How to Have a Healthy Conscience
Key Passage: Acts 24:14
Date: June 7, 2024
Chapter 24 in God’s Word tonight, Acts chapter 24 of God’s Word.
And that’s a way to grow in the Lord. I’m glad you’re here tonight. Acts chapter 24 in God’s Word. For a little while, we’re going to talk about this subject: how to have a healthy conscience. I believe we’ll share more Bible than typical, so I want you just to hunger after the Word of God. If I read a Bible verse, don’t zoom out.
I want you to try to get it. What is God saying in that Bible verse? We’ll take a while to build a foundation at the beginning because I don’t think Bible truths about the conscience are quite commonly known. Stick with me through all that, and we’ll try to get some truths at the end of it. This is very important that we do that, and it can really take us to a higher level of living, and kind of make clear the plane of living God wants us to live on and be pleasing to Him.
So I want you all to try to focus in and get what God’s talking about in His Word about the conscience—your conscience. We’re going to read God’s Word together, Acts 24, and we’re going to start in verse number 14.
And really just try to get a thing or two in about the conscience, and then we’ll pray and get going on this. Saying, Acts 24, verse number 14: Paul is here standing before Felix, testifying of himself. He says in verse number 14, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets; and having hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.”
I want you to notice that: that little phrase, “to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.”
This word conscience is in the Bible. It’s a biblical thing. Actually, 31 times conscience is mentioned in the Bible. It’s a biblical thing. The first time it is mentioned, Jesus is over there. He’s in the court there, and they brought the lady who was caught in adultery, and they wanted to stone her. Jesus said, “Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone.” And then He began to write. Now, we don’t know what He wrote in the sand there. Some say He wrote the sins of the Pharisees. There’s a little debate over that, but some say that. But let me read for you what happened. It’s in John 8, verse number nine: “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
Now, I want you to notice this: being convicted by their own conscience. So everybody has one; you have your own conscience. You are convicted by it. Conscience is the thing that tells you what is right and what is wrong. It’s the thing, but it doesn’t make your decision. Your will is the one that makes your decision.
All right, so you got a conscience. It tells you if you have a decision to make; it tells you if that is right or wrong. Everyone has their own conscience, and it was telling these people, and they were convicted, and they left. But you have a conscience; it’ll tell you if you have a decision to make; it’ll tell you that’s right or wrong decision. And then your will makes a decision, and the Holy Ghost, it actually works with your conscience.
Romans 9, verse number 1, says this: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.” So the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, works on your conscience. Your conscience bears witness and says, “Hey, don’t you do that.” The Holy Spirit is part of that; He convicts also. And then your will makes a decision.
Just trying to define a little bit what your conscience is. All right. Now, the Bible lists six different types of conscience. All right? We’re trying to get a little foundation here, a biblical foundation, because we don’t think we know it a whole lot. These are some Bible words for your conscience. You can have a pure conscience. 1 Timothy 3:9 is talking about a deacon there. He says, “holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” 2 Timothy 1, verse number 3: “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience.”
If I were to give a definition of a pure conscience, it’s a clean conscience without spot. It’s pure; it’s not defiled.
There’s a good conscience. It’s mentioned six times in the Bible—good conscience. Let me just read one of them for you. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse number 21. It’s talking about baptism, and it says this: “The like figure [that’s very important, we’re into even baptism] doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
That’s why when someone gets baptized, man, they just feel clean and right with God. Why? Because now they have a good conscience toward God. They’ve not only been saved, but they’ve followed Him in believers’ baptism, and it gives them a good conscience toward God. They’re obeying the Lord; they’re growing in the Lord. It’s very important: if somebody doesn’t get baptized, they’re going to be stunted in their growth. Why? They don’t have that good conscience. Their conscience is already weakened and being defiled because they’re not following through and getting baptized. Very important.
