Rev. David Holwick G
Congregational Church of Bristol
Bristol, Maine
September 24, 2023
1 Corinthians 4:3-5
CAN YOUR CONSCIENCE BE YOUR GUIDE?
I. He didn't see himself as a monster.
In 2013 Ariel Castro faced the bar of justice.
He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, and
then had an additional 1,000 years of prison time added on.
Castro received this sentence because he had kept three young
women imprisoned in his Cleveland home for 10 years.
They were his slaves in every way he wanted.
He committed utterly vile and violent acts on them.
But he was not haunted by the knowledge of what he had done.
He showed no remorse.
He only pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty.
Castro declared to the judge, "I am not a monster. I am a normal
person."
He didn't even see himself as a violent person. #64182
Ariel Castro is a clear example of a sociopath, someone who feels
no guilt for hurting others or doing wrong.
All of us have done wrong things in our lives.
As the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God. No one is righteous, not one."
When you do wrong, how do you feel?
What do you do about it?
II. The Bible calls these inner feelings our conscience.
A. The conscience is the moral dimension of every human.
1) It involves aspects of our heart and mind.
2) Conscience is a word from the Greeks but the Hebrews knew
the concept.
a) In the Old Testament, when someone does something they
know is wrong, their heart is said to be stricken
even if no one else knows about their sin.
b) King David is often said to have had a guilty conscience
like this.
B. An inner conscience of basic morality is in all people.
Early theorists in psychology mainly took the approach
that babies are born without any sense of morality.
Morals are something they learn as they grow older.
But recent research shows that even babies show signs of a
rudimentary moral compass.
A study in 2010 by researchers at Yale University involved
babies as young as three months old.
They were shown a video of different shaped blocks on a hill.
The blocks corresponded to different characters, who either
helped or hindered another character who was struggling
to get up the hill.
The researchers found that the babies preferred looking at
the helpful characters.
This suggests an early preference for altruistic social
behavior. #66718
1) Paul argues in Romans 2:14-15 that our moral code is
universal:
"Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do
by nature things required by the law, they are a law
for themselves, even though they do not have the law.
They show that the requirements of the law are written
on their hearts, their consciences also bearing
witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them
and at other times even defending them."
2) This is helpful for society because policemen cannot be
everywhere all the time.
a) In Romans 13:5, Paul says:
"It is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only
because of possible punishment but also as a matter of
conscience."
b) Our moral conscience should be just as strong as our
fear of getting jailed.
C. Conscience can transcend our culture.
1) Standards of morality may vary from culture to culture, but
an inner conscience of basic morality is in all people.
A missionary to northern Brazil observed a very nervous and
fidgety native with sweat on his brow enter the village.
He seemed very uneasy even in the presence of his friends.
Later, the missionary learned that this fellow had just
killed a man of another tribe.
In this society it was not considered wrong to kill a member
of another tribe.
But this man was obviously under the pressure of a guilty
conscience.
His heart told him he had done something wrong. #44
2) A great American example comes from Mark Twain.
In Huckleberry Finn, Huck has been traveling down the
Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim.
The moral course of action, according to Huck's upbringing,
would be to write to Jim's owner and let her know where
Jim was.
But Huck couldn't bring himself to do it.
He tries to pray about it, but can't pray.
So he writes the letter.
And as he writes, all he can think about is how good Jim
has been to him, how generous and grateful.
Huck saw Jim as a person and an equal, despite the racist
ideas that society and even religion had taught him.
Twain writes of Huck:
"I took [the letter] up, and held it in my hand.
I was trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever,
betwixt two things, and I knowed it.
I studied it a minute, sort of holding my breath, and
then says to myself:
'All right, then, I'll go to hell" - and tore it up."
#66716
All of us are deeply shaped by our culture and upbringing.
Even so, we have something inside us that can rise above
all that.
III. Your inner conscience can be powerful.
A. It can make you feel guilty.
Consider the sensational case of millionaire Robert Durst.
The 71-year-old was suspected of being involved in the deaths
of three people but it could never be pinned on him.
HBO even did a documentary on him, following him around
with cameras.
In the final episode, while still wearing a microphone, he
muttered to himself in the bathroom,
"There it is. You're caught. What a disaster. ...
What ... did I do? Killed them all, of course."
It led to his arrest, and six years later, to a life sentence
for murder.
He died in prison last year. [1]
B. Our conscience doesn't always make us feel guilty.
1) Paul admits this in that passage in Romans 2.
2) Sometimes our conscience tries to get us off the hook by
rationalizing our behavior.
3) People can do horrendous things and not feel any guilt,
and not because they are a sociopath but because they
have hardened themselves.
C. The goal of believers is to live with a clean conscience.
1) Be clean before God and society.
Toward the end of his life Paul said:
Acts 24:16 --
"So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before
God and man."
2) How clear is your conscience?
a) What do you mutter to yourself in the bathroom?
b) Pastor John MacArthur writes:
"When we violate our conscience, it condemns us,
triggering feelings of shame, anguish, regret,
anxiety, and even fear.
When we follow our conscience, it commends us,
bringing joy, serenity, self-respect and gladness."
Sermon #19777
IV. Your conscience has limitations.
A. It is seated in your heart and your heart can be bad.
1) Sometimes it seems like it is ONLY bad.
Jeremiah 17:9 famously says -
"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?"
2) When your heart is sincere it can still be wrong.
Proverbs 14:12 says,
"There is a way that appears right, but in the end it
leads to death."
3) Even if we have been made new in Christ, our hearts are
still notoriously untrustworthy.
