Transcription
Thank you, Mr. Washburn, and good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see all of you. Hello to those that are tuning in today on our website or our webcast. I wanted to mention to you where I've been for the last few weeks. You may have been wondering. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I were up in Michigan visiting my family, and last week we were in Bloomington, Illinois, visiting her brother and family. So that's where we've been the last few weeks, in case you were wondering.
It's a beautiful Sabbath day. I hope you're having a wonderful Sabbath. It's good to finally speak to you. It's been a while, but let's begin today in 1st Samuel chapter 24. Let's begin this message in 1st Samuel chapter 24. We'll start in verse 1. This is a familiar story to us. First Samuel chapter 24 says, "Now what happened when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, 'Take note, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.'" And then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. And he was seeking to kill David. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road where there was a cave, and Saul went in to attend to his needs. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. And then the men of David said to him, "This is the day of which the Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.'" And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And now what happened afterward, that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. And he said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got out from the cave and went on his way. And David arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, saying, "My lord, the king." And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down. And David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Indeed, David seeks your harm'? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you, but my I spared you. And I said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.'"
Of course, this is the story that we've heard many times of David and Saul in the cave. But notice again, verse five, there's something very interesting here. That David was in the cave, and he could have killed Saul. It said David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. Just cutting the robe itself also troubled him, let alone killing him. So David was troubled, and he didn't do what he could have done, and what his men, some of his men, were urging him.
But notice next, 2nd Samuel chapter 11. Let's go to 2nd Samuel chapter 11. And again, this is another very well-known, famous story in David's life. Second Samuel chapter 11, we'll begin in verse 1. It says, "It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem." And then it happened one evening that David rose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" And then David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity. And she returned to her house. And the woman conceived. So she sent and told David and said, "I am with child." And then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David.
And so we know the story that David tried to get Uriah to go back to his wife so he could conceal the pregnancy. But then that didn't work because Uriah refused to do so. Notice in verse 14, "In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.'" And so it was, when Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. And then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also.
Of course, this story is the story of David's sin with Bathsheba and her sin of murdering her husband Uriah, two horrible sins that would have great consequences. So how did a man who would not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed King Saul come to the point of sleeping with another man's wife, trying to cover up her pregnancy, and then killing her husband? It seems like we're talking about two different people, two different people. One is a man who followed his conscience, and the other is a man who seems to have no conscience and committed the grievous sins of adultery, deceit, and murder. So what happened? What happened to David? It's like there are two different men here.
Well, the last time I spoke to you on Pentecost weekend, it's hard to believe it was that long ago. I talked about the Holy Spirit as an anchor in our lives. And one of the aspects of the spiritual anchoring of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit guides us. And one of the critical ways the Holy Spirit guides us is via our conscience. And I touched on this aspect of guidance of the Holy Spirit by the conscience in that message, but I did not have time to dive deeply into it. But it picked my interest. So today, we're going to look more closely at what we call the conscience and look at ways to ensure that it performs as it is intended to do. As we, as Christians, continue our journey to the kingdom of God, I would like to ask your indulgence to allow me to name this message a little bit later. And I believe I have a good reason to do so, and I hope you'll agree with me when the time comes and we name it.
In my research for this message, excuse me, I came across a letter from Mr. Victor Kubik and a sermon from Mr. Galen Morrison on this subject of the conscience. It's a very interesting subject. So I want to acknowledge them for some of the concepts in this message, which I'm combined with my own research and study of God's Word.
But let's begin by defining what the conscience is. What is the conscience? The conscience is defined as that part of the human psyche that induces mental anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate it, and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts, and words are in conformance to our value system. Sounds like a long definition, but the conscience is part of the mind of man, and it brings about self-awareness, an introspection of ourselves. It's a result of the spirit in man, which works with our brain to bring about what we call the human mind. As we understand from Scripture, this spirit in man comes from God, but it is not an immortal soul, which is beyond the scope of this message. So fundamentally, the human conscience comes from God, and it's a precious gift to every human being. And we'll talk about this more later in the message.
And as I mentioned, the conscience is based upon a value system. And this value system, fundamentally for all people, comes from our family and our upbringing, our religious training and beliefs, the additional influence of others outside of our family, our personal experiences, our own human reasoning and human nature, and the influence of the culture that we live in.
