A Pure Conscience

[Speaker 1] The church is a religious community that is more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. Built in the design of the godly kingdom, these are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness with Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 2] At the end of this month, which is about this year, we speak about God's preservation for all of us, our business which has been determined. And another person who has been shown His program, and has been shown His program for this year, our own business, our family life, our business partner, which has been working one way or the other. We want to thank the Lord for everything, for His preservation for us, and I believe that as we gather together this morning, it should be a time of refreshment in the name of Jesus Christ. [background noise] We have as a topic for this month, first Sabbath of the month for our people, a pure conscience. A pure conscience. A conscience that is pure. And we believe that in one way or the other, the Lord will make you learn the lesson for the topic of today in the name of Jesus Christ. Last month we looked at Built to Last, and we saw that anybody that wants to be built to last must be concerned about the will of God, because it is only he who does the will of God that lasts forever and ever. So if you want to be built to last, you want to understand that as for the world, the world passes away and the error, but anybody who does the will of God, that person abides forever and ever. So I encourage you, if you were not with us last month, please you can visit our website, the message is there, Built to Last. But for this month, a pure conscience. Let us have a word of prayer and then we begin to see to the scriptures together on this very topic. Precious Father, we thank you for today. We give you praise, we give you honor, we give you adoration, for you are our God and all that you are. We thank you for your mercies and for your love. We thank you for your goodness and for your grace. We thank you for starting us today in the sixth month of the year. Our Father, we thank you, we bless your name in the name of Jesus Christ. As we gather on this beautiful morning, all our people scattered all over the world, our people as they join us from Canada, our people as they join us from Ethiopia, our people who are joining us from across the world today, Lord we pray, Lord please speak to each and every one of us, let this be a time of refreshment, refreshment in your presence in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you eternal Father, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. A clear conscience. A clear conscience. A pure conscience. A clear conscience. That's our topic this morning. And as we look together at the topic, I am asking the Lord that it will be a time of blessing in Jesus' name. Now, a pure conscience. Let us know where we took the topic from. Where did we take that topic from, a pure conscience? We actually took that topic from the book of Timothy, the book of Timothy, First Timothy Chapter 1, Verse 3. It says, "Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience." Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. And what I quickly noted here is that a pure conscience is essential to holding forth the mystery of our faith. To hold our faith, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. And what we are quickly going to do is for us to look at that verse in different translations of the Bible, and then we look from there to look at what exactly is a pure conscience, and then we begin to look at the implication of the pure conscience to our faith. So, that's how we'll go this morning. Number one, looking at that verse in different translations. First Timothy 3:9. KJV says, "Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience." NLT says, "They must be committed to the mystery of the Christian faith and must live with a clear conscience." So a pure conscience is a clear conscience. A pure conscience is a clear conscience. When your conscience is not clear, then you are not holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Your conscience must always be clear. Whatever you are doing in business and at home must be with a clear conscience. Until there is a clear conscience, there is no pure conscience. A pure conscience is a clear conscience. It says they must be committed to the mystery of the Christian faith and must live with a clear conscience. And then NIV, they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. NIV also uses the word "a clear conscience." The Message. The Message says they must likewise be far beyond the mystery of the faith, not using their position to try to run things. Not using their position to try to run things. And the point here is that anybody who operates with a clear conscience, anybody who operates with a pure conscience, is not somebody who wants to use whatever the person has in any way to gain selfish advantage for himself or herself. Anybody who because of the position or whatever the person has gains selfish advantage for himself or herself is somebody who is not operating with a pure conscience. Is somebody who is abusing office. Is somebody who is abusing power. Is somebody who is abusing the purpose of God for whatever God has given that person. So for you to have a clear conscience is not to take undue advantage of people or of situations because of your position or what God has given you. So that's the point of The Message. Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. Holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. And then Amplified. Amplified says they must possess the deep spiritual truths of the faith, Christian truths as hidden from ungodly men with a clear conscience. So you notice that others' use of the word "pure conscience" is "a clear conscience." Having a conscience that is clear. Now another way to look at the matter is to look at how Paul spoke about the matter of the conscience in the book of Acts, when Paul was giving his own personal testimony. He made reference to the matter of conscience in the book of Acts, and I want us to read that very quickly. In the book of Acts Chapter 24, Verse 16. Acts Chapter 24, Verse 16, Apostle Paul made reference to the issue of conscience, and I think it's good for us to look at that also. Acts 24:16. He said, I read from KJV, "And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and man." We are talking about a pure conscience, a pure conscience. And I am trying to define, we have looked at the various scriptures to look at how the word was used in different translations. What I'm trying to do now is to define what do we mean by a pure conscience or a clear conscience. What do you mean by a pure conscience, what do you mean by a clear conscience? What do you mean by not taking undue advantage because of what you have or the position that a man has? Now look at that. It says, "Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and man." That's KJV. Look at this, NLT. "I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and everyone else." NIV. "So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man." Amplified. "Therefore, I always exercise and discipline myself, mortifying my body, deadening my carnal endeavors in all respects, to have a clear, unshaken, and blameless conscience, void of offense toward both God and man." So to have a clear conscience, to have a pure conscience, is synonymous with having a good conscience and having a conscience that is void of offense towards God and man. The point I'm making is this, that a clear conscience or a pure conscience is actually a conscience that is void of offense towards God and towards man. In your relationship to God, you don't have situations where you intentionally do things against the interest of God. There's nothing you have done, and today the kingdom of God today, you know that was your concern and you did that. When you have that kind of a conscience and when you are having that kind of a good conscience, it means your conscience is not pure. It means your conscience is not good. The Bible says that there's a need to hold forth this mystery of faith, to be able to hold forth the mystery of this gospel, to be able to preach, to be able to conduct, to be able to win men to Him, then you must be people who on a daily basis maintain a pure conscience. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We are trying to define what a clear conscience is, what a pure conscience is, that's what we are trying to do. We have looked at the various definitions, so we are trying to define. Let's go back to that First Timothy Chapter 1, Verse 5 again. Implication, or trying to look at the bottom line now. Implication of a pure conscience. Why is the Bible saying that you must have a clear, a pure conscience in holding for this mystery of faith? If you must hold the mystery of faith, a clear conscience is essential. Why is it actually essential? Okay, let's look at the scriptures now, and then let's go to that First Timothy Chapter 1, that very Timothy we read, let's go to that First Timothy again, and then look at some of these things there today. First Timothy Chapter 1, I read from Verse 3. Apostle Paul said, "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine." Some people were beginning to teach some other doctrine. They were beginning to raise some other issues. So Paul was telling Timothy, "The reason why I left you in Ephesus is to charge anybody that wants to bring in something that is not according to the gospel of the Apostles." He continued, "Nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith." So the second thing is that he wanted him to stop all kinds of stories, all kinds of explanations, meanings that are not exactly the expression of faith. Then Verse 5. Now look at the next verse. "Now the purpose of the commandment is love." The purpose of the commandment, the reason why we take this commandment, the reason for the command, all the law that God gave, the whole of the Old Testament law, all those commandments, the reason for the commandment, what did God want the commandment to generate, to produce? He said, "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart." Love from a pure heart and from a good conscience and from sincere faith. Love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and sincere faith. That's why you notice that the Lord Jesus said something in Matthew 22:37-40. He said, "You shall love others as you want them to do to you, this is the summary of the law and the prophet." Do to others just as you want them to do to you, that is the summary of the law and the prophet. So the Bible says that the purpose of the whole command, the purpose of command is to bring love out of a pure heart, or love out of a pure conscience. Now we see that when the conscience is not clear, when the conscience has offense, when there are things that you have done against people and you are not true to them, the implication is you know that thing you are doing is against their interest, against their interest. You know it, and yet you are doing it, and you are still trying to cover it up, you are still trying to cover it up. It means that it's not possible to be talking about love. Before we can talk about love, the conscience must be clear. Void