Sermon

The Christian And Understanding One's Conscience

Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church

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  1. We're going to turn this morning God's word to John chapter 8.

    John 8 chapter mention

  2. John chapter 8. We're going to read verses one

    John 8 chapter mention

  3. through to 11. Let's hear God's word.

  4. John chapter 8, verse one. Jesus went unto the Mount of

    John 8 chapter mention

  5. Olives, and early in the morning he came again into the temple.

  6. And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught

  7. them. And the scribes and Pharisees

  8. brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.

  9. And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him,

  10. Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.

  11. Now Moses and the Law commanded us that such should be stoned.

  12. But what sayest thy This they said, tempting him, that they

  13. might have to accuse him. But Jesus stepped down, and with

  14. his finger wrote in the ground, as though we heard them not.

  15. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and

  16. said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him

  17. first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and

  18. wrote in the grind. And they which heard it, being

  19. convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,

  20. beginning at the Elvis even unto the last.

  21. Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

  22. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he

  23. said unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers?

  24. Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord, And

  25. Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.

  26. Go, and sin no more, Amen. We know the Lord will stamp with

  27. his own approval and blessing, this reading of His own precious

  28. and infallible word. Now my text this morning is

  29. taken from John chapter 8 and verse 9.

    John 8 chapter mention

  30. And it reads. And they which heard it, being

  31. convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one,

  32. beginning at the eldest even unto the last.

  33. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

  34. I've entitled this message the Christian, and understanding

  35. one's conscience. Now it is my intention to preach

  36. 2 more subjects from the Christian, And one has to do

  37. with the worship of God, and the other with baptism.

  38. And at that then we leave off that particular study.

  39. But during the past week there was one word that came into my

  40. mind that pressed itself upon me, and it was the word

  41. conscience. And you'll notice that word

  42. conscience in the text. The contextual setting here is a

  43. very solemn 1. Early one morning the Lord Jesus

  44. came into the temple. Many people came unto him, and

  45. he sat down to teach them, And suddenly the sermon or the

  46. lecture was interrupted by a group of religious men, scribes

  47. and Pharisees, who brought before Christ a poor woman, they

  48. alleged, taken in the act of adultery.

  49. Now think of this woman standing in the midst of her accusers

  50. before Christ to trap the Saviour.

  51. They remind him what Moses had commanded in the law, that such

  52. an one should be stoned to death, that they asked him, But

  53. what sayest thy verse 5. Now if Christ had said no to

  54. stoning her, they would have accused him of overlooking sin,

  55. setting aside the law. And if he had said, well that's

  56. a great idea, go ahead. They would have accused him of

  57. usurping the power of the Roman authorities.

  58. You see this was a catch 22 situation for Christ.

  59. It was as if the Saviour was between a rock and a hard place.

  60. Look at John chapter 8 verse 6. But this they said, tempting

    John 8:6

  61. him, that they might have to accuse him.

  62. Now what did the Lord Jesus do? Look again at verse 6.

  63. It tells us here that He scooped down, and with His finger root

  64. in the ground, as if He had not heard them.

  65. And in their rage and malice they pressed them for an answer.

  66. So Christ then straightened up Himself, and said a very heart

  67. searching thing to them, He that is without sin among you, let

  68. him first cast a stone at her. John 8 and 7B.

  69. Then for a second time he wrote in the ground.

  70. Now what did He write? We don't know.

  71. The scripture said it is possible that he wrote out the

  72. 7th commandment. Thy shall not commit adultery.

  73. Now look with me at verse 9. And they which heard it, being

  74. convicted by their own conscience, went out of the

  75. temple. 1 by 1 you can see them going, beginning at the eldest,

  76. even until the last. The Bible tells us that Jesus

  77. was left alone with the woman, the woman standing in the midst.

  78. Now what triggered their departure from the temple?

  79. Remember these were religious men, self important men.

  80. Why did they leave the Saviour's presence?

  81. Why did not one of them first cast a stone at the woman?

  82. And the text give the answer verse 9.

  83. And they which heard it being convicted by their own

  84. conscience. Now the word conscience is the

  85. word that I want to deal with today.