So there’s a good conscience. There’s a pure conscience. There’s a good conscience. There’s a weak conscience. 1 Corinthians, chapter 8, verse number 7: “Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled.”
There’s a definition I give for weak: sickly or diseased. Miss Debbie was talking about her grandson, and he has allergies, and it weakens his immune system, and he’s very susceptible to things because of that, and he gets sick a lot. If anybody’s got a lot of young children, you know how they just get sick all the time. That’s when someone has a weak conscience. They’re very susceptible to being defiled and being misled because their conscience is weak. Another verse on weak conscience is 1 Corinthians 8:12: “But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.”
Then there’s a defiled conscience. Number four, there’s a defiled conscience. We reviewed a lot this morning: we got a pure conscience, a good conscience, and then a weak conscience. And then fourthly, a defiled conscience. A couple verses on that: 1 Corinthians 8:7, which we’ve already read: “Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge: for this sum with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat as a thing offered unto an idol. Their conscious being weak is defiled.” Titus 1:15: “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
I’ve had to put a definition on that: contaminated. Their conscience is contaminated; it’s defiled. So what we got? Pure, good, weak, defiled, and then an evil conscience. Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” If I had a definition for evil, it’s hurtful. Other people get hurt; somebody’s going to get hurt because that messed-up conscience. So, an evil conscience. And then the last one we’ll mention is a seared conscience.
1 Timothy 4, verse number 2: “Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared as with a hot iron.” Branded would be the definition. They have a permanent wrong mark in their life. That 1 Timothy 4 is talking about the last days. There’ll be people that have a seared conscience. We have a lot of people in America whose conscience is just seared. It’s been branded. They used to put brands on cows, and typically now they’re marking with their ears, but they put these brands by; you couldn’t take them off. It’s seared; it’s branded in there, and someone’s conscience is seared, and it’s a permanent mark on it in a bad way.
Now, America has an epidemic problem of a messed-up conscience. I mean, it’s just totally—so many consciences are just defiled, and they’re evil, and they’re weak at best so often, to the point they’re seared. And Satan is always about that. How does that happen? Well, the world for one. And Satan—what’s the title of Satan over the Ephesians 2? He’s the prince of the power of the air. So Satan is always pumping out his propaganda, trying to weaken and defile and sear people’s conscience. That’s why people don’t have a good conscience in our day and time. Satan is busy; he’s the prince of the power of the air. He’ll do that through the media, through movies. He’ll even do it through books. He’ll do it through social media. He’ll even do it through the news and all their polls and propaganda. He’s just pumping out his agenda, and he’s changing—he’s slowly changing, weakening people’s conscience. He’s very methodical about it. That’s why Hitler used to say, “If you say something long enough, loud enough, anybody will end up believing it.” They are slowly changing people’s conscience. Satan is very much about that; he’s busy in that. That’s why—can I say something?—that’s why you must be careful how much screen time you have.
Because Satan is using every angle he can, whether it be your phone or TV or whatever. The more screen time you have, the more time—and this is for all of us, me too—he has to pump in his agenda. So I must be wise and alert to that. Then the world—the devil, and then the world that Satan is the god of this world. I mean, in the lunchroom at work, they’re not trying to necessarily, but they’re pumping, they’re putting their philosophy in your friends, maybe coworkers. Even sometimes, and I’m not saying to be mean and rude to them, but you’ll be around relatives that aren’t being used by the Lord; they’re just away from God. And the devil will use anybody. The world is trying to influence, and just rubbing shoulders with the world, they’re always trying to weaken, defile, and eventually sear our conscience.
I think about way back in the day; I would buy a fair amount of cars and did a little bit of trading, whatnot, way back before I was pastor. And often I would buy a car—a used car, I’m talking about. And on the back of it, you put in there what you paid for it. And often somebody would say, “I won’t put anything,” and you put whatever you want to in there, because the lower the amount, the less taxes you pay. And it’s very tempting. They’re trying to be nice, and they’re trying to do that, but they’re just kind of pushing their philosophy off. And boy, I would get convicted. I didn’t do it, but I was convicted about thinking about doing it. But if I had started to do it, my conscience would have been lowered. And I’m saying the world is always just—Satan’s always using the world to slyly weaken your conscience. See?
