Freedom and Healing through a Clear Conscience
Acts Series
Chuck Sligh
January 28, 2018
TEXT: Acts 23:1-11 - "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? 5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. 6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. 7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. 9 And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. 10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. 11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome."
INTRODUCTION
In our text, Paul was brought before the council of Jewish leaders to answer for the supposed charge of bringing Gentiles into the inner court of the Temple, a crime punishable by death. But Paul knew he was innocent and attempted to give a defense of himself.
Well, the Jewish leaders were not about to give him an honest hearing. You must remember that they had been dealing with these pesky Christians for almost 30 years now and they were about fed up with the whole business. And to them, Paul represented the most dangerous faction of the Christian community. It was bad enough that people revered Jesus as the Messiah and worshiped Him as God. But Paul was broadening the movement by taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. THAT was simply unforgivable! So, this explains their brutality in dealing with Paul.
In this passage, there I want to focus on a phrase in verse 1 - "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." Today I want to talk to you about having a good conscience.
BODY
Paul said that he had had a clear conscience up until that very day. What do we mean when we talk about a good conscience, or a clear conscience?
It may be defined as: "An inner freedom of spirit toward God and others that comes from knowing that you are right with God and others, and that no one can point a finger at you and say, 'You wronged me, and you never tried to make it right.'"
The New Testament writers had a lot to say about a good conscience.
* In his first letter to Timothy, Paul tells us that next to our faith, a clear conscience is our most important weapon in the Christian life - 1 Timothy 1:18-19 - "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy,…that thou… mightest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck." - Paul was concerned that Timothy would keep his faith to the end, but also that he would maintain a good conscience. Paul puts a good conscience as the second most important thing for Timothy.
* Peter tells us that we cannot witness effectively without a clear conscience - 1 Peter 3:15-16 - "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed who falsely accuse your good conversation [behavior] in Christ." - You can witness to the lost all you want to, but they know you do not have a clear conscience, those you witness to will have cause to speak evil of you.
* John informs us that we cannot pray with confidence without a clear conscience - 1 John 3:21-22 - "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."
* Finally, a clear conscience is so important, it's one of the requirements of a deacon in 1 Timothy 3:9 where Paul says a deacon must be one who is holds "the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."
Mary had two objections I often hear, so let me tell you what they were and what I said.
1. First, she pointed out that she had been unsaved at the time and that she had asked God to forgive her for the things she'd done, and as far as she was concerned, it was under the blood of Christ and thus, over and done with.
I took her over to Acts 24:16, where Paul says, "And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." - Paul points out that it is not enough to have a conscience void of offence before GOD; we must also have a conscience void of offence before PEOPLE.
This is illustrated by the prodigal son who, when he finally came to his senses in the pig sty, said "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." (Luke 15:18-19)
When he returned home, verse 21 he used exactly the same wording he had rehearsed in the pig sty, which teaches us the importance of carefully planning our wording when attempting to gain a clear conscience. The prodigal son didn't assume that since he had made things right with God, everything was automatically right with his father. He realized he should clear his conscience with his father too.
We see this truth shown also in the story of Zacchaeus who, because of his short height, climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus as he passed by. Well, Jesus saw him up in that tree and told him to come down, and He went and ate in his house. There, in his own home, Zacchaeus was gloriously saved.
Zacchaeus was a tax collector, and it was customary for tax collectors to stiff people as much as he could, and anything over the tax was his. When he was converted, he didn't assume that now that he was saved, he didn't have to worry about all the people he had cheated. No, now that things were right between him and God, he knew he needed to make things right with those he had wronged.
He said to Jesus in Luke 19:8 - "…Behold, Lord,…if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold."
It was THEN that Jesus said in the next verse: "…This day is salvation come to this house…"-because it wasn't until Zacchaeus resolved to clear his conscience with those he had wronged that the reality of the salvation by God was credible. The truth is that we can't truly have a good conscience before God if we don't have a good conscience before man. (SHOW WITH GESTURES) If there's a breakdown on the horizontal level, there is a breakdown on the vertical level.
This is proven by Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:23-24 - "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
Jesus' teaching here is that if you don't have a clear conscience with another person, then God will not recognize your spiritual service and sacrifice to Him until you are reconciled with that person. Once you have gained a clear conscience on the horizontal level, you can then resume fellowship with God on the vertical level. Only THEN can you bring your gift to God and for Him to receive it.
Well, I explained all this to Mary and said that as long as she refused to seek forgiveness from her family for HER offenses- regardless of what they had done to her-she was disobedient, and therefore she would not have God's full blessing upon her life.
She got this far-away look in her eyes and I asked her what was wrong. She said that for several months she had felt that something was hindering her relationship with God and she couldn't figure out what the problem was despite many times asking the Lord to show her.
I said, "Mary, did your breakdown in your relationship with the Lord by any chance coincide with the time you started dwelling on the past hurts and conflicts with your family?" She looked surprised and said, "Yes, you know, it WAS!" I said, "Mary, it was the Holy Spirit bringing your family to your mind so that you could deal with your wrong actions and clear your conscience. When you justified your wrong actions as being their fault alone and refused to humble yourself and clear your conscience of the things YOU had done, you grieved the Spirit and hindered His working in your life."
