The Marks Of True Faith: 1.A Good Conscience - Zac Poonen

praise the Lord this is a day the Lord has made and every day is the day the Lord is made so we rejoice and are glad in it so today I want to begin a series on the marks of true faith see faith is a word on which most of us are risking our eternity it's like not being sure the medicine you take it's a matter of life and death if your understanding of faith is wrong your whole eternity is in danger so it's very important that our understanding of faith be right that we are more careful about that then the medicine we take for some sickness because at the most if your medicine is poisonous it'll kill you just lose your life on earth but faith is something that is going to determine your eternal destiny and since that is the case I'm not surprised that the devil has brought so much confusion on this matter because he wants most Christians to be with him for eternity I'll tell you that he wants Christians to be happy that they read the Bible and go to church go to meetings and believe as they think they believe in a way that doesn't change their life and comfort them that you're okay you know every false prophet in the Old Testament preached that message you're okay don't worry this peace you're at peace with God when there was no peace and that's why if you read the Old Testament you'll see how God condemned those false prophets he rebuked them all the time he's you guys are only interested in money you're immoral they're seeking honor same things happening today but we have an advantage that those Old Testament people didn't have we have a printed Bible with us in fact nobody on earth had it till about six hundred years ago people in the Old Testament they didn't have a printed Bible with them where they could go home and check up what this prophet was saying is right or wrong but today what excuse do you have when you are given a wrong understanding of faith and you swallow it that which your eternal destiny is dependent on it's like taking a medicine without looking what's on the way what's the label is this the real medicine did I get it from a good shop this is produced by a reliable company we have far more careful about medicines and we are about failure it's very very important and you remember when the rich man and Lazarus in the story of the rich man lather is not a parable the true story but Jesus said about the real rich man who went to hell and when he went to hell we read that he looked up this is all written in Luke 16 he looked up at Abraham and said will you please send somebody to from heaven down to earth to preach to my five brothers do you know what Abraham said they've got the Bible let them read it that means they had it in the synagogue they were listening to it every Saturday and they wanted they could hear it what they were told there they could go to the priests of those days and ask them about something in Scripture but if they were not interested in finding out what the law of God said then I would say Abraham was saying they deserve to go to hell so I've come to see also today that if people are not interested in knowing what the Bible which sits in their house says about faith and if they go to hell they deserve it you can't put them in the same category is that barbarian or non-christian who never had a Bible completely different category God may have mercy on them in some way but certainly not and somebody who has a Bible in their house doesn't bother to read it was more interested in watching some television program than opening God's book and reading what God has to say that television program is not going to determine your eternal destiny and it's amazing how the devil gets people so occupied with temporary satisfaction and ignoring that which is eternal so my dear brothers and sisters you know that to the best of my knowledge I've always spoken the truth to you whether it hurts or doesn't hurt whether it comforts or disturbs it's the truth of God it's not my truth I don't take any credit for it and I don't apologize for it it's God's truth so I want to share something about faith because this is the most important thing in the New Testament the Bible says in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God it is impossible to please God without faith in Him so that's why this is fundamental and when you compared with the Old Testament I was looking at a concordance the word faith comes in the Old Testament about four times four times in the New Testament it comes about 220 times you see how important it is very very important there is a difference between even the little faith they had in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as you have often heard me say in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 the faith of these Old Testament people was mostly related to external things as you read in the whole of Hebrews 11 by faith they did certain things externally they experienced miracles on the outside but the faith of the new testament is superior it's superior in that it deals with what is inside the inside of the cup more than the outside of the cup now when I go down to the villages to preach and I'm invited to some poor brother's house and he gives me a cup of tea and the cup is not very clean I'm not much bothered at the outside of the cup is dirty it's the inside you know that importantly is the inside the inside is always more important than the outside and the day you understand that in your life that you're inside is more important than your outside