1 Peter chapter 3, verses 8 through 22,
deal with the subject of the conscience.
1 Peter chapter 3, verses 8 through 22.
Some of you have read Ogden Nash's poetry.
Not very edifying, but sometimes rather interesting.
He has a cute little poem that says,
when called by a panther, don't anther.
But his little poem on conscience is interesting.
There is only one way to achieve happiness
on this terrestrial ball, and that is to
have either a clear conscience or none at
all.
A lot of theology in those words.
H.L. Mencken, who used to wake up
the United States with his scathing editorials in
the American Mercury, defined conscience as that inner
voice that is warning you that somebody may
be watching.
Not a bad definition.
And yet each of us has to live
with conscience.
Conscience is that inward monitor, that inward judge,
that accuses us when we do wrong and
commends us when we do right.
In fact, conscience is so important, it is
mentioned 31 times in the New Testament.
You don't find the word in the Old
Testament, but you find the idea there.
When Adam and Eve ran and hid, that
was conscience.
When it says David's heart smote him, that's
conscience.
Here we have a whole section in the
New Testament dealing with this matter of conscience.
You'll notice in verse 16, having a good
conscience.
Verse 21, but the answer of a good
conscience.
You see, there's more than one kind of
conscience in the Bible.
If somebody were to invent a conscience machine,
like an EKG machine, and if we were
to put the straps on our arms and
plug it in and push the buttons, and
it somehow told us what kind of a
conscience we had, you'd have several different kinds
of reports.
There is such a thing as a good
conscience, that's one that functions.
A good conscience is one that, when we
do wrong, accuses us, when we do right,
commends us.
When a person has a good conscience, he's
not afraid for the phone to ring, he's
not afraid for the mail to arrive, he's
not afraid to look somebody right straight in
the face and talk to them.
I came to Spurgeon one day and said,
Mr. Spurgeon, we want to write your life.
He said, you may write my life in
the clouds, I have nothing to hide.
That's a good conscience.
The Apostle Paul was slapped in the face
for saying, I strive always to have a
conscience void of offense before God and men.
And a good conscience is one that enables
me to come right to God without fear,
or to come to men without fear.
A good conscience is one that enables me
not to be afraid.
But the Bible talks about a defiled conscience.
Titus chapter 1 verse 15.
That's a conscience that's starting to get dirty.
And things that used to bother us don't
bother us anymore because conscience has been defiled.
You must remember, conscience can be educated.
It's possible for us to commit certain sins
and live in certain ways and do it
so often that we get used to it.
If there are sins in our lives tonight
that a year ago would have kept us
awake, our conscience has gotten defiled.
You see, conscience is something like these windows
up there.
These windows do not manufacture light.
They let the light come in.
Conscience is that window that lets the light
of God's truth come into the heart.
But if the window gets dirty, the light
can't get in.
There's a defiled conscience.
Hebrews 10.22 talks about an evil conscience.
You know what that is?
An evil conscience is one that accuses us
if we do good and commends us if
we do evil.
There are people walking the streets of Chicago
who would be bothered if they did something
good because their conscience is evil.
An evil conscience is one that's turned completely
upside down.
Instead of being commended, the person is condemned
when he does evil.
Instead of being approved, the person is accused
when he does good.
That's an evil conscience.
And an evil conscience starts with a defiled
conscience.
A little more dirt gets on the window
until no light comes in at all.
And that's what Jesus meant when he said,
when the light that is in you becomes
darkness, watch out.
The Bible also talks about a seared conscience.
You've all had some kind of a callus
on your hand or perhaps your foot, or
perhaps you've had a burn, a serious burn,
and as a result that whole area was
deadened and hard.
That's the word, seared, cauterized.
I have on occasion had to have cauterization
to stop bleeding.
That's what he's talking about in 1 Timothy
4.2. Their conscience is seared as with
a hot iron.
There are those who have so lived in
sin that their conscience no longer bothers them.
I think I've told you about the man
I visited, an old railroader, worked on the
railroad.
