raised 06:33 basically an atheist. I had a sense, as far back as I can 06:38 remember that certain things were just wrong and just right 06:41 and I don't remember when anyone along the way taught me. 06:44 Matter of fact, indeed the examples I had were contrary 06:48 in my life with my parents. But I knew some things were wrong 06:51 and I knew some things were right. I don't mean to be 06:55 disrespectful, but my mother would take me out shoplifting. 07:00 And she'd say oh they got plenty of money. They charge too much. 07:03 She would justify and rationalize it. Never saw her 07:06 get caught. And you wonder how I ended up a thief. My father, 07:11 millions of dollars, I watched him engage in petty theft more 07:14 than once. And he laughed. He thought aha I got away with 07:18 something. So I did not have that kind of example. But you 07:23 know what? I always knew it was wrong. I knew lying was wrong. 07:27 And yet my mother would tell me to be a good actor, Doug, (my 07:31 mother was an actress). She'd say, you gotta be a good liar. 07:35 Huh, it's an interesting philosophy because your trying 07:38 to purportedly be something or somebody you're not. So I wasn't 07:44 raised with the appropriate morals, but I always had an 07:48 inner voice that said this is right and this is wrong. The 07:52 Holy Spirit does speak to even pagans. Let me give you a verse 07:56 on that. Romans 2 verses 14 and For when the gentiles who do 08:01 not have the law of God by nature do the things in the law 08:05 these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 08:10 who show the work of the law written in their hearts. Their 08:14 conscience also bearing witness and between themselves their 08:19 thoughts accusing or else excusing them. Now we come 08:25 factory equipped with an element of conscience, but that 08:29 conscience is not perfect. It's not complete without the word 08:33 of God. Somebody has likened to the difference between true 08:38 north and magnetic north. Some of you, especially if you're 08:42 pilots or you do a lot of hiking you know if you use a compass 08:46 it will give you the direction of magnetic north but it is not 08:50 the rotational north pole of our planet. They're not the same and 08:54 I have it here on the map. You can see the north pole that the 08:58 earth rotates on, that's the yellow star. Magnetic north and 09:02 that's actually magnetic north for the year 2000. It's actually 09:07 moving from Canada now off into the ocean. It drifts northwest. 09:11 It vacillates with the magnetic molten core in the earth that 09:15 has these currents. It's moving. It's typically somewhere in the 09:19 north but it's not exactly north A lot of us have a conscience 09:23 but that conscience is imperfect because our conscience is, let's 09:26 face it, can be taught and trained to think some things are 09:30 wrong that may be wrong and some things are right that may be 09:34 wrong. Have you met people that have a conscience that's out of 09:37 whack. I mean you and I know of people who will say something 09:41 careless, hurt somebody's feelings and they can't sleep 09:44 at night because they said something inconsiderate and 09:47 then there are other people who can commit murder and sleep like 09:49 a baby. Some of it is the way that they've trained their 09:55 conscience. We've got to be careful that our consciences are 09:59 governed by the word of God. That's how you get true north 10:04 and not just magnetic north because if you do your flying 10:07 and your hiking based on magnetic north you might head in 10:11 roughly the right direction but you'll never get to the north 10:14 pole. So you need to be guided by the word of God. How many 10:19 times have you heard a person say, trust your conscience, just 10:22 trust your conscience. You can't always trust your conscience 10:26 because sometimes people think it's their conscience and it's 10:29 their feelings and temptation can twist your conscience. 10:34 It's amazing how we can end up rationalizing things that are 10:37 not right because we think it's this inner voice and it's not 10:41 really what is right, it's what we want to be right. The world 10:45 says let your conscience be your guide. Have you heard that 10:49 before? Well in some matters, if your conscience is governed by 10:52 the Holy Spirit, you're safe. But a conscience like a compass 10:57 must be calibrated by the word of God and the Holy Spirit. 11:01 Whenever we crank up the air plane, part of your run-up 11:05 procedure is you set your heading indicator. It must be 11:09 calibrated. Because every time you turn off the power wherever 11:12 you park the plane that's where it stops. It needs to constantly 11:16 be adjusted. And even while you're flying, check your 11:19 compass and you heading indicator. They've got to be 11:21 calibrated because they drift. We need to make sure that the 11:26 Holy Spirit and the word of God are guiding. I've heard a lot of 11:32 people blame the Holy Spirit for things. You know what the most 11:37 common one I hear is. Happened this last week, happens 11:41 frequently. A couple take a shine to each other. One is a 11:45 Christian, one is not or they might be Christians of a 11:49 different denomination. The word of God is extremely clear in 11:52 those situations that you should not be unequally yoked. Please 11:55 say amen. You don't need a feeling to make that decision. 