And it’s busy about those things. And then your flesh—we got the devil, we got the world, then our flesh is just—our flesh is always trying to justify ourselves. It’s amazing. Here’s what happens. Stick with me tonight. We’re building a little bit more biblical and just teaching, if you will, the typical. But here’s what happens: if my beliefs are up here and my actions are down here, I don’t have harmony inside. I don’t have peace going; I’m not going to have the peace that God rolled in my heart. I’ve got a problem going on, and I’ve got two options.
Either I can confess I’m not where I ought to be and try to bring myself up to where God wants me to be. Or my flesh is always trying to get me to lower my beliefs down to where my actions are, and I have a false sense of peace. “Well, everything’s all right,” and a counterfeit. It’s called justifying myself. I’m lowering my beliefs down to where I’m living at. And by doing that, I weaken and I defile, and I can eventually sear my conscience. Some have a seared conscience. You say, “Well, I don’t do it.” You’re crazy; everybody does it. And you think, “Well, I don’t—they ever get convicted?” Because I have a seared, messed-up conscience about it, and they’re not going to get convicted. They have—oh, they’ve just taken the Holy Spirit where He is, and He’s grieved. And they’ve quenched Him and they’ve grieved the Spirit of God, and their conscience is seared. Now, that’s the foundation. Are you all still with me out there?
Let’s talk for just a little bit: How can I have a good or a healthy conscience? How can we maintain a healthy conscience in our day and time? By the way, our country is getting to the point where they can call good evil, and evil good, because their conscience is messed up. That’s why the media is all about that, and people fall for it because their conscience is messed up. We’ve got to get on track with how to have a good conscience. We’re going to get there one day, I promise you. How do you, with a messed-up world—this world is just cattywampus, friend—how can you and I maintain a healthy conscience in such a messed up world? A couple of truths on that. Number one: When we let the Bible be the truth. Nobody else’s opinion. Not what everybody else thinks, not what your flesh wants, but you let the Bible be the absolute truth. That’s the thing. You see, because our conscience can get messed up.
Where we, even a Christian, can think, “Well, that thing is right,” when it’s not right. How can I keep from getting messed up, if you will, by letting the Bible—I’m going to say something you’re going to like, “Well, I don’t know about that.” This is personal to me. I’m not asking you to go this way at all, and let me finish it out. But I personally do not like the government making wearing a seatbelt a law. I don’t think it’s constitutional. No, you disagree, and that’s fine. I think we’re slowly losing our personal liberties in America. Now, we’re way beyond that now. Whatever you decide about the shot, that’s up to you, but that’s a constitutional right for us to make the decision. But way beyond that, if I don’t wear my seatbelt, it’s not hurting anyone else; it’s going to hurt me, and I think I have the right to make that decision.
But here’s the thing. When it came out, by the way, the younger generation, you know, you’re just not used to it. You grew up wearing seatbelts; I get that. But for us old, decrepit, ancient people, we grew up—you remember growing up in the day when you pushed the brakes on and you put your arm out, it just instinctively went out? Well, because a little junior didn’t wear a seatbelt. It just wasn’t the common thing. And that’s why I grew up with that. My mom, for years, she put the brakes on—boom—just instinct. And you just grew up with that. So when the law came along, all right, it’s the law. They recommended it for years, and whatnot. And I said, “Well, praise the Lord, I ain’t got to wear that thing.” And then it was law. Now, I’ll be honest with you, for the first bit, I didn’t wear a seatbelt because I didn’t think it was constitutional. But then the Spirit of God started working on me, and my conscience started working on me. That bothered me, but the Holy Spirit reminded me of Romans 13. The Bible says, “Hey, God allows that authority to be there.” Now, if they were disagreeing with God, obey God rather than man, but they weren’t disagreeing with God. I think they’re disagreeing with the Constitution, but not God. And so I was convicted, and I wear my seatbelt today. I mean, every time I get in—I want to say my truck, but that doesn’t happen very often nowadays. My truck’s so good when I get to ride it. If there’s a passenger over there, it tells them. My kids hate it. Every once in a while, they’re not wearing it, and boy, that beep, you know, and I’m like, “Hey, put your seatbelt on.” They don’t like my truck for that reason. They’ve threatened to try to find out where that thing is and unplug it because it always tells on them. But I wear it. If I did not wear it, you know what happened? My conscience would be weakened, eventually defiled, as far as that area; I’d get seared. But what was the thing that made me wear my seatbelt? The Bible.