  86. I've called the message the Christian and understanding

  87. one's conscience. Did you know there's 30

  88. references to the word conscience?

  89. They're all in the New Testament.

  90. The first reference is John chapter 8 verse 9.

    John 8:9

  91. Here's the law of first mention. And the last reference is first

    1 Peter 3:21

  92. Peter chapter 3 verse 21. And the like figure were unto

  93. even baptism doth also Now you save us not the putting away of

  94. the filth of the flesh, but the answer for good conscience by

  95. the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  96. And in between there are 28 other references to the word

  97. conscience. Now the word conscience in the

  98. English and in the Greek simply means this, a shared knowledge.

  99. And as I thought of the word conscience, I wrote down in a

  100. piece of paper 4 things during the week.

  101. Here's the first one, the acknowledgement of 1's

  102. conscience. Notice the word being convicted

  103. by their own conscience. You see, every one of us made in

  104. the image of God, created by him, is made with a faculty

  105. called conscience, that the conscience has been called the

  106. monitor of God in the soul of manner, or God's internal

  107. monitor, or God's arbiter. Each one of us today has a moral

  108. conscience, and when the Bible speaks of conscience, it speaks

  109. of being with a knowledge or having a shared knowledge, and

  110. that is Speaking of a faculty that is a big part of who we

  111. really are. It is God's given guide to teach

  112. and to tell us what is right and wrong, what is good and bad.

  113. If I give you a dictionary definition, it's a part of you

  114. that judges how moral your actions are, either good or bad.

  115. But according to the Bible, conscience is that inward

  116. monitor that alerts us when we attempt or aim to do something

  117. that's contrary to God's law. You see, our conscience lays

  118. bare our guilt because of sin and law.

  119. Breaking our conscience awakens us to the need and reality of

  120. accountability. Our conscience brings to the

  121. fore that thought that we have a moral obligation to the moral

  122. governor of the universe or to the lawgiver.

  123. In other words, it's a part of human DNA.

  124. Conscience was gifted and bestowed upon us at creation,

  125. and it acts like God's policeman or God's judge.

  126. Think with me of a heart monitor in the hospital ward.

  127. You're geared up to the heart monitor.

  128. And what's the heart monitor doing?

  129. Well, it's measuring the heart. It's seeing if it's beating too

  130. slow or beating too fast, or whether it's got an irregular

  131. heartbeat or, or possibly there's even a blockage there or

  132. some sort of damage to the heart.

  133. And it it provides the information about the state and

  134. condition of the heart to the doctors and the nurses who are

  135. looking after you. Well, you see, the conscience is

  136. like the heart monitor of the soul.

  137. It's the monitor of God in the human soul.

  138. It monitors what's taking place in your life and in your heart

  139. and in your mind and in your soul.

  140. And let me state this morning, your conscience will either

  141. accuse you because it disapproves of many things,

  142. things that are violations of God's law.

  143. You'll be left with the feeling of guilt, knowledgement of sin

  144. or your conscience can acquit you and you can delight in

  145. really having a good and clear conscience before God.

  146. Remember what Peter says again in first Peter chapter 3 verse

    1 Peter 3:16

  147. 16. It says having a good conscience

  148. that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they may be

  149. a shame that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

  150. Now your conscience of course, is that part of you that's

  151. unseen, but it is there in reality the acknowledgement of

  152. 1's conscience. Now you've heard the saying and

  153. this was talked about in society, let conscience be your

  154. guide. Now that's not bad advice.

  155. We we'd even go as far as saying that's good advice.

  156. Let conscience be your guide, to guide you what is bad and good,

  157. to guide you what is true and false.

  158. But it's only partly right. You see, I agree that none of us

  159. should violate one's conscience. It's a real guide.

  160. It's a reliable guide. But living by your conscience is

  161. not enough. Why?

  162. Because it's not a an absolute guide, it's not an infallible

  163. guide. Our conscience, my conscience,

  164. your conscience must be shaped, nurtured, guided and checked by

  165. the Word of God. Because only the Holy Scriptures

  166. reveals the true and holy standards of what is right and

  167. wrong, good and bad. And I fear this morning the

  168. United Kingdom and this province of Ulster is culturally adrift

  169. when it comes to the absolute code of what is right and wrong.