B. We can ruin our conscience.
1) By continually disobeying God, we can sear our conscience.
a) Paul uses this expression to describe people who
follow cults in 1 Timothy 4:1.
b) They are into petty religious rules but their basic
condition is hypocrisy and dishonesty.
2) This is the background of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart
in Exodus.
C. Even a clean conscience can be misleading.
1) This is why Paul points beyond his conscience to God in
1 Corinthians 4:3-5.
a) Plenty of his opponents have been running him down
but he doesn't care.
b) They can't judge him, and he doesn't even judge himself.
c) He says he has nothing to feel guilty about, but that
doesn't make him innocent.
d) Only God knows Paul's real condition.
2) Ask God to reveal your genuine morality to you.
a) Spend some time meditating on the choices you have
made in life.
b) Look at your priorities and the fruit of your actions.
V. Your conscience can be trained.
A. Recalibrate it with God's Word.
1) Some consciences are not bad, but immature.
a) You may feel guilty about something that is not a big
deal.
b) Many Christians have weak, easily grieved consciences.
1> In 1 Corinthians 8:7, Paul mentions people who get
hung up over religious food rules.
2> He says they have weak consciences.
2) A strong conscience understands God's priorities for life.
a) You appreciate the freedom you have as a Christian.
b) You don't get hung up on petty, legalistic things.
c) But to get to this point, you have to have a firm
understanding of God's Word.
1> Not just the warm fuzzy verses here and there.
2> You have to grasp the deeper principles that tie
the whole Bible together.
B. Appreciate the value of guilt.
1) Some things we should get hung up on.
2) John MacArthur says:
Our culture has declared war on guilt.
The very concept is considered medieval, obsolete,
unproductive.
People who trouble themselves with feelings of personal
guilt are usually referred to therapists, whose task it
is to boost their self-image.
No one, after all, is supposed to feel guilty.
Society encourages sin, but it will not tolerate the guilt
sin produces.
But the answer to dealing with guilt is not to ignore it --
that's the most dangerous thing you can do.
Instead, you need to understand that God graciously
implanted a powerful ally within you to aid you in the
battle against sin.
He gave you your conscience. #64797
3) Guilt can be good.
a) If you do something wrong, you should feel guilty.
b) Take the hint and change your behavior.
VI. How to get your conscience back on track.
A. If you have done something wrong, confess it to God.
1) If you have done it to another person, confess to them.
2) Prov. 28:13 says, "Whoever conceals their sins does not
prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them
finds mercy."
B. Crickets don't give the best advice.
1) Where in the Bible does it say, "Let your conscience be
your guide"?
Answer: nowhere.
It's actually from a lowly Disney insect named Jiminy
Cricket.
He was trying to give some advice to a wooden puppet named
Pinocchio since wooden puppets have no conscience.
Like many people today, Pinocchio chose to ignore his
Conscience/cricket and it got him into deep trouble.
Serm #19778
a) Our conscience is partly our guide, as long as God is
directing it.
b) He uses our conscience to steer us, but we should always
be mindful of our ability to warp it.
2) Keep your conscience sensitive.
Oswald Chambers in his book "My Utmost For His Highest"
said:
"Conscience is that ability within me that attaches itself
to the highest standard I know, and then continually
reminds me of what that standard demands that I do.
It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward
God or toward what we regard as the highest standard.
This explains why conscience is different in different
people.
If I am in the habit of continually holding God's standard
in front of me, my conscience will always direct me to
God's perfect law and indicate what I should do.
The question is, will I obey?
I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive
that I can live without any offense toward anyone.
I should be living in such perfect harmony with God's Son
that the spirit of my mind is being renewed through
every circumstance of life, and that I may be able to
quickly 'prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.'" #64796
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] For an article on the controversy about Durst's "confession," see
"'Killed them all, of course.' What the transcript of Robert Durst’s
'The Jinx' 'confession' means for his defense," by KC Ifeanyi,
April 24, 2019; <https://www.fastcompany.com/90339646/killed-them-all-of-course-what-the-transcript-of-robert-dursts-the-jinx-confession-means-for-his-defense>.
Sermon #19777 “Understanding Your Conscience,” Rev. Brian Bill, Pontiac
Bible Church of Pontiac, Illinois; <http://www.pontiacbible.org>;
June 22, 2003.
Sermon #19778 “Dealing With A Damaged Conscience,” Rev. Brian Bill,
Pontiac Bible Church of Pontiac, Illinois;
<http://www.pontiacbible.org>; June 29, 2003.
#64182 "'I Am Not A Monster' — Ariel Castro As Sinner and Sociopath,"
by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President of Southern Baptist
Seminary, August 2, 2013; <http://www.albertmohler.com>.
#64796 “Keeping Your Conscience Sensitive,” Oswald Chambers, from his
book “My Utmost For His Highest,” quoted by Rev. Ron Thomas,
Rodgers Baptist Church of Garland, Texas, Kerux Sermon #64789.
#64797 “Our Culture's War On Guilt,” Rev. Dr. John MacArthur;
<http://www.gty.org/resources/print/articles/A195>.
Original article title is “Keeping a Pure Conscience."
#66716 "Huckleberry Finn's Moral Conscience," by Joshua Gregor,
March 14, 2019; <https//rlo.caton.org/archives/107188-huckleberry-finns-moral-conscience.html>.
#66718 "Are Babies Born With A Sense of Right and Wrong?" by Christian Jarret,
edited by Rev. David Holwick, February 13, 2020;
<https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/are-babies-born-with-a-sense-of-right-and-wrong>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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