So let's look at some elements that are related to the conscience. So this is element number one: The conscience does not determine true right and wrong. We say, "How can that be?" Because, you see, in fact, human beings do not have the innate ability to determine what is truly right and wrong. We all have a natural conscience, but that natural conscience cannot determine right and wrong. Notice Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 23. We'll turn there, please. Jeremiah chapter 10, verse 23. This is also a familiar scripture to us. Jeremiah writes by inspiration from God's Holy Spirit. He writes, "O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." And this is true. It is not within the natural man to direct his own steps, to determine what is right and wrong. And this is true because of human nature and the natural conscience in human beings, which cannot determine what is truly right and wrong in all situations.
Notice just a few pages over in Jeremiah chapter 17. Jeremiah talks a little bit more about the natural man. He talks about the heart. He says, "The heart," this is Jeremiah 17, verse 9, "is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The human mind is deceitful, and that includes justifying things that are horrible, as we've seen many times in history. The deceitfulness of the heart certainly includes the natural conscience, which cannot determine true right and wrong.
In Romans chapter 8, verse 7, if you'll turn there with me, the Apostle Paul talks about this as well about the natural man. Romans chapter 8 and verse 7. He says, "Because the carnal, or the fleshly, or the natural mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." The carnal mind is against God and cannot subject itself to God. If you hold your place here, just for now, but I'd like to mention also another scripture that we won't turn to, and this is from Solomon. Of course, we know that Solomon was given a fantastic gift, the gift of wisdom from God, who is the source of all true wisdom. In Proverbs 14:12, we won't turn there, but Solomon was inspired to understand and to write this. He says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." There's a way that seems right, but it's not right, and our mind can deceive us. The natural mind and our conscience, the natural conscience, does not determine true right and wrong because, you see, the conscience is, after all, a mechanism that is operating with one's value system. But the value system itself can be flawed, and naturally, it is flawed in every human being, as we've just seen.
And this leads us to our second element: A righteous conscience only comes from God. A righteous conscience only comes from God. The conscience itself can't be trusted apart from God, but God has to change it. He has to change our value system. Turn with me if it's a Romans chapter 16. If you hold your place in Romans. Romans chapter 16, verse 25. Paul writes to the Romans. He says, "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began." You see, God has established those that He has called and placed into the body of Christ, into the church. God has established us and He's worked with us, those that are His firstfruits now on this earth. He opens our minds to understand spiritual understanding that is not inherently in human beings, because those things seem foolishness, seem like foolishness to the natural mind, as we saw in the earlier element. But God opens our minds to a whole new dimension of understanding and conviction by the Holy Spirit.
If you hold your place here and turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11, Paul expands this a little bit more. In 1st Corinthians chapter 2, and we'll start in verse 11. Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says, "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. As God has opened our minds to understand these things, we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, that he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ." We have the mind of Christ. As God has opened our minds to understand a whole new dimension in the human experience, so that the things of God are not foolishness, we understand the truth, and we have God's Spirit, and we are spiritual. And it says, "He who is spiritual judges all things." It's referring to a new conscience, a different conscience.
Turn with me next to Hebrews chapter 10. Paul expands this more in Hebrews. And then Hebrews chapter 10, verse 16, about God establishing us and opening our minds and changing our value system. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 16. And he's quoting here Jeremiah 31. Paul says in verse 16, "This is the covenant that I will make with them," referring to God, "after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them." As God opens your mind, He writes His laws into your hearts. And that law, what is the law? To love God more than everything, and to love others as yourself, and to operate in that way in what you do, and what you say, and what you think. And a major element of the internalization of God writing His laws into your heart is to change your value system, to change your value system, to establish what is right and what is important. And remember that the conscience is based on your value system. So God changes your value system, and hence He changes your conscience when you are called and God opens your mind to understand. This is part of how God changes our heart, the seat of our thinking, values, and emotions.