And I sat in his living room and
talked to him about the Lord and about
what it meant to die and go to
hell, what it meant to be lost forever.
And he said to me, Preacher, if this
floor opened up and I dropped into hell
right now, it wouldn't bother me one bit.
That is a seared conscience.
Someone says let conscience be your guide.
Let a good conscience be your guide, not
a defiled conscience, not an evil conscience, not
a seared conscience.
And Peter is talking about a good conscience.
Now, Peter knew something about a good conscience.
We sometimes like to criticize Peter because he
occasionally fell, but did you notice that when
Peter fell he got straightened out again?
Peter denied the Lord three times, but he
went out and he wept bitterly.
That's a good conscience.
Peter got into trouble with the Gentiles, and
so he pulled away and just fellowshiped with
the Jews.
And Paul came and rebuked him and Peter
got straightened out because Peter had a good
conscience.
A good conscience does not prevent you from
occasionally doing something wrong because you can sin
against your conscience.
So can I.
But a good conscience makes it possible for
us to be so miserable we don't want
to stay out of God's will too long.
Read Psalm 32 if you want to find
out about David's conscience when he tried to
cover up his sin.
Now this paragraph, 1 Peter 3, 8-22,
simply spells out to us the blessings that
come to your life when you have a
good conscience.
When you can get up in the morning
and not be afraid.
You can look in the mirror and not
be ashamed.
You can look anybody straight in the eye
and not wonder what do they know about
me.
A good conscience.
Now what are the blessings of a good
conscience?
Well, verses 8-12, a consistency in our
walk.
A good conscience enables the believer to be
consistent in his walk.
Look at it here.
Finally, be ye all of one mind.
A unity of mind.
Having compassion.
Literally that means being sympathetic one of another.
So you not only have the same mind,
you have the same heart.
Oneness of feeling.
Love as brethren.
Be pitiful.
That means be full of pity.
Be thoughtful of others.
Be courteous.
Be humble minded.
Not rendering evil for evil or railing for
railing.
Somebody hollers at you, you holler back.
But on the contrary, blessing.
Knowing that ye are called to this, that
ye should inherit a blessing.
For he that will love life and see
good days.
Here he is quoting from Psalm 34.
Let him refrain his tongue from evil, his
lips that they speak no guile.
Let him eschew evil, turn away from evil,
hate evil and do good.
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
And that word pursue means you strive after
it.
You don't wait for it to come, you
strive after it.
For the eyes of the Lord are over
the righteous and his ears are open unto
their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil.
And who is he that will harm you
if ye be followers of that which is
good?
Peter is telling us we can live on
three different levels.
Now the lowest level is to return evil
for good.
He talks about that in verse 13.
Who is he that will harm you if
ye be followers of that which is good?
Most people won't.
But there are some people who are so
evil that they return evil for good.
That's the level the devil lives on.
The lowest level, the satanic level, is returning
evil for good.
Now the next level is the human level
where most people live.
They return good for good and evil for
evil.
You scratch my back, I'll scratch your back.
Love me, love my dog.
That's the level most people live on.
If you're good to me, I'll be good
to you.
If you're mean to me, you just wait,
I'll find some way to get back.
Now Christians aren't supposed to live on the
satanic level.
We never should return evil for any reason.
Nor do we live on the human level
of just returning good for good or evil
for evil.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said
even sinners can do that.
We live on the highest level of verse
9 where we return good for evil.
And brothers and sisters, that ain't easy to
do.
By nature, when somebody sideswipes me or you,
we want to sideswipe them back.
There's something in human nature that is volatile.
There's enough poison down there that when somebody
starts criticizing us, we turn right around and
criticize them.
And so Peter says, look, if you've got
a good conscience, and somebody tears into you,
you'll be calm.
You're not going to worry about it.
Why?
The Lord's watching over you.
If you really love life, and I'm amazed
at how many people don't love life, they
just endure it.
If you really love life and you want
to see good days, have a good conscience.
Now, what is a good day?
Well, for the average person, a good day
means no trouble, no heartache, no difficulty, no
problems, everything going beautifully.