  170. The majority today refused to live by the Holy Scriptures,

  171. even though we're told in Matthew chapter 4, verse four,

    Matthew 4 chapter mention

  172. man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word but

  173. proceedeth from the word of God. And sadly, we're in a day when

  174. people call good bad and bad good.

  175. We live in a day whenever we reward the rule breaker, the

  176. thief, the rapist, the murderer. We reject the rule maker,

  177. ultimately God, as the governor of the universe, and we ridicule

  178. and laugh to scorn the rule keeper.

  179. Let me give an illustration. I want you to think of a crash.

  180. I want you to think of a Nate Lane Highway in Miami.

  181. I want you to think of a a Brinks Bank armoured truck

  182. that's carrying loads of paper dollars and loads of coins 10s

  183. of thousands of pounds worth. The crashes left the driver and

  184. the Brinks officer on board lying dying at the side of the

  185. road. They're bleeding and they're

  186. bruised. It's rush hour traffic, and all

  187. of a sudden this traffic stops. People get out of their cars.

  188. Not to go over to where the two men are dying, bleeding and

  189. bruised, but they're thinking about the bills and the coins

  190. that are flying in the air and thousands stopped to scoop up

  191. the cash. Here was the attitude.

  192. Rationalisation took hold. My children are poor.

  193. They're they're not going to starve.

  194. Other people said well, well, the Lord let it happen.

  195. It's a treat from heaven. There's lots of poverty in this

  196. area. It's a miracle.

  197. But it wasn't a treat. It was a test, a test of

  198. character. And a firefighter who collected

  199. something like $330,000 that day in a bag said this, that the

  200. rich, the poor, the middle class, everyone has a

  201. conscience. There was only a few that day

  202. that came to return the money to the police station.

  203. A fame McFadden, a woman who worked in a department store for

  204. $5.00 an hour, she would did return some money.

  205. A little boy returned $0.90 that he had collected, but there were

  206. so very few returned that money. You see, each of us has a

  207. conscience. Each of us have felt that

  208. conscience working. Especially this is true when we

  209. do say and things that are contrary to the law of God.

  210. Remember God's law is written in our heart.

  211. It was not the teaching of the apostle Paul in Romans chapter

    Romans 2 chapter mention

  212. 2. He says this in verse 14.

  213. For when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the

  214. things contained in the law, these having not the law or a

  215. law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in

  216. their hearts, listen to this, their conscience also bearing

  217. witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else

  218. excusing one another. That's true of us all, rich,

  219. poor, young or old, irrespective of culture, plea country that

  220. you're from colour of her skin. See, the law of God is written

  221. in our hearts and our conscience knows full well the high and

  222. holy standard that God's holy law demands.

  223. We know in our conscience what is right and wrong, but so often

  224. we're like the people in the midst of that Christ.

  225. We rationalise this is a treat from heaven.

  226. No, it wasn't. It was a test, a test of their

  227. character, a test would they bow the need a holy Scripture that

  228. said thou shall not steal a, a, a, a test to to go to the dying

  229. man and, and to see to them before they would think about

  230. the dollar bill floating in the air or the coins sprinkling on

  231. the ground. That's the acknowledgement of

  232. 1's conscience. I want you to think secondly, to

  233. go back to our text, the awakening of their conscience.

  234. You see, according to this text, we have some men, scribes and

  235. Pharisees. They're called, it says, and

  236. they which heard it, being convicted by their own

  237. conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even

  238. unto the last. You see, John Bunyan called

  239. conscience, Mr Recorder. In other words, conscience

  240. stores a record of our sins against God, and every time we

  241. have broken God's law and thought, word and deed, every

  242. time we have dishonoured and profaned His holy name, every

  243. time we have violated His divine justice and holiness, conscience

  244. has a record of that. Conscience has a record of every

  245. one of your sins, and mine and thought, word and deed, and not

  246. one has been forgotten. Things done years ago, things

  247. done and said in secret, things done and said in the darkness,

  248. things done and said in the open, things that we no longer

  249. are ashamed of or blush over. All will awaken, all will rise

  250. up, and all will bear witness to accuse us or acquit us on that

  251. last day. Things that long forgotten.