11:59 And people will say but we feel the Spirit. My conscience tells 12:05 me it's okay. There is a thin line between conscience and 12:09 hormones and a person might sometimes think that it's their 12:13 conscience, I feel so strongly, it's the Holy Spirit. It's not 12:18 the Holy Spirit. It's something else. It must be governed by the 12:24 word of God. A conscience can be trained. One guy thinks 12:30 something is totally right, someone else thinks it's totally 12:33 wrong and they both say my conscience tells me it's okay. 12:35 So can you really always trust what you think is your 12:38 conscience? John chapter 8 verse 9. These men brought this woman 12:45 who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus. Now these are 12:51 men who are plotting to kill Jesus. How much conscience would 12:57 they have left? Well evidently they still had some. Even the 13:03 wicked can have a sense of guilt We just talked about a lady who 13:09 committed armed robbery or stole an armored car who had a 13:14 conscience. And they're pointing to this woman and they're saying 13:19 Master she's been caught in the act of adultery. The law says 13:22 she should be killed. They're making this pretense of really 13:26 caring about the law and here they're wanting to trap and 13:30 execute Jesus who's the Messiah, the author of the law. And so 13:33 Christ ignores them. He begins to write down in the dust of the 13:35 temple floor. And there's a lot of speculation about what he 13:39 wrote, but I'm fairly confident that he either wrote the law 13:42 again or wrote their sins more specifically and they could be 13:44 very close to the same thing. And as he's writing out, I mean, 13:48 they're saying the law says such and such. They're claiming to 13:51 care about the law and so he starts writing out the areas of 13:55 the law they're breaking. And then he gets up and says he that 13:58 is without sin among you let him cast the first stone and he 14:01 stoops down and keeps on chronicling their sins. 14:03 And what does the Bible say there in John chapter 8 verse 14:07 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their 14:12 conscience they went out one by one beginning with the oldest 14:16 even to the last. That could be because the oldest have the 14:21 longest record of things that he had marked down there. I don't 14:25 know. Certainly the longer we live the longer our record of 14:29 sin. But their conscience was bothering them and they 14:33 realized, I have no right to condemn this woman. For one 14:37 thing they were accomplices in that they set her up to use 14:42 her to trap Jesus. A person's conscience can be affected by 14:48 their culture, by faith, misplaced faith. I remember 14:55 hearing the story about an evangelist who recently passed 15:00 away. He was in Africa. And he said that there was this one 15:05 tribe and the people had such complete faith in the local 15:10 witch doctor. On one occasion, I'm paraphrasing this story, 15:14 someone had been stealing the chief's eggs during the night 15:18 and devouring them, someone in the village. They didn't know 15:22 who it was. So the witch doctor gathered everybody together in 15:25 the village and said if you confess the chief will forgive 15:28 you. If you do not confess your hands will begin to itch and 15:33 burn before the week is up. Well before the week was up 15:37 somebody had hives all over their hands and they were 15:40 scratching and burning and in great pain and they finally 15:45 confessed that they were the one. Now did that witch doctor 15:49 have the power to give them hives or is it possible that the 15:53 placebo affect took over and their guilty conscience and 15:57 their faith, pretty soon they started feeling their hands 16:02 burning and itching? So it may have had nothing to do with 16:06 anything physiological or even the Bible and the Holy Spirit, 16:10 but sometimes a person, their conscience can be trained to 16:13 behave a certain way because they think a certain thing is 16:18 going to happen or is right or wrong. The Holy Spirit is what 16:22 we need to guide us. John chapter 16 verse 13: However 16:27 when He the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all 16:31 truth. You know a conscience is something like a thermostat in 16:35 your house but it must be adjusted and it must be the 16:39 Holy Spirit that adjusts that thermostat. Now how many of us 16:43 would like to have a clear conscience. Would you like a 16:48 really clear conscience or would you like to just think you've 16:52 got a clear conscience? Is there a difference? Are there people 16:55 who are guilty that think they have got a clear conscience? 17:00 Well I want a really clear conscience. The wicked do not 17:05 have real peace. You can read in the Bible, Isaiah 57 verse 21: 17:10 There is no peace says my God for the wicked. Now you might be 17:15 thinking, Pastor Doug, I mean there are people like Saddam 17:19 Hussein and others who might be guilty of mass murder and they 17:23 seem to sleep at night. We've heard about serial killers that 17:27 they can look coldly into the camera and just smile and act 17:31 like they have no problem at all. Cold blooded. Conscience 17:36 seared with a hot iron. But in most cases the wicked know that 17:41 their wicked and they tremble and it bothers them. The most 17:44 dangerous thing is when you don't have any compunctions. 17:48 Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8, Paul says, Pray for us for we are 17:53 confident that we have a good conscience in all things 17:57 desiring to live honorably. You notice that having a good 18:01 conscience is something that is ongoing. It represents an 18:04 ongoing desire to life honorably Somebody said one time, a bad 18:10 conscience embitters the sweetest comforts. A good 18:14 conscience sweetens the bitterest crosses. That's like 18:18 Heather Tall Chief. It doesn't matter if you've got a million 18:22 dollars and a guilty conscience. Proverbs many times talks about 18:27 how much better it is to have a handful with peace than a 18:32 houseful of treasure with strife Jesus said in John chapter 16 18:37 verses 7 and 8: Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It's to your 18:43 advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the helper 18:48 will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. 