I hope you've held your place in Romans. Let's go to Romans chapter 9, verse 1. Hopefully, you can go there fairly quickly if you held your place. We read this scripture in my last message, referring to the connection between the Holy Spirit and the conscience. Paul writes in Romans chapter 9, verse 1, "I tell the truth in Christ, I am also not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit." There is a connection between the Holy Spirit and our conscience. The Holy Spirit works with us through our conscience to guide us, to help us to see what is right and what is wrong, and urge us to take the right action based on our new value system that we have from God. So a righteous or a godly conscience only comes from God.
Let's look at another element: The conscience is based on what authority you recognize in your life. And this was a comment from Mr. Kubik that I thought was very interesting. The conscience is based on what authority you recognize in your life. You know, people have a conscience. Everyone has a conscience, and it can be based on your religion, your own reason, what someone else has taught you that you accept as right and true in your own mind, as we mentioned earlier. But the Bible clearly tells us what the ultimate authority must be in our lives. Notice Job chapter 40, verse 1. Job chapter 40, verse 1. They find it very interesting what Job went through. I mean, he went through an absolutely horrible trial. And you say, "Why did God allow that to happen to him?" And there was a purpose to it, because Job needed to learn some very important lessons, and it was recorded for us so that we, and all mankind eventually, can benefit from this story of Job.
Notice Job 40, chapter 1. This is a very interesting thing that is going on here between the Lord, between Jesus Christ, the one who could become Jesus Christ, and Job. "Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, 'Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.' Then Job answered the Lord and said, 'Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You?'" You see, Job had a problem with a lack of humility, but he was beginning to understand. He says, "I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer, yes, twice, but I will proceed no further." He had already said enough. And then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind when He says, "Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Disperse the rage of your wrath; look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low, tread down the wicked in their places, hide them in the dust together, and bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you." And this was Job's problem: was a lack of humility. And God is saying to him, "Can you do all these things? You are not God." And He says, "Can you question My judgment?" We'll talk some more about that a little bit later.
Notice in Job chapter 42, in verse 1, just continuing a little bit more in this story of Job. He said, "Then Job answered the Lord and he said, 'I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, "Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,' referring to what he had said earlier to his friends and about God, 'things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said, "I will question You, and You shall answer Me." I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.'" See, Job finally realized God's power and authority and had a proper perspective of himself compared to God. You know, it's so easy to think that our own human reasoning is right in our eyes and to question God. And Satan will certainly try to lead you down this path if you will allow it, this path of questioning God and questioning whether God is fair or not. We must acknowledge God in all we do and to trust Him completely. God must be at the center of our life, which is part of the value system that God has placed in us to love God more than everything. God must be at the center of our life, and He must be the ultimate authority that we recognize, and the foundation upon which our conscience must be built. We must all come to this point of humbling ourselves before God and realizing that God is the ultimate authority, and that is what our conscience is built upon.
Let's look at another element involving the conscience: When we habitually sin, we can damage our conscience. We can damage our conscience. We don't think about this too much, do we? But it actually happens. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 and we'll read verses 17 through 19. Sin has many consequences, and one of them is to damage our conscience. In Philippians chapter 4, in verse 17, Paul writes this: "I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you shall no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." I, this concept of being past feeling, brethren, refers to the conscience. And even referring to the natural conscience, things can get so bad that you can even damage that and go off into complete debauchery. But consider David's lack of conscience before and after his sin with Bathsheba. Something happened to David that actually happened before that sin with Bathsheba. He had damaged his conscience because sin has that effect on us of damaging our conscience. And David had allowed his conscience to be damaged even before his sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, her husband.
In Hebrews chapter 3, Paul talks some more about the effect of sin and how it can damage our conscience. In Hebrews chapter 3, in verse 12, I'll give you a moment to get there. Hebrews chapter 3. He says, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the Living God; but exhort, or encourage, one another daily, while it is called 'today,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." This hardening, brethren, includes damaging our conscience. It includes damaging our conscience as we sin.
One more scripture here in 1st Timothy about damaging our conscience. 1st Timothy chapter 4. We're going to talk even more about the damage to our conscience a little bit later in the message. This is 1st Timothy chapter 4. "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron." You see, as sin continues and expands, the conscience can actually become seared as by a hot iron. And make no mistake, this can happen to me and to you. Satan downplays this, but even a true Christian can come to the point of searing their conscience and returning to what they once were. It can certainly happen.