I believe you will be on the path to knowing God truly the inside of your life is more important than the outside what people think about you and the impression you gave with your holy life on the outside counts for nothing before God if it does not spring from the inside it does count before God if it Springs from the inside it counts for zero before God if it doesn't spring from the inside that's the point but it was not like that in the Old Testament and the Old Testament they did not have to spring from the inside God was happy with what they did on the outside because they didn't have the Holy Spirit he even permitted people to divorce their wives he didn't command it but he permitted it and when the Pharisees asked Jesus why he did that why God permitted it he said it's because their hearts were hard what can you do I mean you don't expect a two-year-old child to keep its diapers or underwear clean to dirty it that's no but you don't expect that of a grown up adult and that's the difference between Old Testament and New Testament so in the last verse of Hebrews 11 it says God has provided something better for us than all these people in the Old Testament God has provided something better for us today far superior and if you want to know how much superior as much superior as heaven is above the earth as much superior as Jesus Christ is above Moses Moses was a man created by God Jesus Christ was God himself what's the difference that's the difference between the Old Covenant which Moses brought and the new covenant with Jesus brought the difference is immense God has provided something better for us and that is the faith of the New Testament and we are told in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus is the author of this faith and the finisher of Perfector of this faith so today I want to speak about one aspect of that and that is found in 1 Timothy and chapter 1 1 Timothy chapter 1 he's telling Timothy in the last part of verse 18 to fight a good fight to fight a good fight that is a spiritual fight the warfare in the Christian life and he says if you want to do that you got to keep faith and a good conscience notice these two things are joined together man has divorced what God has joined together it's a word in Scripture which says what God has joined together let no one separate faith and a good conscience now does not true in the Old Testament the word conscience appears in the Old Testament only once but it appears numerous times in the New Testament faith and a good conscience so here's one mark of a person who's got true New Testament faith he's got a good conscience at all times if you don't have a good conscience whatever faith you claim to have is garbage it's fit for the trash can faith and a good conscience it's 1 mark of true faith and anytime you act without a good conscience you are acting in unbelief and as long as you live with a good with a bad conscience you're living in unbelief living cut off from God and not as it says that here keeping faith and a good conscience now remember Paul is not writing to a new believer now some of us think the ayah we know all that hang on Paul was writing this to Timothy who was his finest co-worker and would already been a believer for maybe 25 years imagine writing to a man who's been a believer for 25 years was the wholehearted radical full-time Christian worker who was out and out for serving God whom the Apostle Paul considers the finest of his coworkers what is he telling Timothy on I tell you something keep faith in a good conscience we got to be pretty arrogant to think that we can go beyond that we needed brother sister we need to hear that word keep faith in a good conscience and it says here what happened to some people who rejected a good conscience when they rejected a good conscience they suffered shipwreck of their faith you know what shipwreck is the old ship is destroyed did you see that that if you don't keep a good conscience your whole ship of faith is destroyed faith this is like compared here to a ship that's supposed to take us from the time we are born again all the way into God's presence one day and this ship can be wrecked on the rocks if you don't keep a good conscience yeah he who has ears to hear let him hear because it's pretty serious because I know lots and lots of Christians who imagine they have faith but don't have a good conscience and I'll explain to you in a moment what that means today most preachers who preach about faith particularly on television never speak about a good conscience they speak about faith to get money wait to get healing faith to get all the things which will perish when you die have you noticed that they are telling you to have faith for things which will perish in a few seconds do you know that your whole life on earth there's only a few seconds compared to eternity and they're telling you to have faith just for these few seconds and to be lost for eternity were the stupid ones the ones who believe these preachers because they don't read their Bibles if you don't keep a good conscience whatever faith you may have even if you experienced the greatest miracles your ship will be wrecked sure even if you did great miracles it's very clear that Jesus said in the last day many will come to him and say Matthew 7 verse 22 23 Lord we did miracles in your name and Jesus Leon you did miracles people experienced miracles people are healed but you you didn't keep a good conscience depart from me I don't know you you workers of iniquity essentially he was