18:53 Now listen to this. Who's the helper? Holy Spirit. And when he 18:58 has come he will convict the world of sin and of 19:02 righteousness and of judgment. One of the gifts of the Holy 19:07 Spirit is to bring conviction. You know there's been a lot of 19:13 talk in our culture and I think some of it's from the devil, 19:18 not to feel guilty about anything. Freud sort of had that 19:23 at his foundation that all guilt is learned and you shouldn't 19:26 feel guilt and guilt is what's bad and guilt is what makes 19:29 people sick and there may be some truth to guilt making 19:32 people sick. But guilt is a good thing if you're guilty. How many 19:38 are not wanting to feel guilty when they are guilty? And this 19:43 is what society and kind of the psychobabble of the day is. 19:47 They're all trying to make everybody feel good about being 19:52 bad. Where God is saying, No, you should feel bad if you are 19:56 bad. What do you do if you've got a child that is a 20:00 kleptomaniac and has no guilt about it? Would that worry you? 20:04 I mean don't you want your children to have a conscience of 20:08 what is right and wrong. And yet we're being told over and over 20:11 in our culture, we're being trained by the devil to think 20:16 that bad is good and good is bad. It's very dangerous when it 20:20 gets to that place. Well, on the subject of conscience, the Bible 20:25 talks about a pure conscience. A lot of people sometimes are 20:28 plagued with something for years and they want to get it dealt 20:32 with. I mean they're living Godly lives but there's 20:34 something little that's bothering them and they just 20:36 want to have a pure conscience. The Brooklyn Library reported 20:40 that they came to the front steps one day in New York City 20:44 and they found a big old stack of books that was left that 20:52 someone had checked out in 1935. The late fees totaled $5521. 20:58 On the box it said better late than never. They had checked 21:03 out the books in 1935. Maybe they were moving. They found 21:08 them all and they felt guilty and they needed to take them 21:13 back. Did you ever find something you borrowed from 21:17 somebody a long time ago and you had forgotten that you borrowed 21:21 it? I've got a book on my shelf and it hurts my conscience 21:25 whenever I see it. Somebody lent it to me. They made it clear 21:28 that they were lending it to me and they said, I want it back 21:31 when you're done and I don't know how to reach them but I've 21:33 still got the book. Then, of course, there are a lot of 21:37 people that I've lent books to and I never got them back. 21:41 It works both ways. Does your conscience bother you. You know 21:45 you want to keep your conscience sensitive. You don't want to get 21:49 to the place where you don't have that feeling of guilt when 21:52 you've done something wrong. You know what's dangerous is when we 21:55 get to the place where we say ah it's just a little thing and 21:59 the little things don't bother us. We want to have a 22:01 conscience that is pure. Somebody said, A good conscience 22:05 makes a soft pillow. It makes it easier to sleep at night. Paul 22:08 said, and this is the verse I especially want you to underline 22:14 Acts 24 verse 16: And herein do I exercise myself to have always 22:19 ...what does exercise mean? Is exercise lying down or is it 22:24 active? He says I'm actively always working to have a 22:29 conscience void of offense towards God and man. There are 22:33 offenses toward God and there are offenses toward men. 22:36 Borrowed my neighbor's ladder a couple of weeks ago. Said I 22:39 wanted to clean our windows. We have a two story section of 22:42 the house and I can't reach them He was nice enough to lend me 22:45 his ladder. My conscience bothers me when I have 22:48 something that belongs to somebody else. I hope there are 22:51 others here that are wired this way. I don't feel complete peace 22:55 until I've given it back in good condition. It bothers me and I 22:58 think it should. We should respect other people's property. 23:01 Doesn't it bother you if someone borrows something of yours and 23:05 they don't return it or they bring it back broken and it 23:07 doesn't bother them. We ought to be training people. Some people 23:10 have no compunctions about that. Our conscience should tell us. 23:13 Well I couldn't get all the windows done in one day and so 23:16 the next day it was cold and I didn't want to do them right 23:18 then and get out on that ladder. But I said, No I've got to get 23:21 John's ladder back. I have his ladder. So I cleaned it. He was 23:25 not home and I put it over the fence very carefully so he would 23:28 see it right away. I just wanted to get it back to him. I've also 23:31 found as soon as you borrow something from somebody, it'll 23:34 break. I remember the pastor who baptized me. Putting in a garden 23:41 Pastor Joe Phillips. He had a Rototiller, a Merrytiller, I 23:45 still remember it, Briggs and Stratton engine. And I said we 23:48 are trying to put in a garden. It was new ground. It had never 23:51 been broken up. He said, Well borrow my rototiller. And I said 23:53 I'm afraid just as soon as I borrow it something's going to 23:56 go wrong. He said, Oh it's the most dependable rototiller. I've 23:59 had it for 30 years. You won't have any problems. Part of was 24:04 because I probably didn't know what I was doing, but I don't 24:09 think I plowed one furrow before I sheared the key pin on the 24:13 crankshaft which is a major repair. And I don't think it 24:17 ever ran for that pastor again. I felt so bad. See it still 24:21 bothers me today. So I'm real sensitive about getting stuff 24:25 back to people. And you, some of you, some of you are watching, 24:29 I'm pointing at you too. You'll send me a manuscript and you'll 24:34 say this is our original copy. Please read it and send it back 24:38 to me. Don't do that to me. Then I think, O man, I'm so afraid. 24:42 I've got their only handwritten copy of this manuscript they've 24:45 written and they want me to read it and I don't always have time. 24:47 I try to read it and then I'm afraid I'm going to forget about 24:50 it and lose it. I had one fellow say, I sent you my only copy. I 24:54 had to rewrite. I misplaced it. Don't do that to me. I can see 24:58 what my judgment's going to look like. I'll stand before the Lord 25:01 and the Lord's going to tapping his foot and this bit old stack 25:04 of tapes and videos and manuscripts people have given 25:07 me. He'll say, Doug, these weren't yours but they were in 25:11 your stuff when you perished. Some of you here know. You've 25:14 handed something to me and you say Doug I want you to listen to 25:17 tape. And you know what I always say, What's the first thing I 25:20 say? Do you want it back? I do. And I say, if you want it back 25:24 make a copy you don't want back and give that to me. Don't give 25:28 me your original. It makes me very nervous. Now I know I've 25:31 got some stuff that some of you have lent me and I'll get it 25:34 back to you. You better write your name on it. But that ought 25:37 to bother us. I mean, we ought to have a conscience about that 25:44 because you know what it's called? Stealing. I'm trying to 25:49 train our kids. We should all do that. To be on time. Time is 25:54 the stuff that life is made of. If you tell someone you're going 25:57 to be somewhere at a certain time and they're waiting for you 26:01 and you're late because of carelessness, sometimes things 26:04 happen, but if your late because of carelessness, you are 26:07 stealing a piece of their time and time is life and you are 26:10 taking some of their life. I think Christians ought to try to 26:13 be on time. I don't think we should be casual about being 26:17 late. Our conscience ought to bother us. If I'm driving 26:21 somewhere and I'm late it makes me a little uncomfortable. 