Her eyes got misty-but then she marshaled her second argument, which I also often hear from people who do not have a clear conscience:
2. She said, angry now, "Maybe I was wrong, but they were more wrong. The things I did were not one-tenth as bad as the things they said and did to me. THEY need to ask for MY forgiveness first before I ask theirs, because they're mostly at fault."
I told her she was wrong for three reasons:
* First, the Bible says that we are all responsible for our OWN behavior, and no one else's.
Her family members were responsible for their own wrong actions and behavior. But no matter who had done the MOST wrong, she still needed to deal with the things SHE was responsible for.
* Second, I told her the Bible always puts greatest responsibility on the more spiritually mature and enlightened person in a conflict.
Jesus said, "…unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…" (Luke 12:48)
Mary was 100% responsible for her own behavior, but as the believer in this situation dealing with lost family members, she was more responsible to take the initiative because she had more spiritual light.
Think of the light she had that her lost loved ones did not have…
a. She had the HOLY SPIRIT to illuminate and help her, which they did not have,…
b. She had the SCRIPTURES to instruct and guide her, which they did not…
c. And she had CHRISTIAN FRIENDS to admonish and encourage her, which they did not have.
So, because she had more spiritual light, Mary was most responsible to make the first move.
* The third thing I told Mary was that it was not her family members who would suffer for her refusal to clear her conscience-it would be her who would lose out.
The reason is that she was responding in pride, and James tells us: "…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4:6).
The longer she refused, the more God would resist her, and the more God resisted her, the more estranged she would feel from God, and the more estranged she felt from God, the less grace and power she would have to live for God. It was a prescription for defeat in her life.
How often we fail to gain a clear conscience because of pride-and oh, the consequences of pride in a Christian's life! How many of us are living defeated Christian lives because, though we are God's children, God Himself is resisting us. Better to humble yourself before men and have God's blessings than have God's judgment on your life!
The more we talked, the more Mary listened, and finally she resolved to call her family members and gain a clear conscience. And Mary did just that. She called them one by one-all the way from Germany, at great cost in phone bills back then-and in a spirit of humility asked each one to forgive her for the wrong things she had said and done-without justifying her actions and without bringing up their offenses. She just dealt with what the offenses SHE was responsible for.
At first, they were a little cold, but when she asked point blank, "Will you forgive me for…." and then named the basic offense she was guilty of, they softened. Each one realized she was sincere and forgave her, and then the tears flowed on both sides of the world-as relationships were restored by the grace of God. She came back to see me two days later-all bubbly and full of joy. Her relationships had been restored-though there was a lot of work yet to be done to maintain them.
The exciting thing is that eventually it opened new vistas of opportunities in their relationships. Several years later, Mary wrote me and told how a couple of her siblings had come to the Lord and were attending a good church in the her hometown.
So, you see, Paul and the other New Testament writers knew what they were talking about when they taught the importance of a clear conscience.
CONCLUSION
Well, we've look at the importance of a clear conscience. Here are the steps for you to gain a clear conscience with others:
1. First, list those you have offended.
Look back into your past and ask yourself if there is some offense you have not taken care of.
* Have you stolen money or other items from someone?
* Have you damaged someone's reputation through gossip or slander?
* Have you been ungrateful for what others have done for you?
* Have you been bitter against anyone?
* Have you refused to forgive someone for an offense against you?
* Has there been broken relationship that needs to be mended/
These are just to get you started. ANY offense you have done against someone whom you have not asked forgiveness needs to be taken care of in order to gain a clear conscience.
2. Second, list your offenses in order of importance.
It's possible minor, insignificant things could come to mind that can mask the important offenses. They can become distractions that keep you from getting to the big ones. Start with worst offenses of your most important relationships and work your way down.
3. Third, carefully choose the right wording (Proverbs 15:1, 23, 28; 25:11)
* Identify the BASIC offence - Don't go into detail.
* Don't defend your actions or mention the other person's failures or responsibility - Concentrate only on YOUR offence.
* Reflect full repentance and sincere humility. Partial repentance will only give partial clearing of your conscience.
Illus. - It's like the man who had a guilty conscience for cheating on his income taxes.
Finally, he sat down and wrote a letter to the IRS.
The letter said: "Gentlemen: Enclosed you will find a check for $150. I cheated on my income tax return last year and have not been able to sleep ever since. If I still have trouble sleeping I will send you the rest. Sincerely, A Tax Payer"
* Don't plan to say, "I'm sorry,"; rather, resolve to name your offence and specifically ask forgiveness and continue to do so until you get a response. Naming the offence shows you are sincere and that you are taking full responsibility for your actions.
Specially asking forgiveness for the offence, rather than saying "I am sorry" does several things:
a. First it requires humility.
b. Second, asking forgiveness takes full responsibility rather than projecting blame.
c. Third, it makes the offended party HAVE to deal with the issue.
d. Fourth, it allows the offended party to heal.
4. Finally, DO IT! - Matthew 5:23-24 - "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
Illus. - [TIME PERMITTING] Tell the story of my stealing luncheon meats and Mr. Kennedy's money, and emphasize the freedom gained from clearing my conscience.