telling them you didn't have a good conscience even though you did miracles even though you cast out demons now don't ask me how that happens I just believe what Jesus said it's true that is gonna be like that in the final day that there are gonna people are gonna stand before him who actually did miracles in Jesus name will be sent to hell for eternity because they didn't keep a good conscience now that should if that doesn't make you serious about having a good conscience I don't know what will I don't care if I never experience healing in my body in my whole life even once I don't care if I never heal a sick person never raise a dead person never do an external miracle if I keep a good conscience I will hear Jesus say to me well done good and faithful servant one day that's more important to me than getting the empty honor of men that I'm a man of God comes for nothing so dear brothers and sisters if you're wise keep a good conscience is the mark of true and genuine faith and he tells Timothy about a fight here imagine a man like Timothy was mean a believer 25 years a wholehearted radical Paul's finest co-worker he needs to fight to keep a good conscience and I'll tell you from my experience I've been a believer 50 years it's a fight to keep a good conscience it'll be a fight till the day Jesus comes and if some of you don't have a good conscience it's because you didn't fight the good fight you just gave in to the devil you gave in to a flesh what is Paul's word to Timothy fight the good fight I command you verse 18 what a word this command I entrust you Timothy fight the good fight I would say the same to all of you this command I give you fight the good fight keep a good conscience lest your faith becomes shipwrecked and all the 25 years you sat in this church became worthless just became an increase of knowledge and did not bring you into God's kingdom that's a real possibility there's a real danger there in 1 Timothy 1 the same chapter earlier on Paul says verse 5 this is a beautiful verse I've often thought about it because like Timothy and Paul I'm also in the teaching ministry and every teacher must have a goal just like in the play football or soccer they have a goal they're seeking to put the ball into that goal everything they may kick this way that way this way sometimes even back but ultimately their aim is to get the ball into that goal and so it must be with every true servant of God who preaches God's Word this must be his goal it's Paul says to Timothy the goal of all our instruction is love is to get people to love Jesus with all their heart and to love others as themselves and love one another in the church as Christ loved them and this love must come from a pure heart and a good conscience if it doesn't come from a good conscience all that love is useless you can go and help people in the street and show a lot of love and compassion for the poor and the suffering and in the orphanages and the widow's homes and if you don't keep a good conscience excuse us it says this love must come from other countries and it since your faith it must come from this combination of a sincere faith and a good conscience otherwise all your love is useless how many have understood that the goal of our instruction is not love the goal of our instruction is love from a good conscience and sincere faith and I will tell you there's a world of difference between the two in other words it's like saying we build superstructure on a good foundation the superstructure is loved people must see people don't see the foundation they see the superstructure of a building the superstructure is love people must see that we love Jesus fervently that we're willing to lay down our lives for him and people must see that we love them even though they may not love us we can love our enemies we can bless those who curse us because God has given us love in our heart but that's the superstructure what is the superstructure based on which foundation of good conscience and sincere faith if it does not have a good conscience and sincere faith as a foundation this whole superstructure is going to collapse one day and you'll discover that in the world today if you show a lot of love and compassion to the poor and the sick you may even get a Nobel Prize you can get a lot of awards you don't get any awards from the world for a good conscience you don't get awards from the world for faith in Jesus Christ but if you want an award from God your love for others and all the compassion and goodness and service that you do to others must come from a sincere faith and a good conscience that's God's Word you know if you read the Bible slowly like I mean urging you these things read the Bible slowly don't rush through these verses you would have discovered this the first time you read 1 Timothy when was the first time you read 1 Timothy 30 years ago did you notice this the first time you read it it's possible that you've read it for 30 years and you still didn't notice it till today this is the problem with believers I have found they don't read the Bible carefully if they get a court order hold it read it carefully you'll go to a lawyer and ask them to explain every word if they are signing a document they will go to a lawyer and ask him to explain every word what about this one word this this one word make put some obligation on me I've got to be careful about every word before I sign it because it involves money they're not careful about God's word what a work the devil is done I believe what the Bible says the