26:25 It should if you have a conscience. Right? It's when we 26:30 get to the place where we're so used to doing things wrong we've 26:33 got two choices. We either get comfortable having a bad 26:37 conscience so bad things don't bother us anymore or we change 26:41 and try and do the right things. A conscience is a blessing. 26:45 You know what it's like. It's like your nerve endings. 26:47 You know what leprosy is? I used to think when I was a kid I 26:51 heard these stories about lepers losing their fingers and their 26:54 toes and I thought leprosy was a disease where you're just 26:57 walking along one day and all of a sudden a finger falls off. 27:00 That's leprosy. Then I came to learn, no, what happens is it 27:04 affects the nerves where they stop feeling and if you are 27:07 touching something you feel it and if your finger's being 27:11 pinched you instinctively feel or if it's being burned. 27:14 But lepers lose their sensation in the extremities and they 27:18 injure their fingers and their nose and their toes and their 27:21 extremities. They don't know that they're being burnt or 27:25 crushed and they lose them largely through injury. Pain is 27:28 a blessing. If you get where you don't feel pain anymore you've 27:34 got leprosy. You conscience is supposed to stay sensitive. 27:38 II Timothy 1:3: I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience. 27:45 God wants us to serve him with a pure conscience following what 27:50 we know is right. I Peter 3:16: Having a good conscience that 27:55 when they defame you as evil doers those who revile your good 28:00 conduct in Christ might be ashamed. Now if you are 28:05 persecuted and you are abused verbally for doing what's right, 28:08 as long as your conscience is good. It's unfortunate but you 28:11 know what? You don't need to lose any sleep. If you know 28:14 that what you're doing is right others might deride you for it 28:18 but you've got to live with yourself. Right? It's really a 28:23 question of there are three parties involved: the world and 28:27 people in it, God and yourself. Who are you going to please? 28:31 If you make up your mind that you're going to live in a way to 28:35 please God, live in the sight of God, and not try and please 28:39 people not even try and please yourself but if you put God 28:43 first it will end up giving you a clear conscience and you'll 28:47 be serving yourself in that respect. Do you know that the 28:52 government has what they call a conscience fund? It's been 28:56 around over 100 years. It's a conscience fund. Someone a long 28:59 time ago started sending checks to the government and they said 29:02 you know I cheated on my taxes and it's bothering me. 29:07 They especially noticed that after Billy Sunday or Billy 29:10 Graham, the two evangelists, would go through town all of a 29:13 sudden the government would get a surge of checks for the 29:17 conscience fund. And they would say something like, you know, 29:20 I cheated on my taxes, or I held something back or I failed to 29:23 report it. It's bothering me and I'd rather be at peace with God 29:26 than keep this money, whatever the amount is. And I heard about 29:30 one letter they got: It said, please accept this check for 29:34 $50 of funds I have failed to pay. I've been unable to sleep. 29:42 If I still can't sleep, I'll send the balance. Now the Bible 29:49 tells us... While we're talking about the care and 29:51 feeding of our conscience, it's not just our conscience we need 29:55 to think about. The Bible tells me that I also need to be 29:59 concerned about your conscience. You know if a person is living 30:04 with a guilty conscience it's hard for them to be saved. There 30:08 are some people who have a guilty conscience that really 30:11 shouldn't even be guilty. But they think they have a guilty 30:14 conscience and the Bible says without faith it's impossible to 30:18 please God. So you want to encourage people to live with 30:21 a clear conscience. Let me give you an example of what I'm 30:24 talking about. Back in Bible times, you'll read a lot about 30:28 this in the New Testament, the orthodox Jews were extremely 30:33 sensitive about eating even clean meat, sheep, goat, that 30:38 had been offered to a pagan god. The butchers throughout the 30:43 Greek and Roman empires, whenever they butchered any 30:45 animal, chicken, sheep, goat, it could have even been in the 30:47 clean animal category, they never killed an animal without 30:50 having one of these idols there. How many of you have gone to a 30:52 Chinese restaurant and there's a little Buddha there when you 30:55 there when you walk in the door? Well the orthodox Jews would not 30:59 eat in that restaurant because they feel like we're 31:02 contributing to idolatry. Now I shouldn't have said that because 31:04 some of you now feel guilty about that. Paul says you have 31:08 a weak conscience. He does. He talks about those whose 31:11 conscience is weak. They're afraid, they're hypersensitive. 