Because the Bible says, look, if they’re not going against God, you obey the law. As much as I didn’t like it—I still don’t like it—I’m going to do it because the Bible tells me to do it. Amen. That’s the living where the Bible ought to be the final say-so in everything. The world is trying to program us where the final authority is the opinions, the polls they’re taking. Well, the majority right now say abortion is wrong, but it’s not always been like that, and it probably will not always be like that. So am I going to let the Bible be the final authority, or the polls? I’m not saying it’s not—if whatever—but as far as me making decisions, hey, forget the polls. I might want to learn where we’re at by the polls and what the world’s about, but as far as my living, forget the polls. It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to stand before God, and God’s not going to say, “Well, the polls said this; this is what you ought to do.” In fact, one day you and I will stand before the Lord, and can I read for you what He’s going to judge you by?
It’s not going to be by what the status quo in the Christian world of America says. Let me read for you what the Bible says. John 12:48: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” So one day I’ll stand before God, and He won’t judge you by what everybody else says, their opinions, or the status quo in America of what a Christian is or isn’t. He’s going to judge us at the judgment seat of Christ if you’re saved. By the Bible, so I must let the Bible be the standard, and that Bible will keep my conscience in good standing.
A couple things about the Bible. The Bible—it’ll wash; it’ll wash me. As the Bible says in Ephesians 5, He’s talking about the bride, that’s the church, that’s the Christian: Ephesians 5:26, “that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.” Look, just living in this day and time, our conscience—I promise you, our conscience is going to get weakened, and it’ll get dirt put on it. My conscience does. So I must—I must be in the Word often because the Word is like taking a bath. I mean, I hope you take a bath. Come on now, somebody say amen out there. Everybody else appreciates you taking a bath. You say, “Well, it’s gone for the day.” That’s all right; take another one the next day. That’s why I ought to get in the Word and seek to be in there daily. I need my conscience washed by the Word. See? So very, very important.
Preaching the Word. Titus one thing, and he said, “But hath in due time manifested, made open His word through preaching.” You know, part of preaching—there’s teaching, and both are biblical, both are right. There’s teaching, and then there’s preaching. Both are right. Typically, teaching goes toward the head, and preaching goes toward the heart. A little difference there. And preaching is drawing you to make a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. And preaching is—you’re ever going to make a dumb decision? Okay, you never make a dumb decision. Come on now, we’re about to make a dumb decision, and somebody comes along and says, “What in the world are you thinking about?” That would be the worst thing in the world, and you think, “You know, you’re right. Thanks, man, I needed that.” That’s preaching sometimes, from the Word of God.
And preaching should be as if—it won’t. He says, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” I mean, sometimes preach—man, you just, “Hey, that ain’t right.” And we need that from the Word of God. America is lacking that. You’ve got a lot of good teaching, but not a lot of good preaching, and that’s important because it keeps my conscience right.