devil is a deceiver of the whole world the whole world the sad thing is that he even blinds the minds of some believers from knowing the full truth of God but Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free and what we seek to do in this church is to proclaim the truth you have never been interested in popularity we've never been interested in increasing our numbers we're interested in giving people a true and accurate scan of their hearts condition free of charge and also tell them how they can be cured of that wretched heart condition free of charge isn't that good if people get offended with the scam report and go to some other doctor who touches up the scan report it's like that joke I heard about man said my doctor was so considerate when he knew that I could not afford the surgery he just touched up the scan report and gave it to me said you're okay yeah they're lots of preachers doing that and a lot of foolish people listening to them so let's take these words of God's Word seriously these are words inspired by the Holy Spirit 50 years ago when I was converted and I learned that there was only one book in the whole world among all the billions of books only one book that God Almighty had written I decided I was going to spend my life studying that one book I didn't mean I didn't do other things I read the newspaper I've read other books I had to win my profession when I was in the name but everything was secondary to this one book do you really believe that the Bible is the only book in the whole world written by God theoretically you'll take and say yes but if you believed it you would really study I believe it that's why I study because my eternal destiny is dependent on not only my eternal destiny I don't want to just go to heaven when I die I want to live I'll tell you honestly I want to live the most profitable life that any human being can ever live on this earth not financially profitable I don't care about that but the most useful life as far as God is concerned I prayed prayers like Lord make me as holy as a sinner saved by grace can ever be on this earth as holy in my thoughts and my words my deeds and my attitudes and my motives I mean there may be upper limit to that I can't become like Jesus till he comes again okay and they recognize that but whatever is the upper limit possible for a sinner saved by grace I want to get there don't you want to get there you know that for five thousand nine hundred years and fifty years nearly by thousand and fifty years nobody conquered Mount Everest I was living in Delhi when I read in the newspapers as a young boy that this guy from New Zealand and his Nepali Sherpa had conquered the world's highest mountain and somebody asked him what made you climb Mount Everest he says because it was there what a word because it was there I had to conquer it imagine if somebody asks you why are you so eager about victory over sin because it's their sin shall not have dominion over you because it's there in God's Word I want it so what if five thousand nine hundred and fifty years nobody counted Mount Everest here's a man who said I'm going to get there so what did the believers around you don't believe that there is such a thing as an overcoming life so what are the believers around you don't believe that you can control your tongue 24 hours a day that you don't ever say the wrong thing so what if they don't believe the point is does God's Word say it's possible is it there if it's not there forget it I'm not interested in looking for things that are not there but there are a lot of things that are there which we don't claim that's our inheritance and so a good conscience is one of them in Luke chapter 11 Jesus uses the eye the human eye as an example as a picture of the conscience the eye is to the body what conscience is to the heart please remember this your conscience is the eye of your heart if you want to know what it is to be blind just shut your eyes that's what it means to be blind you can't see a thing around you you can imagine this wall is black and you may be absolutely sincere talking sincere and totally wrong that's what blindness causes I've had people argue with me about scripture usually some small unimportant thing and I asked them here listen and you got victory over sin in your life know what in the world are you arguing about all these little things about some inconsistency they think they see in scripture and all these things and what all the devil gets people occupied with when they've missed the main thing it's really sad have you ever been to a shop by time you got there you forgot what you went there for and he's like that when so a lot of people read the Bible what's it meant for is it to find out some a lot of things which and I'm gonna help me in my Christian life sometimes people ask me a question about some obscure Old Testament verse and I say is that going to help you to live a godly life now No then that's not primer you can search the answer for that some other time but primarily let's look for that verse primary the devil has got Christians occupied with minor things the major on minors you know your eye is one of the most important parts of your body of your external body more important than your fingers and toes and all the parts of your external about your eye is one of the most important and Jesus used the example of the eye here in Luke chapter 11 and verse 34 Luke 1134 he said the eye is the lamp of your body and when your eye is clear that is when your conscience is clear your