31:15 So they would not eat any meat that had been offered by the 31:19 seller or butcher to a pagan god even though you're buying it 31:23 you're not offering it to a pagan god. I mean by that logic 31:27 you can't buy anything at Wal Mart that might have been made 31:30 by some Buddhist in China. That kind of narrows your options 31:34 doesn't it. I mean, you can take this to extremes. You can't put 31:38 your money in Wells Fargo Bank because they happen to buy 31:41 stocks in unethical things. Well what do you think they do with 31:45 your money? They invest it and some of the things they invest 31:48 in I can guarantee you would not approve of. Might invest in R.J. 31:52 Reynolds tobacco. So now some of you are going to go take all of 31:55 your money out of Bank of America and Wells Fargo. 31:57 Do you see what I am saying? Some people's consciences are so 32:01 sensitive that they are constantly living in fear. 32:04 Well Paul was saying look the idol is nothing, you didn't 32:09 offer it to the idol. But there were people who were sensitive. 32:14 Now let me let Paul speak for himself. I Corinthians 10:27: 32:18 If any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner 32:22 and you desire to go, eat whatever things are before you 32:25 asking no questions for conscience sake. Don't say was 32:29 this offered to an idol? If you don't know your clear, right? 32:33 Probably was but don't ask is what he's saying. But if anyone 32:37 says to you this was offered to idols don't eat it for the sake 32:41 of the one who told you and for conscience's sake for the earth 32:45 is the Lord's in all its fullness. Conscience I say not 32:48 your own but that of another for why is my liberty judged by 32:53 another man's conscience. Now let me see if I could make that 32:57 more modern. Periodically at our Bible answer program someone 33:00 calls in and we get a question. Pastor Doug, I Corinthians 11 33:04 talks about a woman and cutting her hair. And you know the jury 33:08 is out in most churches about what to do with that one place 33:11 where Paul talks about women and the length of their hair. 33:14 And I'm not even altogether clear on that. I don't 33:18 understand everything in the Bible. But a lady will call and 33:21 she'll say you know I feel really convicted I shouldn't cut 33:23 my hair, Pastor Doug. And I say well I may not agree with your 33:26 convictions, but obviously you're not going to be punished 33:29 by the Lord for having your hair grow, the women that is. 33:33 The Bible says it's a shame for men to have long hair so I'm 33:36 separating the two. And so I said, Look if that's how your 33:40 conscience feels then grow your hair. I don't want to say 33:45 anything that will have a person violate their conscience. 33:49 Periodically I'll have somebody call and they'll say, I'm not 33:53 comfortable with women wearing pants of any sort at any time 33:58 for any occasion. And I'll say well then don't. I don't have 34:03 a burden to convince you to violate your conscience because 34:07 I think that I need to be careful not to encourage someone 34:12 to violate. And I'm not the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the Lord might 34:16 be telling somebody to do something that I don't 34:19 understand that's different. They might be in a different 34:21 place. And so certain things are in that category. I remember one 34:26 time I went to a restaurant I'd been to many times before. I was 34:31 with a person who had a very hypersensitive conscience and I 34:37 ordered vegetable fajitas. And they were going to order the 34:41 vegetable fajitas but they wanted to know is that grill 34:44 the same grill that you cook your pork on. And they looked at 34:49 him and they said, Well yes. And he said, Oh I can't eat that 34:52 because it says you're not even to touch that which is... 34:56 I said well I change my order. I said all right I'll have a salad 35:00 I didn't want to hurt their conscience. They ruined it for 35:04 me. I'd never thought to ask that before. Y'all know what 35:09 I'm talking about? So you need to be sensitive to where other 35:13 people are at. You don't want to make anybody stumble. And this 35:16 is what Paul is talking about when he says paraphrased version 35:20 is I become all things to all men that I might win some to 35:23 Christ. We need to care about where other people are with the 35:27 Lord. Now that doesn't mean that we should wink at a person who 35:32 has a conscience that is misinformed. There are some 35:35 people who think well you know my pastor tells me that once I'm 35:38 saved I'm saved and it doesn't matter how I live. I do have a 35:41 burden to change that person's mind because they're wrong and 35:44 they're on the road to destruction if they don't 35:46 believe the truth. They've got to know what the truth is. 35:49 So you don't say, Well as long as you're sincere you can keep 35:51 on living in sin as long as you believe you're saved because 35:54 you went to the altar when you were 10 years old. They're wrong 35:58 They conscience has been badly trained and that false teaching 36:02 is deadly. How long your hair is or whether or not you get your 36:06 vegetable fajitas cooked on the same grill. That's not the stuff 36:09 that is going to determine eternal destiny. Y'all hear what 36:13 I'm saying. We need to be intelligent about what the 36:16 differences are and where do you draw the line. So we need to 36:19 care about another person's conscience. An injured 36:22 conscience. Some people have damaged their conscience through 36:28 abuse. Titus 1 verse 15: To the pure all things are pure, but to 36:34 those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, 36:37 but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 36:41 Ellen White said in the book Acts of the Apostles, 36:46 Temptations confuse the conscience. How many times have 36:53 you know somebody they want to do something bad enough that 36:56 they can rationalize just about anything. People in the past 37:01 have rationalized adultery and murder and stealing and you can 37:04 find a rationalization for almost anything if you want to. 37:10 Temptation will confuse the conscience. Mark Twain said, An 37:15 uneasy conscience is like a hair in the mouth. He had a way with 37:22 words didn't he. I Timothy 4:2: Paul here says: Speaking lies 37:28 and hypocrisy, talking to the lost, having their own 37:31 conscience seared with a hot iron. You know sometimes you can 37:35 have a part of your body badly burned and it kills the nerves 37:39 and you never feel on