That could be a bad day.
What is a good day?
A good day is a day in which
we enjoy the blessings of the Lord, and
we have a good conscience.
Now, if someone says, boy, I had a
good day today.
I snuck out of this, and I cheated
on that, and I was able to lie
my way through.
That's not a good day.
It's a bad day.
The devil ran that day.
A good day is not necessarily one that
we are delivered from troubles or difficulties or
responsibilities or problems.
He says if you love life and you
want to have a good day, guard your
tongue.
Just be careful what you say and how
you say it.
Turn away from evil and seek after peace.
Really work for it.
Pursue it.
Don't just stand and wait for the dove
to come flying down.
Go chase the dove with a net.
Go after peace.
Be a peacemaker, not a troublemaker, because God's
eyes are watching over you.
That's where a good conscience comes in.
No matter what the circumstances may be, no
matter what the difficulties may be, there can
be a consistency in our walk because we
have a good conscience.
You see, a good conscience reminds me, verse
9, that I've been called to get a
blessing.
A good conscience reminds me, in verses 10
and 11, that God's commanded me not to
do evil.
A good conscience reminds me, in verse 12,
that God's going to watch over me.
The eyes of the Lord are over the
righteous.
His ears are open unto their prayers.
A good conscience is a clean window through
which the light shines in.
When the light shines in, it's so much
easier to have a consistent walk, isn't it?
Sure it is.
And by the way, it starts with the
brethren.
It starts with my getting along with the
saints.
In this first section, he's talking about getting
along with the saints.
In the second section, he's going to talk
about our problems with the unsaved.
In the third section, our problem with the
devil.
If I can't get along with the saints,
if my conscience doesn't allow me to have
peace and joy and harmony with the saints,
I haven't got a ghost of a chance
of going out and fighting the world.
A good conscience gives us consistency in our
walk.
Now, dear friend, if any of us here
tonight has been having a problem with his
walk or with his talk, examine the conscience.
Is there any dirt on the conscience?
Does the window need cleaning someplace?
In verses 13 through 17, he gives us
a second blessing of a good conscience, namely
confidence in our witness.
Just before the service started, I was walking
around like I am wont to do and
one of our Sunday school girls stopped me
and said, I have to ask you something.
I said, what's that?
She said, sometimes I'm afraid to witness because
I'm afraid people are going to hurt me.
I said, you listen to my sermon tonight.
I'm preaching about that.
And here it is.
But and if you suffer for righteousness sake,
happy are ye, and be not afraid of
their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts.
Let me rearrange that a little bit.
Let me retranslate it for you.
But sanctify Jesus Christ as Lord in your
heart.
That's what he's saying.
And be ready always to give an answer
to every man that asketh you, a reason
of the hope that is in you, but
do it with meekness and respect.
Having a good conscience, that whereas they speak
evil of you as of evildoers, they may
be ashamed that falsely accuse your good manner
of life in Christ.
For it is better if the will of
God be so that you suffer for well
doing than for evil doing.
He's talking about our witnessing.
Now, this first paragraph talked about our walking
with God's people.
Now he's talking about witnessing to the unsaved.
He's assuming that you and I are going
to be asked why we live the way
we live.
Did you notice that?
Sanctify Jesus Christ as Lord in your heart
and be ready always to give an answer.
That word answer is our word apology or
defense.
A defense for the hope that is within
you, the reason for the hope that's within
you.
Here is some Christian slave and he's doing
his work and he's doing it happily.
He's not cursing, he's not grudging, he's not
looking for some way to sneak off.
And the boss notices this.
And the master comes over and says, I
want to talk to you slave.
Yes, sir.
There's something different about you.
What is it?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
I'm a Christian.
And he has an opportunity to tell of
the hope that he has within him.
You see, we Christians live in the future
tense.
We don't live in the past tense.
Our sins have been taken care of.
We live in the future tense.
The reason we enjoy the present is because
we are sure about the future.
Now, a good conscience gives you confidence in
your witness because the walk and the talk
go together.