And this brings us right to our next element, element number five: We need to have our conscience cleansed. Our conscience cleansed. In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14, if you'll turn there, please. Paul talks about this about the cleansing that we must have. He writes, this is Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?" To cleanse your conscience from dead works, or sin. But that cleansing goes beyond the forgiveness of sin.
Notice 1st John chapter 1 and verse 9. First John chapter 1 and verse 9. I'll give you a moment to get there. In 1st John chapter 1 and verse 9, John writes, "If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When we repent before God, He cleanses us. He wipes away our sins. And a major element of that cleansing is to also clean our conscience, and that includes removing guilt and other damage from past sin. What a gift this is from our loving Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, that we can receive forgiveness and the cleansing of our conscience, which we must have to restore our conscience, to keep it healthy.
In Psalm chapter 51, let's turn there. Very familiar scripture, written by David. And it was after he repented from a very, very horrible sin. Was it the sin with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband? We don't know for sure, but I would say there's an excellent chance that it was, because of the horrific nature of that sin and then the death of the child that resulted from it as well. We notice, notice what David says. And this whole chapter and this whole prayer is so heartfelt. You can just feel David's anguish and his sincerity in this prayer. But he says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Because David realized that he needed a clean heart from what he had done, that he had damaged his conscience to the point that he could do what he did with Bathsheba and her husband. And in this heartfelt prayer, he says, "Create a clean heart in me and take away this of what I have done and how I have damaged my conscience." He came to see the enormity of his sin and that he needed a new heart because it had become darkened and hardened. And his conscience, that had served him well in the past, had been seriously damaged by his own sins. And we need to have our conscience cleansed as well, brethren, because sin damages our conscience, and it can make it easier to keep sinning.
So let's summarize these elements that we've seen so far, these five elements: That number one, the conscience does not determine true right and wrong. A righteous conscience only comes from God. The conscience is based on what authority you recognize in your life. And when we habitually sin, we can damage our conscience. And we need to have our conscience cleansed.
Now let's turn to Acts chapter 24 and we will read in Acts something that Paul says. In Acts chapter 24, this is Acts chapter 24, in verse 14 through 16. Paul is before these leaders, and he says, "But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also expect, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." And then in verse 16, he says this: "This being so, I myself always strive to have a good conscience without offense toward God and men." So Paul strove to have a blameless conscience before God and men. And we are to do the same. As we have seen, we can sin, and that sin can affect our conscience. We can become without feeling, and our conscience can be damaged. And if the situation is allowed to get even worse and worse, we can sear our conscience, as we have seen, and as unfortunately some have done. So we must strive to maintain or guard our conscience.
And why is this so important? Mr. Galen Morrison made a statement in his sermon about the conscience, and he said, "No godly conscience, no repentance. No repentance, no Savior. No Savior, no future." I'll say that again: No godly conscience, no repentance. Because there is not a conscience that tells you it was wrong, so there can be no repentance. If there's no repentance, you cannot be forgiven of your sins. Even though Jesus died for your sins, you must repent. And if there's no Savior, there's no future for mankind at all. So the conscience is critically important. And Satan will try to bring you into this thing where you think it's not a big deal, and I can do things and sin against my conscience, and it will have no effect. It will have an effect. Your conscience can be damaged, and my conscience can be damaged.
So in the remainder of this message, let's look at five actions, and we'll go through them fairly quickly, that we must continually take to guard our conscience. Now, I ask your indulgence to name this message much later than usual. So now, the title of this message is "Guard Your Conscience." I wanted to develop these elements about the conscience before I gave you the title, to emphasize the gravity of what we need to do in guarding our conscience.
So I have five keys to help me and you to guard our conscience. Key number one: Don't ignore your godly conscience. Don't ignore it. You know, as Christians, we have a conscience from God, based on God's law of love and God's values. When we feel guilt, it is because something is wrong, and we must not ignore our conscience. We need to respond to this alarm from our conscience with God's help, and God will take away that guilt. Remember, He cleanses our conscience, but we need to repent. If our conscience is going off, we need to act and consider what we're doing.
