The Joy and the Danger of a Clean Conscience

A good conscience is a wonderful thing to have. Without it there is no inner peace - only
turmoil, anxiety, and restlessness. Anyone who has violated his conscience knows of that
which I speak.

A bad conscience pricks us continually without let up. It is the perfect tormentor. Day
and night we suffer from its attacks. Wherever we go it travels with us. We cannot lose
it. It is determined to give us no rest or relief.

Rest can only be had at what is generally felt to be a hard price to pay. That price is the
shame and humiliation of admitting (confessing) our sin and making whatever restitution,
if any, that can be made for it. It is awfully hard to put oneself through that but that is
exactly the price the conscience requires of us before it will let us go free.

I know of a man who recently went before the church confessing his unfaithfulness.
Afterwards he spoke of what a burden was lifted from his shoulders. The conscience was
now clear and life could move forward with the inner turmoil now gone and peace
restored. That is a common reaction from those who finally decide to quit fighting the
conscience they have violated and pay the price conscience demands.

The apostle Paul said, "I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God
up to this day." (Acts 23:1 NAS) He made this statement the day after his arrest in
Jerusalem. How many of us can say what Paul said? Can you? Can I? My guess is very
few can.

Peter who denied Christ could not say it. David who committed adultery with Bathsheba
and had her husband killed (one could say murdered) could not say it. Aaron, in making
the golden calf, could not say it.

Paul's statement that he had lived in all good conscience before God simply meant that he
had never knowingly done anything at the time he was doing it to be in violation of God's
law, knew it to be sin while he was doing it. To live then in good conscience before God
is to live in such a way as to not knowingly do anything that is in violation of God's will.

There is certainly such a thing as sinning without violating one's conscience, a thing we
all have to be aware of. Paul is the perfect example. He said in Acts 22:4 "I persecuted
this Way to the death," (NAS) the Way being Christianity. Then he says in Acts 26:10,
"not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the
chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them."

Was this sin, even great sin? Yes, but it was not a violation of his conscience for at that
time he believed with all his heart it was the right thing to do according to his religion, a
Jew of the Pharisee sect. (Acts 26:5) There is probably nothing in a man's life harder to
change than his religion. There is so much emotion involved in it, often much family
history involved, friendships, and so on that it is very hard to be fair, that is objective,
with the scriptures.

We need to study the scriptures objectively but our human emotions will not allow it.
Our faith is the correct one just because it has to be that way; there are no other
possibilities, at least none we are willing to consider.

There is one other factor that makes it very difficult for one to change his religion, human
pride. How hard it is for any of us to be man enough to say we are wrong? We will not
even allow the thought. As soon as even a tiny doubt enters our mind we cast it out as far
from us as possible.

Paul was not the only man in the Bible whose good conscience did not keep him from
serious sin. One of the most tragic cases in the Bible was that of the prophet described as
"a man of God" (1 Kings 13:1) who was sent by God to Jeroboam to prophecy against the
altar on which Jeroboam was planning to make sacrifices to the two golden calves he had
made. On his return trip back home he was met by "an old prophet" whom the Bible says
"lied to him" (I Kings 13:18) claiming an angel had spoken to him countermanding God's
original command.

That original command to the younger (we assume) prophet had been, "'You shall eat no
bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.'" (1 Kings
13:17 NAS) When the young prophet believed what the old prophet told him about an
angel countermanding the original command, the assumption being that God himself had
sent the angel, he went back with the old prophet and did the very things God had told
him not to do. As a result he lost his life for doing so and never got back home.

There are a couple of lessons that we ought to pick up on in this account and learn from.
First, as it relates to the conscience, this younger (?) prophet sinned in all good
conscience and paid the penalty. The conscience cannot be our guide. We must strive to
have a good conscience but conscience without correct knowledge profits nothing. The
Islamic terrorists of our own day have a good conscience.

Secondly, this prophet who sinned and met his death believed a religious man. I will be
frank. I do not take much stock in the fact that a preacher says anything. Why should I
when I have a New Testament and probably am about as intelligent, I assume, as the
average preacher?

It is obvious, to those who think about it, that few preachers know what they are talking
about. How many different denominations are there in the world today all teaching
(preaching) something different? Of necessity, since they are contradicting one another
and only one at most could be right, their preachers do not know what they are talking
about.