I don't have any chance of having any
power in my witness.
If behind in the back of my mind,
I'm saying, I hope he doesn't know the
truth about me.
Peter's making a very practical application here.
He's saying when your conscience is good, when
you're right with God and right with man,
anybody can ask you a question about you
and your Christian life and you can answer
it without fear.
Why?
Jesus Christ is Lord in your heart.
Peter quotes in verse 14, I'm sorry, in
verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts.
He's quoting from Isaiah chapter 8.
It'd be worth us to turn back and
see the original of that.
Isaiah chapter 8, verse 13, listen to it.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let
him be your fear and let him be
your dread.
Now, if we fear man, we're going to
fail.
If we fear what people say, we're going
to fail.
But if we fear the Lord, we'll never
have to be afraid of the face of
men.
Look at the next verse, Isaiah chapter 8,
verse 14.
And he shall be for a sanctuary.
What is he saying?
Don't be afraid.
If you sanctify Jesus Christ as Lord in
your heart, the only fear you have is
disobeying him.
You'll have a good conscience.
And if you fear God, you need fear
nobody else.
You need not fear the face of men,
the arguments of men.
By the way, you can usually tell when
a Christian does not have a good conscience,
he lacks those two things that Peter talks
about at the end of verse 15.
When he witnesses, there's not meekness and reverence.
There is a pugilistic attitude.
There's an argumentative spirit.
And Peter says, that's not necessary.
You have unsaved neighbors, you have unsaved employers,
your boss is an unsaved person, he asks
you about your Christian faith.
He's not asking for an argument, he's asking
for an explanation.
This is no place to start a fight,
this is a good place to open a
witness.
Peter is reminding us that we are not
prosecuting attorneys, we're witnesses.
And we should witness with meekness.
Now, meekness is not weakness.
Meekness is strength under control.
We as Christians, if we have a good
conscience, can just quietly tell people what the
Lord means to us with reverence and with
meekness and God will bless it.
A good conscience gives us consistency in our
walk and a good conscience gives us confidence
in our witness.
But there's a third blessing that comes.
In verses 18 through 22, we have one
of the most difficult passages in the New
Testament.
Doctoral theses have been written on these verses.
Whole books have been written on these verses.
Get the connection now.
The first word in verse 18 is for.
That takes us back to verse 17.
It is better if the will of God
be so that you suffer for well-doing
than for evil-doing.
Here are these Christians and they aren't disobeying
God.
They have a good conscience, they're walking with
the Lord.
But they're going through difficulty, they're suffering for
doing good.
Now remember, I said there are three levels
on which we can live.
And there are people in your life who
live on that basement level, that lower level.
They return evil for good because your good
conversation, your good behavior convicts them.
And so here were these saints of God
that Peter is writing to, and they were
suffering not for doing evil, but for doing
good.
My friend, you have reached a new level
of Christian living when you're suffering for doing
good.
Now he says, Christ also went through this.
Don't think it's something strange.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
not His, somebody else's, the just for the
unjust.
Now our suffering is not vicarious.
I mean by that, because I suffer, it
can't help you.
I cannot suffer for somebody else's sins.
My suffering cannot atone for anybody's wickedness.
But our Lord's did.
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh, but made alive by the
Spirit.
Now in the original New Testament, the Greek
New Testament, there are no capitals.
No capital G for God, no capital S
for Spirit.
Our translators have capitalized the word Spirit there,
and there are some who believe it is
the Holy Spirit.
Now there's no question that the Holy Spirit
of God did help in raising Jesus from
the dead.
Made alive by the Spirit, by whom also
he went and preached unto the spirits in
prison, who at one time were disobedient, when
once the long suffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, while the ark was
preparing, in which few, that is eight souls,
were saved by water.
The like figure, notice the word figure, he's
talking in symbolism now, the like figure unto
which even baptism does also now save us.
But lest somebody thinks water washes away sin,
he puts a parenthesis in here, not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer, and that word answer is
really the word pledge, but the pledge of
a good conscience toward God.