I mentioned this here recently; I’ll mention it again. Years ago, when our kids were little—Sarah was still sucking her thumb back then (she still does it sometimes in our day and time; I’m teasing, I’ve been giving her a hard time all day long)—but our kids were little, John and Sarah both, and the church was just getting started, and, you know, finances—most of the support had dropped off—and we’re trying to pay bills and all that. So, someone in our church, good, good people, they had a business, and they—I don’t know if they came to us, or we came to them, I’m not sure—but they offered Mrs. Tammy a job as secretary, and they were good people. So she started working. I had two little—we had two little kids. Man, I went to a conference, a Bible preaching conference. I don’t even remember what was preached. Maybe if I thought about it, I could think it up. But I remember a guy got up and preached, and boy, the Holy Spirit took that sermon and just got my conscience right. “I’m paying your bills, Paul. You’re not going hungry. Everything’s taken care of. What in the world are you letting your wife work when you’ve got two young kids at home?” And I tell you what, the Holy Spirit got my conscience right through that preaching.
I went home and said, “Hey, babe, you’ve got to quit that job. We’ve got two young kids. It’s my fault.” And praise the Lord, I have a good wife, and she said, “You’re right, let’s do it.” She gave two weeks’ notice and quit. And all these years later, I’m so thankful. But I needed to go somewhere where there was just preaching, and somebody just preached, “Thus saith the Lord,” and boy, just kind of slapped me up the side of the face, “What in the world are you doing?” And I needed that, and I got my conscience right. The Bible and Bible preaching get your conscience right. I’ve got to let the Bible be my standard. I must. I must. That’s number one if I’m going to have a healthy conscience.
Number two, I must keep a clear conscience. A couple ways to do that. You know this verse: 1 John 1:9. What’s the first word of that verse? What is it? If. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If. Now, if I am not confessing my sins, then my conscience does not get cleansed.
Cleansed. You say, “Well, positionally, I’m saved; I’m going to heaven. My sins are washed with the blood of the Lamb.” And that’s true, positionally. But your everyday living, your relationship with the Lord, your fellowship with the Lord—friend, your conscience does not get cleansed. They say even for a child, if your child lies or does something wrong, don’t sweep it under the rug. You’re messing that child up. You need to confront that child: “Hey, that’s not right.” Why? So their conscience is put in the right spot. It’s so vital. And when I confess, I’m getting part of it; I’m getting my conscience cleansed. I think this is what it’s talking about. Look over in Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews 10, verse number 22. You all have been doing so good listening tonight, and I appreciate it. But Hebrews 10, verse number 22 there—look at this verse. I’ll tell you what I think he’s talking about. Hebrews 10, verse number 22. Once you find it, look at verse number 22 right there. He says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Notice that sprinkling. I think later on the water is the Bible, but even before that, the sprinkling—maybe it’s talking about the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Sprinkling typically in the Bible is talking about where they sprinkled the blood on the offering. And so when I confess it, I’m getting that blood applied—not positionally for salvation, but for my daily fellowship. And that blood—what can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus—and it keeps my conscience right, but I keep my conscience clear. Part of it: you’re not going to do everything right, so you must, you must, you must confess your sins. That’s very important. It’s not just a routine thing. Keeping my conscience right is so very, very important.
We had a good lady in our church. She came to the early service. I don’t know what exactly was going on, but she told me this—I hope she doesn’t mind; I won’t say who it is—but she came a little early to practice, maybe involved in something. She wasn’t feeling well, and she went to leave. Actually, she left before church started. And she got convicted, I imagine, a little bit, you know, about missing the assembly. She got down a little bit and thought, “Well, if I was well enough to practice, I’d be well enough to come to church.” And so she turned around; she got convicted, she turned around and came back to church. She was keeping—she was making sure her conscience was clear; she was keeping her conscience right. If I get convicted, that’s wonderful. And I said the first thing I got to say to her was something like this: “Praise the Lord, you still got convicted.” Because I can get to the point where I never get convicted anymore. You’ve heard it said, “You miss church one time, no big deal.” You miss church one time, you’re convicted really bad, but you start missing church more and more; it gets easier and easier. Why? Because your conscience gets defiled. You have a lot of people that the devil has used COVID to defile their conscience. They’ve got good health, and they ought to be in church. And so it’s very important that I keep a good conscience and I confess and I get things right when I’m convicted.