of offense, void of things that you have done against the interest of people. You know it and you are doing it, and you are still doing it, and your conscience knows it and your conscience witnesses it against you, that the thing you are doing is against the interest of this person, and you know it, and you are still doing it, then you can't be talking about love. Because the essence of the law is to build a love that is from a pure conscience. It means that love, which is this our faith, works by love. In Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but faith working by love. Love, we cannot talk of true love, then faith can never be true. Faith can never be pure. Faith can never be correct if you cannot speak of true love, because you cannot speak of a clear conscience. Faith can never be good. Faith can never be true faith. Faith can never find true expression except it's expressing itself through love, works by love. Through the conscience, with the conscience of a pure conscience. Love, the New Testament life, is faith working through love. The essence of the law, the essence of the word of God, the essence of the scripture, is to bring out a love that is coming from a pure conscience. So we cannot talk of true love when we cannot talk of a pure conscience. What I'm trying to make you understand, young man, young woman, that is listening to me, what I'm trying to make you understand this day, what I'm trying to make you know this day, is that if you don't maintain a clear conscience, you can never express true faith. If as a young person you don't have a conscience that is void of offense towards God and man, your faith can never be, your faith can never be a faith that is true. Faith cannot have true expression except it is expressing itself through love, love for God, because the heart is of a pure conscience. In the heart of a pure conscience. Faith cannot find true expression except it is expressing itself through love. Love for God, through the heart of a pure conscience. The faith, the true faith of the Bible, the one that Jesus brought to us, was working by love. For God so loved the world that He gave. That faith expressed itself through love. Before we can believe God loved us, there was love, and then love brought faith. Faith expressed itself through that love. God believed that we can be saved. So He loved us and He expressed that belief, He gave us Jesus Christ. In the same way. In the same way. That's why you know the Bible says, the law, let us love one another, for love is of God. For whoever loves is born of God and knows God. So you discover that if anybody is operating with faith that is not coming from a love that is from a clear conscience, that person is a liar. That person doesn't know God. That person doesn't know love. Somebody may be born of God, but does not know God. He that loves not, knows not God, something he may be born of God, but he does not know God. What Paul is making here is until you demonstrate that you know God, it must be that your faith is finding expression in a love that is coming from a clear conscience. You can't talk about love without a clear conscience. You can't be talking having things in your heart, in your mind, done against people, you are doing it deliberately, you are doing it behind them, your conscience knows it's not clear, you are doing things and saying you love and saying you are righteous, you know God, you don't know love. You don't know love. You are not born of God. When you see any man who does not practice a pure conscience, when you see any brother or a sister, when you see yourself as a young man, as a young woman, and you are not operating a clear conscience, a pure conscience, and you're calling yourself a Christian, you don't know God. Whatever you think you know is not God. You may know your pastor, you may know your church, you may know your denomination, you may know Bible, a lot of theologians today don't know God. You may know Bible but don't know God. You may be a church worker, you may be whatever. Until you demonstrate that you know God, it must be that your life is finding expression in a law that is coming from a clear conscience. You cannot talk about love without a clear conscience. May the Lord help us as we live for Jesus. May we live for Jesus day after day. May we live for Jesus, let come what may, in the name of Jesus Christ. You see it happens many times, when people say, "I have faith, I can do anything." I remember one time, when there was a discussion, and we were coming on the basis of love, build up the mystery of faith at a particular time, and somebody was saying that sometimes people say things if you don't feel love, and then one day I had to ask the person, because the person was saying that over and over. I asked the person one day, "If in your life, have you ever prepared a moment to write an exam and don't feel like?" And he said, "No, that one is different." So how is it different? If you say that in need of the necessity of the faith, you are not and you are always having to be forced, then the person who sees your brother, sister, not having things, and you say "God bless you" and you send them away, how do you call that faith? Because whatever you have, you refuse to give that man. And at that time, that is what that person understood God's word. If you're not operating with a clear conscience, you are not operating on the basis of conscience, that thing is very, very important. Our faith must be built, our faith must be built, this understanding of this faith is coming from a working by love, from a pure conscience. Dealing with a conscience of a pure conscience. You are saying these things, you