Now let's leave out the parenthesis and go
back.
The like figure unto which even baptism does
now also save us by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ, who's gone into heaven and is
on the right hand of God.
Angels and authorities and powers being made subject
unto him.
Now these angels and authorities and powers that
are mentioned in verse 22 are the satanic
angels and authorities and powers, and the spirits
that Jesus preached to in verse 19 are
not the spirits of saved people or lost
people in hell.
These are evil spirits.
You see, when Peter wants to talk about
people, he talks about souls, verse 20, in
which few, that is eight souls, were saved
by water.
Now what's he talking about here?
What's this all about?
Jesus through the Spirit went and talked to
some spirits.
What in the world is he talking about?
Let me mention first of all what he's
not talking about.
He is not saying that anybody has a
second chance after death.
He's not saying that at all.
Peter knew better than that.
It's appointed unto men once to die and
after that to judgment.
My friend, you get saved in this life.
There is no second chance after death.
Nor is he saying that any of us
who are alive today can help those who
are dead.
He's not talking about prayers for the dead.
He's not talking about services for the dead.
He's talking about an experience that Jesus Christ
had between His death and His resurrection.
Now there are many good men who believe
that this is saying Jesus through His Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, preached through Noah.
This is possible.
You can interpret it that way.
I prefer to believe that the word spirit
in verse 18 should be a small s,
that our Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit
went to that prison where those fallen satanic
angels were confined who helped to pollute the
world in the days prior to the flood.
When Satan was unleashing all of his wickedness
on this world and it got so filthy
dirty, God had to wipe everything clean.
I think what Peter is saying is this.
You don't have to agree with me, but
the conclusion at least is there.
Peter is saying this, that between our Lord's
death and our Lord's resurrection, He in the
Spirit went to this prison house where these
satanic beings were held and He declared to
them His victory.
He declared to the whole realm of the
satanic His victory.
This is why he ends this chapter saying,
angels and authorities and powers being made subject
unto Him.
Now why talk about this?
Because these people Peter was writing to were
fighting the devil.
The hosts of hell would soon be turned
loose upon these people.
There would be a fiery trial such as
they had never seen before.
That godless, demon-possessed Nero was on the
throne and Christians were going to go through
the furnace.
And so Peter is saying to them, you're
going to suffer for doing good.
But remember this, Jesus suffered for doing good,
but in His suffering He won the victory.
He has been raised from the dead.
He is seated in heaven and all of
the satanic hosts are defeated.
Therefore, when you face the enemy, you face
the enemy in victory.
Now if I didn't believe that, I'd get
out of the ministry.
Here in the city of Chicago, Satan is
having a heyday.
There are demonic forces at work that are
wrecking homes, seeking to wreck churches, ruin lives.
People call us up and their minds are
so confused and their lives are so torn
apart.
It can only be the devil.
If I did not believe that my Lord
on the cross stripped off principalities and powers,
then He went where they were and He
heralded.
That's what the word is, verse 19.
It's not preach the gospel.
Nobody is preaching the gospel in the other
world.
There is no good news for the other
world.
The only good news you'll ever hear is
in this world or in heaven, but not
in the realm of the satanic prison.
And our Lord Jesus went and declared to
Satan's hosts, He announced the victory, that's the
word.
He heralded the victory and then He arose
from the dead and then He went back
to heaven and all of the angels and
authorities and powers are subject to Him.
You know what that means?
That means that you and I don't have
to fight for victory, we fight from victory.
That means when you are confronted with the
evil one, and He may be working through
your landlady.
He might be working through the person sitting
next to you on the bus.
Oh, how subtle He is.
When we confront that evil one, we can
confront Him with confidence, if you have a
good conscience.
Now Satan loves a dirty conscience, because Satan
is the accuser.
And if our walk has not been consistent,
then our witness is not going to be
confident and our warfare is not going to
be courageous.
But if our conscience is clear, if we
can look up to God and say, God
in heaven, my heart is clean, my life
is given to you, my conscience is clean,
then the Holy Spirit of God can give
us victory and courage in our warfare.