whole body is full of light your whole heart is full of light you know what that is when people get what they call cataract the vision becomes dimmer and dimmer and they can see so clearly the country and you become gradually blind you can't recognize people they just sort of seem to have a vague light they can see a lot of people their christianity is like that they can't see in sharp focus you know they can't do read something they're at a distance they're blind they don't see the seriousness of death think if there's a warning on the road and you're driving your scooter that road isn't saying there's a great danger some pit in front of you and you can't read it you just fall into the pit and have an accident because your vision was not clear here's a warning sign on life's pathway where Jesus says if you lost with your eyes after a woman pluck out your eye it's better for you to lose one eye than to barielle you can't read it no I can't see what it is keep going and you end up in hell see the danger of having bad vision just written in the Bible it's written in matthew chapter 5 I mean even if you read only the New Testament you don't have to go five pages before you reach it it's there I don't think any of you sitting here can say you missed it no you read it and you've heard it many times from this pulpit how seriously have you taken that warning how seriously do you take a warning on the road your eye is the lamp your eye is very important when your eyes clear the light everywhere comes inside your body you can distinguish colors that's white that's black that's pure that's sinful when your eye is not good you're color blind you don't know which is black and which is why you don't know what is sinful and what is holy it's tragic when you ignore your conscience your your whole body will be full of light but when it is bad your body is full of darkness so watch out now listen to this word watch out that the light in you doesn't become darkness that's the first warning how can the lightness become darkness you know when we are born as babies all of us have a pure conscience the eye is clear very clear all of us sitting here you and I were born with a clear conscience very sensitive one have you seen the bottom of a baby's foot feet so since you touch it with a pin feels it their conscience is also like that but look at our feet now and scrape it with a knife and you don't feel it that's how the conscience also becomes over a period of time if you're not careful watch out that that which started as light in you does not become darkness how does it become darkness by ignoring the little voice that tells you that's wrong don't do it don't speak to that person like that it's not righteous what you're doing there you're making money in the wrong way all the time speaking you may ignore it but that's that preacher inside you it should always tell you that's why little children you know it's very difficult for them to tell a lie you ask a three-year-old something in the three-year-old I'll tell the lights written all over its face a mummy I'm telling a lie it's there on the face it cannot hide it but you wait another 15 years and you tell a lie so perfectly that you really believe it yeah because it's he has succeeded in killing the conscience which told him at three years of age that's a lie killed it killed it killed it killed it killed it now he's 18 years old he can tell a lie with a straight face and so convincingly that other people believe it but his conscience is dead he doesn't realize that he's lost something through lies we can gain many things on earth people get married telling lies oh how many cases I've heard of people who hid things when they got married I told a lie and they expect to have a very happy marriage kind of a happy marriage based on a foundation of a lie you can't have a happy life and like someone said one line leads to another it's easy to tell one lie but it's very difficult to tell only one lie because once you have told a lie you have to say a few other things after that to cover it out so very easily the conscience gets spoilt in us maybe there was a time in your early I think of another area when you were first born again can you think back to the time when you first surrendered your life to Jesus and you were so thankful that he died for your sins and you saw the horribleness of sin and you thanked him and you were so careful about the books you read you wouldn't watch certain television programs you wouldn't look go to the movies you were careful because you wanted to keep yourself pure but then time went on and you found that most of the Christians you mingled with demon born-again Christians were not serious and you decided to become like them and not like Jesus Christ your master that was your mistake some time in your life you decided to become like the believers around you instead of becoming like Christ and there you took the wrong path you've been going on that wrong path and see where you've reached now think back to the day when you were first converted you were actually holier than you are today because that day you were looking at Jesus you were thankful for him one of the great main warnings I've had to give believers nowadays is don't look at other believers don't look at the way they live don't look at them don't listen to the way they talk don't be like then don't watch the programs they watch on television don't read the books they read don't talk about the things they talk about you think people listen to me a few do thankfully