Notice James 4:17. If you have a marker, if you can put it in James 4, we're going to be coming back to that a few times. But in James 4:17, James writes, I'll give you a moment to get there. James 4:17. James writes, "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." To know what is right and then to not do it is to ignore your conscience or to act against it. And we can't do that. We have to deal with the situation and not ignore our conscience, because it can become further damaged.
We won't turn there, but in Ephesians 3, verse 16, Paul writes, he says that he, that God would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. To be strengthened with might in the inner man. God will strengthen you in the inner man. And that strengthening has multiple facets or aspects to it. And perhaps one that we don't always think about is God will give you strength to follow your conscience that He established within you and to not ignore it. Ask God in humble prayer before Him every day, or at least regularly, to help you in this way, to not ignore your conscience when it's going off, even for little things.
We won't turn there, but in 1st John chapter 1, verse 9, it says God is quick to forgive and to cleanse us. We already read this. He's quick to forgive and cleanse us, including our guilt and damage that we have done to our conscience. We all fall down, and we all have problems, but we can't let that continue on where we are ignoring our conscience, because if you don't ignore it, it will help to guard it.
Another key, and this key is related: Don't compromise with your conscience. And I almost combined this with the first one, but it is different. Let me explain. Conscience compromises, yet another form of resisting your conscience, at least at first. Compromise is rationalizing sin, either by minimizing it or justifying it in your mind, even though deep down in our conscience, we know it is wrong. So the first point was your ignoring your conscience, and the second one is your trying to rationalize around it and saying, "Oh, I can do this for this reason," even though your conscience, through the Holy Spirit, is urging you to do something different.
Notice Romans chapter 13 and verse 12. Excuse me, Romans chapter 13 and verse 12. Romans chapter 13 and verse 12. Paul writes, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." Let's focus in on what he is saying here about making provision for the flesh. What does it mean to make provision? It means that you are providing the conditions or the situation for that sin to occur. God says, "Don't do that. Don't provide what is necessary for the sin to come about." If you have a problem in a certain area, avoid that area as much as you can. Don't play with it. Don't think, "I'm strong enough to resist." Just remove yourself from the situation. Don't make provision for sin, which ties into rationalization and minimization, which enable compromise. God says, "Don't do that. Don't provide for the sin. Don't provide the conditions." And we need to get rid of this rationalization and minimization with God's help. And God will help us to get rid of it.
If you put your marker in James chapter 4, let's turn back there for a moment. James chapter 4 and verse 7. He says, "Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Resist the devil and his devices, and he will flee from you. And it takes God's help, but we can resist. Don't compromise with what your conscience from God is telling you is right. And you see, compromise is one of the devices that Satan will try to use on you, and will try to use that on all of us. And as you compromise, which is resisting your conscience, it will get easier to continue compromising in that area and also expanding into other areas as your conscience is damaged. God will help you to resist compromising, and in so doing, you will also guard your conscience from damage by sin. Take it to God and ask God to cleanse you and to help you.
Key number three, there's five, is to cut off temptation with God's help. And I thought about this for a while. This is like saying, "Don't sin," but hear me out on what I'm going to say here about cutting off temptation with God's help, doing it early. You see, when we're tempted to sin, our conscience goes off, telling us that the sin is wrong. But we can allow ourselves to be enticed and to allow the temptation to proceed, again discounting or overriding our conscience.
We won't turn there, but in Genesis chapter 39, there's a very interesting story about Joseph. And earlier this year, in the spring, Mr. Andy MacLean gave a message, a very good message about Joseph. And remember, Joseph, when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce Joseph, and what did he do? He ran from the scene. He literally fled the scene rather than sin with Potiphar's wife. David should have fled the scene on that rooftop. He should have looked away and left. And I know it's so easy to say that, and I wasn't there, but that's what he should have done. He should have asked for help, and we're going to talk some more about that in just a moment. David should have looked away, and he should have left, but he didn't. And he was making provision for the sin by continuing to look.
Matthew chapter 6, 4:13. We won't turn there, brethren. In the Lord's Prayer, as Jesus Christ is teaching us to pray to our Father, He says, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." God will help you when you are tempted. Immediately ask for help when the temptation begins. And I know this can be hard, but that's what David should have done when he saw that. He should have asked God, "Help me to resist and to walk away, to not make provision for the sin," and allow the temptation to proceed, to not resist my conscience.