Now Peter brings Noah into this picture for
an interesting reason.
He wants to talk about baptism.
Some folks don't like it when you talk
about baptism.
But the Bible talks about baptism.
And you must remember that the people that
Peter wrote to paid a price to get
baptized.
It doesn't cost a great deal to be
baptized today.
Now for some people it does.
I have baptized some Jewish people, some of
our Hebrew Christian friends who trusted the Lord.
It cost them to get baptized.
I have baptized people who came from different
religious faiths and their family just wrote them
right off when they were baptized.
It cost them.
But for the average person, it doesn't cost
anything to be baptized today.
They say, oh how wonderful, he got baptized.
Isn't that great?
But back in this day, it cost something
to get baptized.
And so Peter is putting together two subjects,
their baptism and their suffering.
Do you remember, says Peter, when you were
baptized?
Now when they were baptized, they were immersed.
Even those who teach baptism by sprinkling admit
that in the New Testament, people were baptized
by immersion.
Peter said, do you recall when you were
baptized?
You went down under the water, death, burial,
resurrection.
That's what Jesus did.
You were identified with Jesus Christ in death,
burial, and resurrection just like Noah.
You say, what in the world does Noah
have to do with baptism, death, burial, and
resurrection?
The rain came down, and the whole globe
was immersed.
God buried sin.
But that same water that buried sin lifted
up the ark.
Now Noah wasn't saved by the water.
Noah was saved by the ark.
The ark is a picture of Jesus Christ.
That's another sermon.
I won't preach it tonight.
It's too hot for two sermons.
But the ark's a picture of Jesus Christ.
The only way of salvation in the whole
world was the ark.
There's only one way of salvation tonight, Jesus
Christ.
That ark only had one door to it.
Jesus Christ is the only way.
God called them into the ark.
God didn't say, go.
God said, come.
They came into the ark, and God shut
them in.
And God says, come to you tonight.
Why don't you step into the ark of
safety?
Trust Jesus Christ.
And when you trust Him, God shuts you
in.
And no matter what the circumstances were, the
noise, the thunder, the lightning, the rain, the
judgment, they were safe in the ark.
No matter what may happen, you're safe in
Jesus Christ if you've trusted Him as your
Savior.
Now God baptized the world.
And there was death, burial, resurrection.
Noah in the ark with his family were
raised up and left on the mountaintop.
By the way, it's rather interesting to note
that they landed on the mountaintop on the
17th day of the 7th month.
Now the Jewish calendar begins with October.
October, November, December, January, February, March, April.
You know what happened on the 14th day
of April?
Jesus was crucified on the cross.
You know what happened on the 17th day
of April?
He was raised from the dead.
Noah landed.
Noah was resurrected on the very date that
Jesus was raised from the dead.
So Peter sees a connection here.
Noah was raised.
Noah was a witness against the wickedness of
his day for 120 years.
And they laughed at him.
They said he was crazy.
Can you imagine preaching for 120 years and
having only seven converts?
He'd never be written up in Christianity today.
They'd never invite Noah to run around and
hold seminars on how to win souls.
120 years and seven people.
His own family got saved.
When it was all over, was Noah a
failure?
No.
Did Noah suffer for righteousness' sake?
Yes.
How did he end up?
On top.
Did Jesus suffer for righteousness' sake?
Yes.
How did he end up?
On top.
Are you suffering for righteousness' sake?
Yes.
Then you ought to end up on top.
Do you remember when you were baptized?
Yes.
Why were you baptized?
God commanded it.
It's the answer of a good conscience toward
God.
Nobody gets baptized to be saved.
Peter makes that very clear.
Why are we baptized?
It's God's commandment.
We want to have the reply, the pledge
of a good conscience toward God.
Now what do we pledge in baptism?
When I was pastoring my first church, I
had a lady who used to come and
hear me preach, and about once every six
months she'd say, I want to be baptized.
So we'd make arrangements for it, and she'd
never get baptized.
Six months later, I want to be baptized.
Her son was in my Sunday school class
at that time.