and their lives are changed that's what delights my heart I praise God with all my heart that there were there are not many there are a few who hear and who take seriously what they are heard and seek to live according to it and they're a lonely crowd I discovered very early in my Christian life that if I wanted to be a wholehearted Christian I would be a lonely person but I think of Jesus do you think Jesus was a lonely person walking in Nazareth even as a young man how many people do you think were interested in talking about the things he was too interested in talking about in Nazareth people were filthy then just like today hmm but he walked a lonely road he walked with his father he didn't become a hermit like John Baptist go to the forest or anything he lived in the midst of people loved them serve them talk to them but he would not allow himself to be polluted or defiled by them he kept himself pure and people considered him odd and made fun of him it didn't make a difference he was here on earth to fulfill his father's will this is what it means to be a true Christian to keep a good conscience and further it says in verse 36 first warning is watch out that your light is doesn't become darkness verse 35 the next is verse 36 if your whole body is full of light with no dark part in it that's the thing that challenged me I say Lord is it possible for me to have a heart with no dark part in it that means everything is open possible with the whole of it illumined as when a lamp illumines you with rays with its rays I mean think if you lived in a city where the only type of electric bulbs they had were the zero watt bulbs every house they had only had zero watt bulb the only shops had only easy robot bar then you've grown up for 50 years in that city and you've seen zero but belted dim light in which you read and all that and then one day you come to another country where people have thousand what body was this I've never seen anything like this in my life you don't think such a thing is possible a light that can shine for such a big distance it's like that when you live with Christians who are like zero what Christians would just dim on a light and then you come to God's Word and see the brightness with which we can live if we want it would be surrendered to be filled with the Holy Spirit that's another life and you know the thing that used to encourage me I used to live with a lot of 0r Christians for many years I still think most believers are pretty zero watt believers even today but every now and then in my life as a young man I would come across suddenly one believer who was different he was like these halogen lamps bright and full of a joy of the Lord and he wasn't sitting in backbiting him complaining about anything on earth he was just happy in the Lord and I would sit and talk to him and he would tell me that there was a time in his life when he was filled with the Holy Spirit I knew that was the answer and he remained filled of the Holy Spirit as he answers like the oil those days they didn't have electricity all the lights came through lamps the truth and this challenge but I didn't meet such people frequently only once in a while I would meet such people are rare you know like it says here no dark heart wholly illumined boy when you read that how many of you are challenged and say Lord I want to be like that you find a challenge rising in your heart all I want to be like that because when your conscience becomes clear like that your faith will become stronger to the real faith I'm not talking about the faith to make money or faith for some earthly thing that will perish when you die I'm talking about faith for that which is eternal which you can possess for all eternity look what the Apostle Paul said in acts 23 verse 1 when he was taken to court accused falsely the thing he could say in court which is a wonderful thing if you can say this when you're taking the court one day he stood in court is the first time we read of that in the Apostle Paul's life acts 23 one he says he looked at this council of priests Jewish priests that were judging him and he said I have lived my life acts 23 one with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day that was the secret of his life that doesn't mean that he had victory over all sin there's a lot of difference between a good conscience and victory over sin you can have a good conscience that day you are born again but victory over sin may take some years so what is Paul saying I have kept a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day we can understand it almost immediately in the next two three verses the high priest Ananias ask somebody to strike Paul on the mouth he says that's blasphemy how can anybody live with a good conscience this is the high priest the leader of God's people do you know who are the people who say that when we preach about victory over sin we are preaching heresy the great preachers and leaders and Christendom was the same thing here Chuck strike that fellows says that we can live with a good conscience not possible and Paul got angry he was not exactly like Jesus here and they struck Jesus on the base he only said if I spoke from the truth why is why he's striking me but Paul he said God would strike you you whitewashed wall you think he was led by the Holy Spirit when he said that to anybody particularly to a chief justice sitting on the judgment throne you sit to try me according to the law and violation of the law and he's right what that guy did was wrong a chief justice