that spot again. Some people have damaged 37:42 their conscience through abuse. An Indian man put it this way: 37:46 He said your conscience is like a triangular wheel in your 37:51 heart and when you're obeying it's stationary and you're at 37:55 peace. When you do something wrong it begins to turn and it 37:59 hurts, the edges hurt. That little triangle goes around 38:03 and it cuts in your heart. If you ignore it and keep doing 38:06 what's wrong you wear the corners off and it doesn't hurt 38:11 anymore. I thought that's an interesting perspective on the 38:15 conscience. I was reading this week about one of the great 38:20 infamous pirates of the past. Pirate Charles Gibb, guilty of 38:25 killing 400 people. He was finally apprehended by the 38:30 British and brought to justice. Before he was executed he told 38:34 at his interview, The first time I plundered another ship and I 38:37 had to kill some of the crew I had never killed anyone before. 38:41 He said I was in torment. I could not sleep at night. 38:46 it bothered me so I was wretched but as I continued in my life of 38:51 piracy it got to the place where I could take a ship, take all 38:57 it's possessions, slaughter the entire crew and sleep like a 39:02 baby at night. He'd killed his conscience. You've heard stories 39:06 of people that have done that. The danger is this is where you 39:12 start to border on the sin against the Holy Spirit. I might 39:16 talk about that real quick. Matthew 12 verses 31 and 32: 39:20 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and blasphemy 39:24 shall be forgiven unto men, but blasphemy against the Holy 39:28 Spirit shall not be forgiven and whoever speaks a word against 39:32 the Son of Man it will be forgiven him, but whoever 39:34 speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it will not be forgiven him, 39:38 neither in this world nor in the world to come. I'd like to offer 39:41 to you that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when you 39:46 resist the work of the Spirit on cleaning up your conscience. 39:51 It's very dangerous. Often someone will in their youth sit 39:55 through an appeal where the pastor is making an altar call. 39:59 They want to surrender or they want to return to the Lord but 40:04 they say not now. They resist. Something holds them back and as 40:07 the years go by it gets easier and easier to put it off where 40:11 they can finally get to the place where they just don't 40:13 feel the urge to go forward any more. Somebody told me that if 40:18 you take some of these migratory birds that have this strong 40:23 migration urge and you put them in a cage at the peak of the 40:27 migration season they will beat themselves against the cage 40:31 trying to escape and go to their breeding grounds. But once that 40:35 season is passed they stop and they sit complacent. You can 40:39 even open the cage and they'll stay. They've missed the season 40:44 and they've lost the drive. There's a time in our lives 40:48 when God calls us. It's very dangerous, especially for young 40:52 people to think ah you know I do believe in the Bible, I want to 40:56 go to heaven, I want to serve Jesus but there's some sins I'd 41:00 really like to try out before it gets too late, before I get 41:04 old and maybe later in my life then I'll repent. You have no 41:09 guarantee that that urge is going to be available then. 41:12 You have no guarantee that the conviction will be there. Today 41:16 if you hear his voice don't harden your heart. Now is the 41:20 time of salvation the Bible says Resisting that altar call can 41:25 get easier over time and then a person can come to the place 41:30 where they commit the unpardonable sin. 41:32 Romans 9 verse 1: I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying. 41:37 My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. 41:40 You notice in case you've wondered, is the conscience 41:43 different from the Holy Spirit. Yes. It's the difference between 41:46 true north and magnetic north. Paul makes a distinction here. 41:50 My conscience bearing witness in the Holy Spirit. Through the 41:53 Holy Spirit guiding my conscience. Paul knew he was 41:56 safe. That's the only way you're really safe. Otherwise you can 42:01 get to the place where your conscience isn't bothered with 42:04 something that is bad because through overexposure we can get 42:08 to where we think it's good. Aesop the fable teller told a 42:12 story one time with a good point to it about this wealthy man 42:16 that brought property next door to this other man who had a 42:19 tanning factory; tanning leather in these big vats and it stinks. 42:23 I've been by a tanning center before and it sends out a 42:27 terrible stench, animal skins and chemicals. And the man said 42:33 look you got to move your operation to the other side of 42:36 your property. I just can't stand it anymore. And he said, 42:41 Soon, soon. And as time went by he'd say soon. Pretty soon the 42:44 man who owned the property next door, the wealthy man, never 42:47 asked him anymore. He'd just gotten used to the smell and 42:52 that's sometimes what happens. Christians sometimes damage 42:57 their conscience by exposing their souls to that which is 43:05 vile in television, videos, movies, magazines and at one 43:11 point when we first see that we say oh how could... Let's 43:15 face it friends. Those of you who have been alive a little 43:21 longer, you know that people living in the 50s and 60s would 43:26 have risen up in outrage if all of a sudden, overnight, the 43:31 current programming had shown up on their television sets even 43:35 in black and white. Do you agree? The stuff that passes as 43:39 legitimate and appropriate today there would have been a riot 43:43 50 years ago. But little by little, the culture has become 43:47 accustomed to the stink so that it's like living by the railroad 43:51 tracks or in the path of the airport. You get where you just 43:54 don't even hear the roar of the planes and the trains anymore. 