Here in James chapter 4, in verse 2, hopefully you're still there. He says, he's writing, James says, referring to these people that of wars and fights, he says, "You lust and do not have. You murder and covet, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask." You ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. So what is James referring to when he's saying, "You do not ask"? If you're lusting for something, are you supposed to ask God, "Well, I want this, please give it to me, what I'm lusting for or what I'm coveting"? That's not what he's talking about. He says that would be asking amiss. You need to ask for something else. And what is that something else? It is help from God. It is help from God when you're in this situation to help deliver you from the temptation to act upon these things and to follow the temptation through. God will give you strength, brethren, and He will help you to resist temptation and to follow your conscience, as we are asked in Matthew 6 to pray for, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."
In 1st Corinthians 10, verse 13, let's turn there to 1st Corinthians 10, verse 13, and read the words of Paul again to the Corinthians. 1st Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. This is also a very familiar scripture to us. He says, "No temptation has overtaken you except as is common to man; but God is faithful, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." God will help you. He will make a way of escape for you, but you have to be asking for it and seeking it in the first stage when the enticement is starting, to not resist your conscience and to not allow the temptation to follow through.
You know, Paul struggled as we all do with sin. We won't turn there, but in Philippians 4:13, he says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." And he had to do and endure so much, and God gave him strength to do it. But God gave him strength in multiple ways, including to help him to resist sin, as he talks about in other writings. And God will help all of us, but we must seek it and ask for it to not sin and to protect our conscience. We already saw in Ephesians 3, verse 16, where it says God will strengthen you in the inner man. Again, God will give you the strength that you need to resist temptation. Resisting sin with God's supernatural help is a key to overcoming sin and preventing damage to our conscience.
Let's look at key number four. This won't be a surprise, and it is to draw near to God. Draw near to God in prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fasting. To draw near to God. It is so important to be close to God, especially in light of guarding your conscience. We're here in James. I should have asked you to keep your place in James 4. If you'll turn back there with me again to James 4. It's amazing what he's saying in this chapter of James and how it relates to the conscience. He says, "Draw near," this is James 4, verse 8, "draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." God wants to be close to you, and God meets us halfway, or maybe even more than halfway, brethren. Do we desire it to be close to God? And I'm speaking to myself as well. He says, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Draw near to God, because God can help you, and He wants to help, and He wants to cleanse you, forgive your sins, and cleanse your conscience, as we have seen, which is so important.
We won't turn there, but in 1st Thessalonians 5:17, it may be the shortest passage or verse in the Bible that says, "Pray without ceasing." Prayer is so important, brethren, that we must pray every day. But we don't just need to pray at certain times of the day. There may be a time of the day, say in the morning, that it's easy, it's a good time for you to pray, but we can pray at any time during the day. Sometimes little prayers to God of thankfulness to Him, but also prayers when we're starting to go through something to ask, "God, help me and give me strength. Help me to resist the temptation to do something that I know is wrong because my conscience is telling me that it does." Prayer does not only need to happen at certain times of the day, but it can happen throughout the day. These short little prayers to help keep us close to God, and it will itself draw us closer to God if we pray to Him on a continuing basis throughout the day.
In 2nd Timothy, excuse me, chapter 2, verse 15, we won't turn there as well, but Timothy writes, "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." He's speaking about studying God's Word. Are we doing that on a regular basis? It's easy to get busy and to let down on our study of God's Word, because we speak to God in prayer, and He speaks to us as we read His Word, as the Holy Spirit is interacting with our mind. So we need to continue to do this to draw close to God and stay close to Him.
But I'd like to turn to Psalm 119 and read the writings of the man that committed these two sins that we saw at the beginning, or the sin of murder and adultery against Bathsheba. He was inspired to write something here that is really important for us and very, very profound. This is Psalm 119, verse 11. Psalm 119, verse 11. He writes, "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Your word I have hidden in my heart. Is God's word in your heart? Do you study God's Word, and is it in you? Is it also part of your value system, what God tells us in His Word? Because it tells us how to live, and it tells us about God.