has no right to disobey the law and tell a fellow to hit even an accused man on the face he's got to listen and then punish him what Paul said was right that that what you did was wrong but the way he said it was wrong to say to call a fellow a whitewashed wall or I mean we people call others by much worse names than that today even believers and the bystander said how do you do that do you revive God's high priest and say I'm sorry God's Word says you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people that is Old Testament in the New Testament Titus 3 says you shall not speak evil of any man because we are in the New Covenant the Old Covenant the rule was you shall not speak evil of a ruler everything in the New Covenant is hired the Old Covenant it said honor an aged man whose white hair the New Covenant it says honor all men isn't it wonderful to be in the New Covenant where we don't just honor old people we honor young people too and where we don't just be evil of rulers we don't speak evil of anyone I mean you've got to be excited about this new covenant life we want it here when you when you hear me say that you say well that's not a great thing but you'll never get it you gotta be excited about it I'll tell you that you'll never get something in scripture unless you're excited Lord is tremendous you mean I can live a life on earth where I don't just honor old people but I honor all people boy what a possibility you look at it like that I think we are living in a world with born-again believers I see a lot of young people who claim to view and CFC they don't even honor old people leave alone everybody else I don't know how their parents brought them out but sad the Old Testament said that's a mark or a fear of God so Paul I believe there was an apology there that's how he kept a good conscience as soon as he was aware and he did something wrong yeah yeah that's against God's Word I'm sorry so I see there how this man kept a good conscience it was not that he never made a mistake but as soon as he was aware he immediately said it right isn't that isn't that a wonderful news the point is do you set it right immediately that's the question now turn to acts 24 we see Paul speaking there in verse 16 this is a game in a court this time he is before a heathen King a Roman King and now he tells Felix who is the sitting in the as a judge there again the same thing it's interesting that whenever Paul stood in a court the one thing he had to say is you guys can say what you like my conscience is absolutely clear all these charges are false you should be able to say that if you ever have to stand in the court my conscience is clear or if you did something wrong say yes I'm sorry what I did was wrong we have a I don't know whether you know in the Indian you know the three lines that we have as a symbol of India we have these words underneath in Hindi sucked ma objective truth prevails we see very little of it in our country but it's there but it's like a lot of Christians who talk about truth rarely look truth in their life it's all words and hypocrisy in the nation that we can understand but why should there be hypocrisy among person who calls himself a child of God acts 24:16 I do my best now the businessman would say to make money but Paul says the scientists would say I do my best to discover something new in science but the disciple of Jesus says I do my best to maintain a blameless conscience before God and before men yes I may not be perfect but I do my best to maintain a blameless conscience before God and before men that's why he had faith it's a mark of new covenant faith to keep a good conscience that's why Paul didn't make a shipwreck of his life and how often did he do it there's a very popular expression nowadays called 24/7 they say talk about it in the television news programs 24/7 means twenty-four hours a day seven days a week what did Paul do 24 hours a day seven days a week keep a good conscience that's the meaning of all of me my dear brothers and sisters I want to urge you if you really want to have a living faith to take this matter very seriously even if victory over sin takes another 10 years praying you'll get there if you learn to keep a good conscience all the time you saw Paul's example as soon as he was aware that he had said the wrong word who does not apologize he didn't say I'll think about it that's how he kept a good conscience as soon as he is aware it's like I asked people if you're walking barefoot on the road in your garden or something and the thorn gets into your foot a thorn how long are you going to meditate on when to remove the thorn are you gonna pray about it and wait till the evening because we settle all matters and evening right before we go to bed no a sensible person would take out the cut thorn immediately now I want to ask you one thing and I want you to tell me honestly not tell me tell yourself honestly the answer to this question do you believe a thorn in your foot can harm you more than a sin in your heart answer that question to yourself do you believe a thorn getting in your foot can ruin you more than a sinful action or thought or word or attitude towards someone in your heart or about that little bit of jealousy it's a million times worse than a thorn that pry that bitterness Oh bitterness is like cancer what about 10 cancers are one bitterness 10 cancer is any day I don't want one bitterness in my heart against a single human being but we are spiritually illiterate that's why we don't take these things seriously