43:58 And our conscience starts being seared. Things we'd never dream 44:03 of doing we do vicariously by watching others do them. I say 44:06 this frequently because I really believe it's one of the most 44:11 dangerous influences spiritually on God's church today is many 44:16 are injuring their consciences by being entertained through the 44:22 sins of others through the media. We all need to pray that 44:28 God'll give us the victory over that very dangerous element. 44:31 In caring for your conscience I want to close by a couple of 44:36 points. One - Be honest with yourself. The most dangerous 44:41 thing you can do is where you begin to convince yourself that 44:46 bad is good and good is bad. Isaiah 5 verse 20: Woe to those 44:50 who call evil good and good evil who put darkness for light and 44:54 light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for 44:57 bitter. You know, I've tried, and I think God has helped me 45:00 with this. God has blessed me because this is one of my 45:03 attitudes. If I think something is wrong, I might not be ready 45:07 to give it up but I'll say Lord I know it's wrong, help me. 45:10 Don't start to rationalize that it's right as long as you know 45:14 it's wrong. Whenever I was trying to quit smoking, I 45:18 frequently fell, but I never got to the place that I said all 45:20 right, well I guess it's okay and started defending it. 45:22 I said Lord I know it's wrong. I'm not ready now but... 45:25 Be honest with yourself. If there's something in your life 45:28 and you know it's not appropriate, admit it. Say Lord 45:31 I'm not ready, I don't have the strength, whatever you want to 45:35 say, but identify it. Don't begin to rationalize it. Because 45:39 that's speaking against the Holy Spirit isn't it? That's 45:42 when you begin to get on the borders of committing the 45:47 unpardonable sin. Your conscience is something like a 45:52 guard rail in your back yard protecting you from a chasm, a 45:57 big old hole. And when you begin to pull down that guard 46:01 rail, when you take up that fence, one night you'll be 46:04 walking in your back yard, you're going to fall in that 46:07 hole. It's there to keep you safe from that. Don't lie to 46:11 yourself. If you get comfortable telling half-truths a whole lie 46:16 is not far away. The truth is the truth is the truth. We've 46:19 got to be honest about the little things and it's in the 46:22 little things that we ultimately gain the victory in the big 46:26 things. Now I can't stop without at least addressing some 46:30 people's conscience is bothering them and it shouldn't be. 46:34 God has forgiven you and you won't forgive yourself. You've 46:38 got to learn to take God at his word. Ah, but pastor, I think 46:41 about what I did and I feel so guilty. Well you asked God to 46:44 forgive you. Do you believe he will? Are you going to set 46:46 yourself up as a higher tribunal than the Almighty. If God says 46:50 look I've forgiven you. Now what right do you have to say my 46:53 judgment is better than God's judgment. You've got to learn to 46:57 forgive yourself. I understand that if a person has a limb 47:01 amputated or they lose a limb sometimes they can feel what's 47:05 called phantom pain. They may have lost their leg but they 47:08 still feel their toe itch. The toe's not even there but they 47:12 feel it itch. It's as real to them as if it was there, but 47:15 it's not there and they've got to come to terms with the fact 47:18 that it's not their toe itching. It is just the nerve endings 47:22 that think the toe is there. Some of us still feel guilty 47:25 because we have not forgiven ourselves. You need to base your 47:29 feelings on the word of God. Conscience cleansing. How do we 47:36 get a pure conscience? I John 1:9: If we confess our sins he 47:42 is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us 47:47 from all unrighteousness. Is there something in your life 47:52 your conscience is bothering you about. Confess it to God. 47:55 Be honest with him. Say Lord, I need help. By God's grace 47:58 forsake it. There may be some area where you need to restore 48:01 the pledge, return what is robbed, go to someone, apologize 48:06 make the wrongs right as far as humanly possible and then ask 48:10 for God's mercy and then believe that he forgives you. Hebrews 48:14 9:13: For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a 48:18 heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of 48:21 the flesh... Back in the Old Testament they would feel relief 48:24 in their conscience from the blood of a lamb, from the blood 48:27 of a goat. They'd feel better when they sacrificed a goat 48:29 because their religion taught them that the blood of that goat 48:33 somehow would be a symbol of their forgiveness and they felt 48:37 better. Paul is saying if that made them feel better how much 48:41 more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit 48:45 offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience 48:50 from dead works to serve the living God. The blood of Christ 48:54 can not only cleanse you from the past sins, it can cleanse 48:58 you to serve the living God. That's what I want. Hebrews 49:02 10:22, last verse. Let us draw near with a true heart in full 49:07 assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 49:10 conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. That was our 49:15 opening verse. Let us draw near. Friends, God wants you to have a 49:18 clear conscience before him. It doesn't always come right away. 49:22 It must be trained by the word of God, guided by the Holy 49:25 Spirit. I read something interesting this week. 49:28 Our family in one of our journeys we went to visit a 49:34 submarine, the U.S. Nautilus, the first American nuclear 49:37 submarine and it was really something because until the 49:41 Nautilus they couldn't stay under long enough to go under 49:45 the north pole. Not only that, they frequently had to surface 49:49 because they had primitive navigation equipment and so 49:52 these submarines would every now and then have to come up at 49:54 night, check the stars, see where they were, go under. 