Number one, if I’m going to have a good conscience: the Bible. Number two, keep a clear conscience. How do you do that? Confession. Making things right is the second thing under this, keeping a clear conscience. You’re in Hebrews already, 10:20. Look over in Hebrews 13, verse number 18: “Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.” That’s so important everywhere—willing to live honestly. If you’re going to have a good conscience, you’ve got to be honest about things.
Satan and your flesh are trying to get you to justify. We’ve already read our text verse, Acts 24:16: “And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.” It’s so important. Tammy went to the grocery store a week or two ago, and she got something—I think it was around $12. In our day and time, that’s not much going to the grocery store. Praise the Lord, it was only $12. And she came home and said, “Hey, would you pull up our online banking and all that stuff?” She said, “Because when I was checking out, and somewhere on the line when I was putting my card in, the whole system went down. I don’t know if we really paid for this thing or not, and I want to make sure we’re paid for it.” So I checked it and said, “Praise the Lord, when I checked, we were getting that God provided for free.” That’s my flesh—what did I do? But I was thankful that I had a wife that, just $12, she wanted a clear conscience.
Unfortunately, later on it did come through—I’m teasing that it did. But I’m very thankful that I had a wife who wanted to keep and have a clear conscience, and she was like, “If I need to go back down there and pay, I will.” Twelve bucks in our day and time is not that much, but your conscience is very valuable. If I’m going to have a good conscience, I must keep it clear.
I had a lady in our church—just a good lady. Her and her husband both came to me about something, and I appreciate it so very much. We had talked about something, and something happened the week later. I’ll be honest with it, I did not even recognize it. I think it was Sunday morning; so much was going on, or something, and I didn’t even catch it. She said, “I want to talk to you tonight.” And so Sunday night service, whatever it was, that came to me. She said, “I’m so sorry. We had said this, and you had said this, and then I turned around and did this,” and I didn’t even catch it. It wasn’t that big of a thing, but I was so thankful this young couple, this lady, wanted to keep her conscience right. And I appreciate that so very much. You’ve got to work at it. You’ve got to come back and say, “Hey, I’m sorry; I don’t know if I was right there.”
I was in a meeting, and Tammy was there, and I can’t ever remember exactly what it was, but I had said something in that meeting. It wasn’t totally accurate; it wasn’t totally honest. I really didn’t think that much about it, but later on, my conscience—the Holy Spirit—started convicting me. I couldn’t meet with the person that was in the meeting, but I went back to my wife and said, “Hey, babe.” I wanted you to know that I wasn’t exactly right in what I said there. It’s just a minor thing. I mean, I don’t think about it. There’s only one other person there, but I don’t think they know anything; they wouldn’t remember it today. I wanted to do my best to make that right. Tammy kind of forgot I ever said it, but I wanted to make sure my conscience—all those little things are so important because Satan will use those little things, and after a while, your conscience is weakened, and you’re very susceptible to having your conscience defiled. So I must work at this. That’s where Paul said, “I’ve got a conscience void of offense toward God or toward men.” Two different things, by the way; you’re working on both. Keep your conscience right.