in if you go to some illiterate poor illiterate uneducated woman in the village she comes to the pain in the stomach and the doctor says you got cancer okay she'll go to sleep because you think as her cancer is something like a fever or a little cold or cough it'll go off in a week or so why because she is illiterate now when you tell a person today the bitterness in your heart against one person can ruin your more than ten thorns in your feet in fact your feet and you sleep peacefully something wrong he is spiritually illiterate dear brothers and sisters this is our eternal destiny is dependent on this faith and a good conscience one of the primary marks of New Covenant faith is that you keep a good conscience it is on that foundation on the foundation of a good conscience that we build a superstructure of love for God love for others this is so important I want to say one last thing hmm before I close it speaks in 1 Corinthians 8 about certain people who have a weak conscience it speaks in 1 Corinthians 8 about certain people and the last part of our 7 their conscience being weak is defiled and he says here in verse 9 don't take care that this Liberty of yours does not become a stumbling block wait he's saying don't do things that'll cause other people to stumble his conscience is weak you may be a strong person you take Romans 14 for example which speaks about the strong believer and the weak believer let me just read you a few verses in Romans 14 from the message translation except the one who is weak in the faith why is he weak in the faith because his conscience is weak how can you become strong in the faith if your conscience clear all the time so there are believers in the church who don't have such a sensitive conscience as we have I mean if you have if you think of functions like a weighing machine maybe you have a weighing machine that can only register every kilo one kilo 1.5 1.7 it doesn't register and becomes 2 kilos then the needle moves and then you have other weighing machines that will register digitally even grams and milligrams very sensitive maybe you've got a very sensitive conscience praise God where you can register a little small little thing the needle flickers that's wrong and here's another brother who can do something 10 times worse than you and his needle doesn't even flicker no other Bible says don't judge him maybe his conscience has not come to the level of yours maybe you're in the 10th standard and he's in the first standard don't call him a fool if a 10 standard student calls the first standard of student a fool for not understanding trigonometry who is the fool definitely is the 10 standard student without a doubt and if you who have walked with God and you've got a very sensitive conscience look down on a weaker believer because you feel that he should have your standard of holiness and you judge him you're the fool you know what the Bible says 2 husbands recognize that your wife is a weaker vessel how many of you do that that's in 1 Peter 3 verse 7 recognize that she's a weaker vessel and give her honor as a weaker vessel I mean if you can live a 40 kilo suitcase and you ask why can you lift it you're a fool because she's a woman and it's a wonderful thing there are weaker believers in the church and you got a weaker person right in your own home your wife and the Bible says give them honor okay I'll just read a few verses in Romans 14 in the message Bible welcomed with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do or your wife and don't jump all over them every time they do something that you don't agree with do you jump all over people when they don't do something you don't agree with even when it seems that they are strong in their opinions but weak in their faith a lot people are like that strong and their opinions very weak in their faith remember they've got their own history to deal with they've got a culture to deal with they haven't overcome it they have got their background to deal with they've got their community culture they haven't yet overcome it recognize it be patient and he goes on to say what's important you know in the last pot verse 7 none of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these things for himself we are answerable to God so that's a wonderful chapter I don't have time to read it but read it sometime tells you recognize that other people's conscience is not at your level the wonderful thing is God expects us to live according to the light of our conscience not somebody else's I thank God for that somebody was more mature than me can probably see some things in my life which are not Christ like I said maybe you're right brother but I can only live according to the light I have I may see something on Christ like in you but you know what I say to myself maybe he or she is only in the third standard how can I judge them for not knowing trigonometry they will learn it give them time it's wonderful to have faith and a good conscience as soon as you're aware of sin confess it go and apologize to the person your wife or husband immediately like Paul did I'm sorry that was wrong what I said that's great Heavenly Father we thank you for your word that keeps us on the right path and supposed to walk in the light of it all our days to take seriously what you've written in your word for us pray in Jesus name

Channel: CFC India

Views: 11,645

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Id: ov4P06dk9S8

Length: 59min 30sec (3570 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 30 2014