know in yourself because you don't want to give. And you are just trying to get justification for the not giving. You're just trying to get justification for it. So don't try to put spiritual language around your selfishness. Put spiritual language and religious language around your selfishness. Don't be like Judas, who in his conscience knows that he was not thinking of the poor. He said, "Oh, this thing, this thing, oh, it's a waste of money, this ointment that was used on the feet of Jesus, they should have sold it and they should have given the money to the poor, that would have been a good mission." But the Bible says we know that he said that because he was a thief. He said that because he was a thief, his conscience was not clear. He was not saying that from a clear conscience. He was saying that for selfish interest. He was saying that to do things. Let us understand that if we're going to make a point, the point we need to understand is we relate with people, we need to relate with them with a pure conscience. When your conscience has offense, then there's the other one. Maybe I should use the word "sincere." There is another one, you are not sincere. You need to open up the matter, to know the truth about the matter. You don't say things the way they are, you still hide something, you know you're not sincere. So you are not operating with a pure conscience. You need to ask yourself, ask each other questions, open questions to know the truth about the matter. You don't say things the way they are, you still hide some things, you keep back some things, your conscience is not clear, you cannot see through it, it's not transparent. May the Lord help us as we live for Jesus. May we live for Jesus day after day. May we live for Jesus, let come what may, in the name of Jesus Christ. I pray for you that you will finish strong in the name of Jesus Christ. You will finish well, you will finish strong. Your end will be peace in the name of Jesus Christ. It is very, very important for you to learn this truth. The principle of operating your Christian life with a pure conscience, with a clear conscience. Endeavor to have a clear conscience in everything you do. Endeavor to do so in everything you do. Endeavor to have a clear conscience, it is very, very important. A clear conscience. Very, very important for you. A clear conscience, a clear conscience. Let's look at how he concludes that place. He said what happened eventually? When he said some people had missed of their faith. He mentioned Hymenaeus and Alexander. They have made a shipwreck of their faith. Don't let them make a shipwreck of your faith. They have made a shipwreck of their faith. They were born of God, but unfortunately they made a mess. There are a lot of people like that. A lot of preachers like that. A lot of rulers like that. They made a mess through good conscience. They began by violating their consciences. They began doing things somehow, a little thing, a little unfaithfulness, a little lie, a little deceit, a little dark corner, a little not being sincere with their brother, a little not being sincere with their wife, a little not being sincere with money, a little not being sincere with their daughter, a little not being sincere with their parent, they started doing it. They didn't have a clear conscience. Eventually, what happened to their faith? They made a mess. May the Lord help us as we live for Jesus. May we live for Jesus day after day. I pray for you that you will finish strong in the name of Jesus Christ. You will finish well, you will finish strong. Your end will be peace in the name of Jesus Christ. It is very, very important for you to learn this thing. You must learn to operate on a clear conscience, a pure conscience. A conscience that is void of offense toward God and toward man. It's very, very important. Very, very essential. Very, very essential. Let us have any question coming online? No questions here? No questions here? So let us bring to a close for today. We want to thank the Lord this morning. Let us pray. Let us pray, let us talk to the Lord. Pray wherever you are listening to me. The topic is very clear and straightforward: a pure conscience. How clear is your conscience? Is your conscience clear or is it dark in some areas, some areas, between you and some people? You need to repent of those areas. Repent of them. Ask for forgiveness of sins. Ask for mercy. Repent and forsake them, you shall be shown mercy. Are there areas you need to talk about? Or there are not just areas, are there committed mistakes you must make? You need to dedicate yourself afresh on this matter that is as important as this. That is your prayer then, commit yourself, dedicate yourself, dedicate yourself, commit yourself to the matter. Commit yourself to it. Commit yourself. [Speaker 2 prays in tongues] Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now and forevermore. Amen. See you next month for the month of July, the Lord will spare our lives today. And as you come, invite your friends. The Lord bless you. Happy new month in Jesus' name. [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development, and mission aid. Our regular activities are discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM, Adolescent and Singles Club, every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Marriage Forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM, Family Life seminars, regular school outreaches, and everyday counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location: Life's Camp by the First Bridge, Ilaro community, opposite Boyejoye filling station, along Ijarere road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.