I want to talk about one of the servicemen that have been dealing with on Sarah’s car. He said, “Look, my ethics are more important than money.” I appreciate him being like that, and he’s going to argue with higher-ups about some things, but all he’s trying to do is keep his conscience right. All that is very, very important. Going against your conscience just weakens it. I think we’ve established that. There’s another verse, but I won’t read it. But here’s a good little thing: If it’s in doubt, don’t do it. Why? Because it will weaken your conscience. Remember years ago, I was traveling from Florida up to Michigan, going over to Bible College, and I was playing some music. It was Christian music, but it was very questionable. Even today, I think many would debate whether it’s right or wrong. And I praise the Lord, the Lord was working on my heart enough. I stopped at an exit; I pulled over, and I had those cassette tapes back in the day. Praise the Lord, it wasn’t eight-tracks. I’m not that old now. It wasn’t reel-to-reel. It was just cassette tapes. But I remember taking that tape—I liked that music—and putting it in the trash because it was just so questionable. And I threw it away. I went down to the exit, turned around, and came back, and God—I didn’t know I didn’t do that, and I’m thankful for that. If I ever told you what it was, it would probably be a debate in our church whether it’s right or wrong. But I’m glad I kept my conscience right, and I’m not doing doubtful things, weakening my conscience. By the way, if it keeps coming up in your mind, it’s probably wrong. Probably the Holy Spirit is trying to keep your conscience right. See?
Number one, the Bible, if I’m going to have a healthy conscience. Number two, I’ve got to keep a clear conscience. Number three, just very briefly, I want to put this thought: The Holy Spirit wants to put the fault in here. You can wound other people’s consciences. Would you look in 1 Corinthians chapter 8 real quickly here? 1 Corinthians chapter 8, and much of this chapter is about eating meats offered to idols. If we took time to read the whole thing, we’d realize the mature Christians realize those idols are nothing; they’re just a piece of rock or stone. And to the more mature Christians, it’s no big deal. By the way, that meat that was offered to idols, they would take that meat—a good old steak. And it was discounted. I like to get good steak at a discounted price. Some of them were saying, “Praise the Lord, we can get steak at discounted prices.” It doesn’t matter if it’s been offered to that rock over there; it’s just a rock or a piece of wood. But some of the younger Christians who had come out of this idol worship, it bothered their conscience. This meat had been offered already; it was part of their former religion of offering up to these fake idols, and it was bothering their conscience. Now, the mature Christians, they’re right—it’s just a piece of wood or rock. But let’s look and see what God says about this thing. We’re in 1 Corinthians, chapter 8. Would you look down? I believe it’s verse number 10. Notice what he says: “For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak [just a young Christian, he has a weak conscience] being emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols? And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died?”
“But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.” That’s pretty strong.
I think about when we first got married—back in 1935 [a joke], amen, 27 years ago. I’m just a country boy born in Tennessee, but a little bit into it, I moved to Florida. A lot of people think of Florida; they think of the tourists, the beaches and all that. But man, you get in the middle of Florida; there are some country people there—Florida crackers, they call them. I’m talking about four-wheel drives everywhere, tennis balls on the top of the antennas pulled over there. That’s just the way it was. If you didn’t have that ring in the back of your jeans, something wasn’t popular, you know what I’m saying? Very country people inside of the family. And so I used some slang that in my world was not wrong.
Now, my wife, she’s from Jersey; she’s a Jersey girl. She wasn’t raised in church, but she was raised in a different culture than I was raised in. And for her, one word in particular—I’m not going to say what it was—that was like next to an abomination to say that. That wasn’t a curse word; it was just a little slang word. And for them, that’s taboo; you don’t say that word. I could have gotten offended. Well, there’s nothing wrong with that word technically, but I would have weakened and defiled her conscience. So I said, “All right, I have to delete that out of my dictionary.” Now she’s not around. I’m joking about it. I think my conscience went more her way; society has gone more that way also. But it would have been a sin for me to weaken or defile her conscience by using that word. That’s what the Bible was teaching.
Can I say this? So many parents weaken or defile their child’s conscience. Parents must be so careful about that. Where am I putting my child’s conscience on issues? Society is very good at it. I must be very careful about places where my conscience is weakened. Many a clean young man has worked in a shop or factory for years, or the military, whatever, and their conscience has gotten defiled and weakened. Many a clean young man, after a while, their conscience is seared. And I must be careful about my hanging out time too much with those crowds. The military is bad; I’ve seen some of the military men shake their heads, “Oh, yeah.” And we must be aware of that. I’ve already mentioned screen time—be so wise about that, spending a lot of time, and my conscience is weakened and defiled.