I do not say they are liars like the old prophet but a mistaken preacher can kill you just as
quickly as an old prophet if you allow it. Would you not agree also that most false
teachers have a clear conscience not realizing their error? I will grant them that much
sincerity.

We ought to demand of our preachers more and more book, chapter, and verse preaching.
Just tell us, preferably, far preferably, even to the extent of quoting directly, what the
Bible says. Many preachers seem to assume we want to hear what they have to say. Why
would we? Why, when you and I go to services to worship and to hear what God has to
say?

We must have a clear conscience toward God but that conscience must be based on
knowledge as has been shown. John says, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
we have confidence before God." (1 John 3:21 NAS) That then is our goal. A conscience
properly equipped (trained) with accurate knowledge that is clear of conscience wrong
doing. When we have that we have inner peace.

However, as was first pointed out in this piece, most of us are not in Paul's camp. We
cannot say we have never violated our conscience, quite the contrary. In fact, the very
nature of temptation and sin leads men into the violation of their conscience and into sin.
James says, (James 1:14-15 NAS), "But each one is tempted when he is carried away and
enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin
is accomplished, it brings forth death."

We generally know when we are sinning. We know when we have been tempted. We
know when we are giving into it. We know while we are doing it that it is wrong. Can a
conscience violated, which is another way of saying a heart that has been made impure,
be restored to cleanliness again? If not why did Jesus die? Did he die just for those
sinners who were like Paul or did he die for sinners of every stripe?

When David had sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed the prophet Nathan
came to him and confronted him. David knew his sin so it took but little to nothing to
convince him of his evil. Psalms 51 is a record of David's reaction when confronted by
his sin. Could he ever be restored? Could his conscience ever be made clean again?

Let us listen to a little of what he had to say in prayer to God. "Be gracious to me, O
God, according to Thy lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion
blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from
my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me." (Psalms 51:1-3
NAS) Then verse 7, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall
be whiter than snow. (NAS) And, finally, verse 10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me." (Psalms 51:10 NAS)

Do you think God did that? I remind you the words spoken here were David's but he
spoke under inspiration guided by the Holy Spirit. So what you may ask?

Ask yourself why God wanted this passage recorded in holy writ? Why did he want it
worded the way it was? For whose benefit was it written?
I think Paul answered that question in Rom. 15:4, "For whatever was written in earlier
times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement
of the Scriptures we might have hope." (NAS) Do you not believe along with me that
Psalms 51 and the things written therein were for you and me? Do the things written
there not give us encouragement?

Can you be forgiven and once again live with a clear conscience? What do you believe
the Bible teaches? What do you believe God did with David? Did he forgive him and
restore within him a clean heart as David had asked? Do you think David will be in
heaven?

What does God require of us when we have violated our conscience and sinned as did
David? David says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." (Psalms 51:17 NAS)

The teaching of the Bible is not that we can totally forget the past. Paul always
remembered what he had done in persecuting the saints unto the death but he also said
unto us, "one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 3:13b-14 NAS)

Memory will not be erased but we can put the past behind us and move ahead with
confidence that God will forgive us. We can once again walk with a good conscience.

For one like Saul, who became Paul the apostle, one who was not a Christian, we can do
as he did. He came to faith in Christ, repented of his sins, and was baptized into Christ
for the remission of sins. (Acts 22:16, Acts 2:38) His conscience was now trained
correctly and he could henceforth walk by faith rather than by the law of Moses. Had he
not obeyed the gospel he would have violated his conscience for he now knew the truth.

I am convinced thousands and thousands are walking around even today that know they
ought to obey the gospel for their conscience tells them so. Their conscience is not clear.
They are paying a price even now for their disobedience for the conscience will not be
quiet. They are not like Paul but they could be. It is only a matter of the will, so simple
but so hard for so many.

But there are others, Christians already, who have violated their conscience. Like David
(who was at one time a faithful child of God under the law of Moses) they have by sin
violated their conscience. God will have them back and restore to them a clean heart and
a clear conscience as they walk on down the road of life but they must make the same
decision David made. David wanted to come back. He repented. He prayed to God. He
ceased to sin and walked in righteousness. That is what it will take.
A good clean clear conscience is a wonderful thing to have. Inner peace is better than
inner war. God has left for us the choice as to which we have. We get to decide. We can
pretty much have whichever we prefer. Which do you choose?