  252. Let me illustrate again. Think of our computers that we

  253. use now. Oftentimes when we use the

  254. computer, we can erase or delete some part of our history and we

  255. think it's gone. I I do that regularly, probably

  256. about once a week. But I'm well aware that even

  257. when I click the little button and it says that they, they, the

  258. history has been cleared, that some tech guy that they like a

  259. mark down there, he could take the computer and he using his

  260. technological skills would be able to inform me that that

  261. history and that memory is still there.

  262. You see, if you have the skill and know how to retain and

  263. recover data, you can bring it to the fore.

  264. The police are able to do that. And these men, these men were

  265. convicted by their conscience. What have they heard the Lord

  266. Jesus say? He that is without sin among

  267. you, let him first cast a stone at her.

  268. Why did they depart? Why did none of them stand their

  269. ground, having accused her of being taken in the act of

  270. adultery? Why did they not stone her?

  271. Here's the answer. They were convicted of a great

  272. sin. And it's possible that even some

  273. of these men who were there were guilty of adultery themselves.

  274. And it's possible, and that's the view of the commentators, JC

  275. Ryle, John Gill, and a whole host of others, that what the

  276. Lord Jesus did when he wrote in the ground was right out in

  277. Hebrew, the 7th commandment. And these were religious men,

  278. respectable men, but they were guilty of a great sin.

  279. And one of those sins may have been the sin of adultery.

  280. And in their heart and mind, there was a, a feeling of guilt

  281. and shame come to the fore. It'd been, it'd been awakened in

  282. the end for, for a long time, their conscience was silenced.

  283. And you know, for a long time, conscience can be largely

  284. silenced. Conscience can be suppressed.

  285. Let me suggest this morning Genesis chapter 42.

    Genesis 42 chapter mention

  286. Here's Joseph's brothers arrive in Egypt, and God uses a series

  287. of events to awaken the silent, sleepy, suppressed conscience of

  288. Joseph's brothers. For 22 years they had papered

  289. over a guilty conscience, their brother Joseph, out of sight,

  290. out of mind. They they told themselves, they

  291. assured others he was dead. They promoted the lie.

  292. They'd said it often enough, it just ruled off their lips.

  293. But for all that time they had papered over a guilty

  294. conscience, life was comfortable.

  295. And then God started the work. What happened?

  296. Well, there was a bit of raw treatment.

  297. The presence of a severe famine in the land of Canaan, Jacob

  298. said to his sons go to Egypt. And the very mention of the name

  299. Egypt awoke their conscience because they remembered they

  300. sold their brother to the Midianites who were heading to

  301. Egypt. And their face was a look of

  302. fear and dread. And you can see that there from

  303. Genesis chapter 42 and in the verse one, not only was there

    Genesis 42 chapter mention

  304. raw treatment, but I believe, as I said on Wednesday night, there

  305. was reciprocal treatment. When they arrived in Egypt to

  306. see their brother Joseph. He knew them.

  307. They didn't know him. What's the first thing he did?

  308. He accused him of being spies. He spoke roughly to them.

  309. Why did he accuse him of being spies?

  310. Because he remembered the last time when he saw his brothers

  311. face to face when he come to them bringing food to see how

  312. they were doing in the land of Dauphin.

  313. Remember, they said, here's the dreamer cometh.

  314. He's come to spy on us. He's come to tell Daddy about

  315. all our bad things that we're doing and all the evil words

  316. that we have been speaking. He accused him of being spies.

  317. You see, this is reciprocal treatment.

  318. And not only that, they put Joseph into a pit, remember?

  319. And what did Joseph do? He put all ten of them in prison

  320. for three days, and then when all 10 got out of the prison,

  321. Joseph said this nine of you can go home, but one of you will

  322. stay. And the next time you see my

  323. face, you bring your wee brother Benjamin to prove that you're

  324. not spies and to prove you're not lying.