Then the last thought, and we’re going to be done. Look over in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Great truth here. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 15. We’re going to kind of change gears for just a second here. This verse doesn’t use the word conscience, but it applies. You’ll see it. 1 Timothy 3:15: “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” Now, what is he talking about? He’s talking about the pillar. We’ve got these six pillars here. The pillar and the foundation of the truth. The church is to be the pillar and ground of truth. We’re to hold the truth up so it’s held up high. So even the world, they might not do the truth, but they know the truth is because the church has been holding the truth up high. If you will, the church is the moral conscience of a nation.
The church has lost this standard of holding high the truth. Even the church now has gone worldly. And so the world, they don’t have a proper conscience because they don’t have a church holding up the truth. And so the conscience of a nation has got out of whack, cattywampus, because the church is not doing the job, because they’re supposed to be the moral conscience of a nation. And that’s one of the major problems in our country, because the church is not holding high.
But back in the day, ask some of these older people around here—excuse me, wiser people around here. Ask Brother Kent, 88. I think he’s got the record here tonight. Brother Andrew Bird’s real close to it, but I think he has to beat a little bit. I’m teasing. But I asked him: back in the day, even if the world wasn’t doing right, they knew what right was because of the churches. That’s what God wants. But when the church letters the truth, we’re weakening the conscience of the nation. And it’s getting defiled all around us and is getting to the point it’s getting seared. That’s why the church needs a revival; it starts with the church. I wonder what generations to come will know what the truth really is.
Now you’ll understand why in the Tribulation period they can kill someone that’s doing right—a Christian during the Tribulation period—and they think they’re doing God a favor. How can that happen? Their conscience is totally defiled and seared. That’s what Satan’s working towards.
Years ago in Smyrna here, some of you remember it, they were voting on liquor by the drink. Some of you are shaking your head. How many remember that when they were voting on liquor by the drink? Yes, here in Smyrna. They had tried it many, many a time here in Smyrna, and it had failed to pass. And there was a gentleman that came—it was a Sunday night or a Wednesday night. He came, and over the years, every time they brought it up, he had fought against it. Praise the Lord for that man. I don’t know how he found out about our church, but he had a petition, and he came on a Sunday night and Wednesday night, and he wanted signatures. Two things he said just got my attention. One thing he said was, “Wow, I’m shocked. On a Sunday night or on Wednesday night, first of all, you’re having church, and you have so many people here on a Sunday night and Wednesday night. You don’t see that much anymore,” he said. “It’s refreshing to see that.” And then we were talking afterwards; he said the problem I’m having this time—and by the way, that time it passed—he said, “I’m having a hard time finding preachers and churches that will stand with me against liquor by the drink.” And the church didn’t hold the truth, and it passed.
One more fault, and we’re done. It’s so refreshing when you see or you find someone that has a clear conscience that will stand out to the world. When the world sees someone coming in and saying, “Hey, you want to pay? You’re coming back to pay $12,” when they see those things, they say, “No, there’s something different there. That’s not just a fake.”
Our real estate agent—he’s only come one time over by Center Hill Lake over in Smithville—but I tried to get him to come to church. He wouldn’t come to church until we turned down the million and a half dollars because they were going to put liquor, alcohol, tobacco, and lottery into the deal. We said, “No, we’re not going to sell it to them.” Next thing out of his mouth: “What time do your services start?” I’m saying to the world—he’s a Christian—but I’m saying to the world, it stands out when you have someone with a clear conscience. They’re marching to a different drumbeat; there’s something different about them. And God can use a person with a clear conscience.
Original File: How to Have a Healthy Conscience - Sunday PM Pastor Paul Chisgar 112121