In verse 15, he says, "I will meditate on Your precepts and contemplate Your ways." Do we think about these things? Is meditation part of our life? Do we think about what God is doing? Do we think about what we're reading about, what we're experiencing in our life, and the thankfulness that we experience throughout the day? Do we think about these things and what God is doing? It's a powerful spiritual tool to help us draw closer to God and to maintain our relationship with Him. And David saw this as well. Prayer, Bible study, meditation, and occasional fasting help us to stay close to God, which helps us to not ignore our conscience, to not compromise, to resist temptation with the help of our Father, to whom we are close and connected. And this helps to guard our conscience. This closeness to God helps us to dwell on the spiritual things of God, which leads us right into our last point in guarding our conscience.
And that is key number five: Guard what goes into your mind, brethren. We live in a society where there is so much that can come into our mind that we should not allow in. As our society continues to degenerate, it's going to get worse and worse. What do you allow to be in your mind from entertainment? But it even goes beyond that.
Notice Philippians 4, verse 8. And we'll read verses 8 and 9. I appreciated this in the sermonette. Philippians 4, and it ties into this point of what you allow to go into your mind, and then what you allow to stay in your mind, which is so important. "Finally, brethren, this is Philippians 4, verse 8, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report. If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." We are to dwell, brethren, on the positive, on what is noble and right and what is beautiful. And these are things of God, aren't they? But we can also choose to dwell on the negative, and Satan would just love to have you do that, and he will pull you to that if you let him, to dwell on the negative. That's actually much easier to do, and to be cynical, and to allow a root of bitterness to be in your mind about something, or anything. And Satan will bring that in, try to magnify that in your mind, to get you to be thinking about that, you know, maybe every day, or maybe every other day, something that is not what we're seeing here in verse 8, whatever is true and noble and beautiful. And we can allow it to be in our mind, and we can allow bitterness to develop and grow in our mind. And you know what? It will start to impact our conscience, and it can start to damage our conscience as well, and lead us to sin, because we're sinning in our mind. We have to guard what's in our mind. Ask God to help you to do so.
You know, God says He will cleanse us, and He cleanses us from our sin, and He can cleanse our conscience. He can cleanse your mind from bitterness and from negativity and cynicism. All of us need this. I need it. It's so easy to fall into that of negativity and bitterness, especially in this society, and especially since Satan is coming after us, the firstfruits. We allow it to happen, but God is more powerful, and God will help you to guard what goes into your mind.
Let's look at one more scripture in this message, and it's in 1st Peter chapter 5, verse 8. This is a very serious scripture, and it ties into the serious nature of this message today. I thought about maybe telling a joke in this message, and I decided no, I wanted to keep the gravity of this going. If you will forgive me, maybe next time I'll tell two jokes to make up for it. But anyway, in 1st Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, Peter writes, "Be sober, or be watchful, or be careful, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Satan is seeking to take away your future and my future. Don't let that happen. Guarding what goes into your mind will also help you to guard your conscience and to guard not just what has gone, what's coming into your mind, but what you are allowing to dwell in your mind. Excuse me.
So, in conclusion, the stories of David sparing King Saul and then his sin with Bathsheba, which included murder, are powerful lessons for us. And this being recorded in the Bible certainly will be embarrassing for David when he's resurrected, but it's not because God wants for David to be embarrassed, but because of the power of those stories as a warning to everyone throughout time that will read the Word of God. It's for our teaching and our admonition. But you know what? David repented, and God forgave him of that sin, and God created a new heart within him, and He cleansed David's conscience. And in Acts 13, verse 22, we don't, we won't turn there, but God describes David as "a man after His own heart," and this was after David's death. So we know that David came through. You can too. We can make it. God will help us, and He will cleanse us. Don't allow your conscience to be damaged, because it can eventually take you right out of God's church, and it can take away your future.
I hope you'll heed the lesson of David in the cave with Saul and the story of the sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. I also hope you'll remember these points on guarding your conscience: to not ignore your conscience, and don't compromise with what you know is right, to cut off temptation with God's help, to draw near to God and maintain a close relationship with Him, and God will help you to do so because He wants that relationship, and to guard what goes into your mind and what remains in your mind. I hope you will ask God daily to help you to truly guard your conscience. Enjoy the rest of the Sabbath day.