  325. Can you get the picture for 22 years of silence, 22 years of

  326. covering up their sin? You see, when that prison door

  327. opened, this is what they said. Listen to these words, and they

  328. said one to another. They remember 22 years of

  329. silence, suppressing their conscience.

  330. We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the

  331. anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not

  332. hear. Therefore is this distress come

  333. upon us. And Reuben answered them,

  334. saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the

  335. child, and ye would not hear. Therefore behold also his blood

  336. is required. And the Bible tells us.

  337. And they they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he

  338. speak unto them by an interpreter.

  339. They spoke in the Hebrew tongue. Joseph understood what they were

  340. saying. God gave them time, time to

  341. think, and for three days they obtained to think about their

  342. sin. And at the end of the three days

  343. they confessed that they were guilty, that they obtained to

  344. learn that sinners consequences, time to remember God and their

  345. accountability. To them 22 years had passed no

  346. conscience. They had a a desire to kill

  347. Joseph that they had no conscience in proposing to sell

  348. them to the Midianites. They had no conscience in

  349. keeping up the lie for 22 years, largely silent and stifled.

  350. Let me say this. I know there's a difference in a

  351. largely silent conference conscience and a totally seared

  352. conscience. A totally seared conscience, as

  353. the Bible talks about as one that's dead.

  354. It has no feeling. It is never troubled, it is

  355. never uneasy. So I want to ask this have you

  356. stifled and silenced your conscience for years?

  357. But you feel ashamed of some sin and guilt?

  358. Maybe it's a lust, something on the Internet, maybe you have

  359. denied God's existence or denied some cardinal doctrine, or

  360. you've been disobedient to God's word in some particular area.

  361. And you see many live like that, an open sin and defiance of God.

  362. And that couldn't go on for twenty, 30-40 years.

  363. And, and they won't talk about it.

  364. And it's as if they've been drugged and, and, and, and and

  365. duped as far as their conscience is concerned, Largely silent,

  366. largely suppressed, but not completely.

  367. And then all of a sudden, this largely silenced and stifled

  368. conscience, this comes to the fore, and there's an awakening

  369. of the conscience. Is your conscience awakened this

  370. morning like Joseph's brothers? Are you convinced and convicted

  371. of your own sin? Are you aware that your

  372. conscience has come to life? See, many don't want to face up

  373. to it. Belshazzar, didn't he?

  374. There was no cry for mercy whenever the hand wrote on the

  375. plister of the wall there, there was no thought.

  376. Pray for me. No, no, He went on with the

  377. party. Remember Pilot.

  378. Pilot. He called for a basin of water,

  379. tried to silence his conscience. Some have a seared conscience.

  380. It's difference. Silencing your conscience,

  381. stifling your conscience. I want you to say thirdly and

  382. quickly here, the accusation of 1's conscience.

  383. We could ask the question here, what was the chief cause of

  384. these men's conscience to stir and awaken at this time?

  385. What caused it to come to life? What caused it to begin to

  386. accuse them? Where they felt guilty in their

  387. heart when they felt a sense of shame, but when they sense a

  388. felt of fear, and not one of them could throw a stone at the

  389. woman, what caused their conscience to awaken?

  390. Let me suggest to you very quickly here, it was the

  391. presence of Christ, it says, and Jesus was left alone.

  392. You want to think of Christ in the midst They were face to face

  393. with Christ. He hears the one who searches

  394. the heart. Jeremiah said the heart is

  395. deceitful and above all things desperately wicked.

  396. Who can know it? Who can look into the human

  397. heart like the Lord Jesus? Who can read the thoughts in

  398. your mind? Who can look you in the eye?

  399. You see the Lord Jesus is present now.

  400. He's meeting with us here. He's looking at you.

  401. The Lord Jesus will be present when you die and stand at the

  402. judgement. The Lord Jesus will be present

  403. whenever you meet him face to face in the judgement.

  404. And he can say, I know all about you because he knows now.

  405. And if you feel that sense of shame and sense of wrongdoing

  406. that fills your heart and mind and you're, you're saddened now

  407. and your conscience is awake, then you need to repent and

  408. believe in Christ. You, you need to turn to him.