I thought, boy, there's something wrong here.
I go to the home and visit.
Are you saved?
Oh yes, I'm saved.
But when the time came for her to
take that step, she'd never do it.
I found out later on why.
She never was saved.
She had no desire to live a godly
life.
Now baptism is important.
Baptism is the answer of a good conscience
toward God.
I am saying I am identified with Jesus
Christ.
In death, burial, and resurrection, I'm going to
walk in newness of life.
So Peter reminds them of their baptism and
says, just live up to your baptismal promise.
You told God, here I am, Lord.
I want your life to be lived out
through me.
So the whole paragraph, whatever problems anybody may
bring up, the whole paragraph is saying this.
Jesus suffered for righteousness.
Noah suffered for righteousness.
Both of them were raised up.
You were baptized.
You were raised up.
You will suffer for righteousness.
Yea, in all that will live godly in
Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
But don't worry about it.
He's gone into heaven.
That's where you're going to go someday.
And he's at the right hand of God.
So you can pray to him.
And all of the angels and authorities and
powers have been made subject unto him.
This is not the good angels.
They never had to be made subject unto
him.
They always were.
The evil angels, Satan, made subject unto him.
That means that since you and I have
a good conscience, we can come to the
one who's at the right hand of God.
And he gives us victory over the evil
one.
How do you maintain a good conscience?
The book.
The blood.
The blessed hope.
The book.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way,
or an old man for that matter, by
taking heed to thy word.
Now are you clean through the word that
I've spoken unto you.
Hebrews 10 says let's come to the throne
of grace, having our bodies washed with water
and our consciences purified.
The book.
I don't know about you, but when I
read this book, God convicts me.
And God says, hey, the window's dirty.
Let's wash the window a little bit.
The blood.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and
just to forgive us our sins.
The blessed hope.
Every man that hath this hope in him
purifies himself.
And a good conscience means we can have
consistency in our walk.
And when there's consistency in our walk, a
good conscience means we can have confidence in
our witness, not afraid.
And when you have confidence in your witness,
people are going to fight you and you're
going to suffer for righteousness sake.
But a good conscience will give us courage
in our warfare.
And so whether it be the flesh or
the world or the devil, what difference does
it make?
A good conscience puts us in touch with
the power of God.
And I tell you, having a good conscience
keeps your backbone strong.
Having a good conscience keeps your feet on
the straight and narrow.
Having a good conscience gives you discernment.
And you say, no, that's not a part
of my life.
I don't want that.
No, that's not.
Yes, that's the thing.
It's a beautiful thing to live with a
good conscience.
But oh, if you've got a bad conscience,
an evil conscience, a defiled conscience, a seared
conscience, the devil's got a foothold and he
moves right in and there's trouble.
Now, perhaps you've never been saved at all
tonight.
Maybe you don't even know the first thing
about having your conscience cleansed, your heart washed,
a new life down inside.
You ought to come and trust Christ.
Perhaps I speak to some Christian who has
been playing with sin.
And as a consequence, conscience has gotten a
little bit dirty.
Let me change the picture, if I may.
Do you remember the story Dr. Ironside used
to tell about the Indian?
He had a lot of good stories because
he worked with the Indians.
And he was talking about conscience.
The Indian said, I know what you're talking
about.
Conscience is like an arrowhead down in my
heart.
And when the Indian does something wrong, it
turns and it cuts me.
And Dr. Ironside said, but what if you
keep sinning?
Oh, he said it takes the corners off
and it doesn't hurt quite so much.
Good theology.
Is there something in my life that a
year ago would have kept me awake all
night but now I can put up with
it?
Then there's something wrong with my conscience.
Let God do what he wants to do
in your heart tonight, my friend.
Having a good conscience.
Gracious Father, I pray for those here who
need to be saved.
You've brought them here and Jesus died for
them and the Spirit speaks to them and
we exhort them.
I pray that you'll help them to come
and be saved.
Help that Christian who has given the devil
a foothold to get a good conscience tonight.
For I pray it in Jesus' name, Amen.