49:56 That's very dangerous for a submarine. Supposed to operate 49:59 in stealth. Well when they developed the Nautilus, not only 50:03 did it because of nuclear have the ability to stay under for 50:06 months, now these boomer submarines they could 50:10 theoretically stay under till they run out of food. Filter the 50:13 air, filter the water. We have someone working at Amazing Facts 50:17 that was an engineer on a submarine. It's a very 50:18 interesting story. The Russians became very nervous when they 50:23 discovered that America now had the technology to go from 50:28 California to their coast under the ice because they could 50:33 navigate. They used something called an internal magnetic 50:38 gyro navigational system. Very sophisticated piece of equipment 50:42 that enabled them to navigate without a compass under water 50:46 and know exactly where they were. It was something internal. 50:49 Even though they could not see the sun, moon or stars, they 50:53 could not see the light. You can't look out the windows on a 50:57 submarine and find out where we are. There are no windows in a 51:01 submarine. I always thought that's sort of cheating. 51:02 Wouldn't you like to at least look out a window and see a 51:05 coral reef or something, but no windows. They're guided by 51:09 something within that was giving them a constant. God's word 51:14 guided by the Holy Spirit will refine and calibrate your 51:18 conscience to help you know where you are and where you need 51:22 to go. That means we need to stay in God's word. New Year. 51:26 I hope you're on a Bible reading program. I spoke at the Academy 51:30 yesterday encouraging the young people to get into a Bible 51:35 reading program. Read the word. Pray for God's Spirit and he 51:38 will guide you, he will lead you. He's got a path for you. 51:41 I want to live before God with a pure conscience. Don't you 51:44 friends. I want to claim the blood of Christ to cleanse my 51:48 conscience. Is that your prayer? Why don't we turn to our closing 51:51 hymn. He Leadeth Me. What number is that, Debbie? 537. 51:56 Let's stand together as we sing this. 51:58 ¤ ¤ 52:11 He leadeth me, O Blessed thought, 52:17 O words with Heavenly comfort fraught. 52:22 What-e're I do, Where-e're I be, 52:28 Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 52:36 He leadeth me, He leadeth me. 52:42 By His own hand He leadeth me; 52:48 His faithful follower I would be, 52:54 For by his hand he leadeth me. 53:00 Before we sing verse 3 I'd like to make an appeal to you. 53:08 Some of you maybe have had areas in your life where you have been 53:11 resisting the voice of the Spirit speaking through your 53:14 conscience and you know there's a risk of that voice growing 53:18 dull and quiet. Some of the edges on the wheel are getting 53:23 worn off. That urge to migrate toward God is growing weak. 53:28 But you still hear him, it's still there. Have you made a 53:33 complete surrender of your heart to the Lord. It's a new year, 53:36 first Sabbath of the New Year. Maybe there are some of you who 53:39 have never yet made your decision to be baptized. 53:41 And there might be some who you need to be rebaptized. But I'd 53:45 like to make an appeal. I'd like to open the church to you and 53:50 say that as we sing verse 3 and the Holy Spirit speaks to your 53:53 heart, if there are some here who need to come to the Lord for 53:57 the first time or some your conscience is telling you there 53:59 is something that needs to be made right and you want to 54:02 return to the Lord and ask that the Lord will upgrade your 54:05 conscience, that he will train your conscience that you can 54:08 live with a pure conscience through the blood of Christ 54:11 before God. We want to have prayer for you. Come as we sing 54:14 verse 3 together. We'll pray together. 54:19 Lord, I would clasp my hand in thine, 54:23 nor ever murmur nor repine 54:29 Content, whatever lot I see. 54:36 For 'tis my God that leadeth me. 54:43 He leadeth me, He leadeth me, 54:49 By his own hand he leadeth me. 54:56 His faithful follower I would be, 55:03 For by his hand He leadeth me. 55:11 I just would like to ask the church at large. New year. Nice 55:15 Bible number, 2007. Would you like to say, Lord, by your grace 55:19 I want to rededicate myself to follow wherever you lead this 55:23 new year. As a church we recommit ourselves to follow 55:27 where God leads. He's doing great things for this church and 55:30 I think it's going to happen as each individual says we want to 55:33 be consecrated to God. Is that your prayer? Let's sing verse 4 55:37 together 55:39 And when my task on earth is done, 55:44 When by Thy grace the victory's won, 55:50 E'en death's cold wave I will not flee, 55:57 Since God through Jordan leadeth me. 56:04 He leadeth me, He leadeth me, 56:10 By His own hand He leadeth me; 56:17 His faithful follower I would be, 56:25 For by His hand He leadeth me. 56:33 Amen. Father in heaven, thank you very much for the message 56:38 from your word which reminds us to keep our conscience without 56:44 offense before you and our fellow men. Lord we have all 56:48 violated our conscience at times. Forgive us. We pray Lord 56:52 that you will file away the callus that has grown in places 56:57 Help us to have a conscience that is clear, calibrated and 57:01 acute to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Help us Lord to have a 57:05 conscience that is guided and led by your word. Lord if there 57:09 are any areas in our lives where we have been living and 57:13 going against what we know to be right, we pray that you will 57:17 help us to confess what the truth is. Do not let us rest 57:21 do not let us feel right about doing wrong. We pray Lord that 57:26 you will trouble us. Bring that gift of conviction and then I 57:30 pray that we'll find peace that comes from surrender and 57:34 cleansing. Lord I also want to pray for those who are troubled 57:38 when they should not be. They are struggling to forgive 57:41 themselves when the blood of Jesus is provided to cleanse 57:44 them from all sin. Help them to find peace. Help them to accept 57:48 the promise that you have forgiven them, that they can be 57:51 new creatures. I pray that our conscience will be governed 57:55 by your Spirit and led by your word, not by the world, not by 57:59 others. And so bless us Lord that we might live in your 58:02 presence. Be with this church in the year before us. I pray that 58:07 we can do great things for your cause. It's in Jesus name 58:10 we ask, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17