  409. Think not only of the presence of Christ, but think of the

  410. preaching of Christ. What did he say?

  411. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone

  412. at her. God has spoken.

  413. It was the word of God, the Bible says, and they which heard

  414. it, you see, there was the preaching of Christ here.

  415. The Word of God was used to quicken their conscience.

  416. And remember what we read in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews

    Hebrews 4 chapter mention

  417. chapter 4 and verse 12, Speaking of the Word of God.

  418. For the Word of God is quick. That means it's alive and

  419. powerful and sharper than 92 edged sword, piercing even into

  420. dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and

  421. marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the

  422. heart. Remember Peter preached in the

  423. day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 2 verse 37, Peter full of the Holy

    Acts 2:37

  424. Ghost, preaching Christ, his death on the cross, preaching

  425. his resurrection. And he said this to those that

  426. were listening, him whom ye crucified.

  427. And the word of God came with great power and, and they felt

  428. deep conviction and they cried out, what must we do?

  429. And he urged them to repent because they were pricked in

  430. their heart, and to put their faith and trust in Christ as

  431. Lord and Redeemer. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 37,

    Acts 2 chapter mention

  432. it says, Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their

  433. heart and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men

  434. and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them,

  435. repent, be baptised everyone of you, in the name of the Lord

  436. Jesus. For the remission of sins, you

  437. shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

  438. But think also of this this morning, the power of Christ.

  439. Here you see, I believe the power of the Holy Spirit was at

  440. work. This was a Spirit anointed

  441. sermon over there in John's gospel, in John chapter 16, and

    John 16 chapter mention

  442. we read in verse 8. And when he has come, that's the

  443. Holy Spirit. He will reprove the world of sin

  444. and of righteousness and of judgement.

  445. Reprove the word of three things, sin, righteousness, and

  446. judgement of sin because they believe not in me, Of

  447. righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more.

  448. Of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged.

  449. Their conscience accused them about their sin, this great sin

  450. that they'd committed, because the power of the Spirit was at

  451. work, as well as the presence of Christ and the preaching of

  452. Christ. But it was the power of Christ

  453. in the Spirit in the Shakespeare play, Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare

  454. plays called Macbeth. Whenever there was the murder of

  455. King Duncan, she couldn't sleep and she rose in the night to

  456. wash her hands, and she would dip her hands in a basin of

  457. water for 15 minutes and sometimes for 30 minutes.

  458. And she kept looking at her hands and she could see the

  459. stain of the blood that was there.

  460. Her doctor tried to help her. Her lady in waiting tried to

  461. help her, but her mind was impacted with a terrible sense

  462. of guilt. She was guilty and it was

  463. terrifying to watch. In 1859, many boys and girls at

  464. school, many men in working in fields, some in carried off here

  465. in the cobbled courtyard outside the Orthodox Presbyterian

  466. Church, people in their homes and their factories.

  467. The fear of God came upon them and the first thing they became

  468. aware of was their sin. And even the children at Irish

  469. Society School behind the wall were crying.

  470. Oh, my sin, my sin. What had happened?

  471. There was an accusation of 1's conscience.

  472. Something of the presence of Christ, the preaching and the

  473. power of Christ and the Spirit caused them to feel a need, an

  474. impulse, a desire. I must get right with God.

  475. I need the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, one final thing.

  476. This morning you've been very patient.

  477. Think of the acquittal of 1's conscience.

  478. See, let me ask this question and it's this.

  479. If these men have asked where can a guilty conscience find

  480. peace, we would have to say to them peace through the preaching

  481. of the cross. Remember what we read there in

  482. the book of Corinthians, in First Corinthians chapter 1 and

    1 Corinthians 1 chapter mention

  483. in the verse 21. The apostle Paul says this.

  484. For after that and the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, you

  485. not go to please God by the felices of preaching to see of

  486. them that believe. William Gladstone, a great

  487. statesman of a former era and Prime Minister of the United

  488. Kingdom, said this. This thing I have against the

  489. clergy in the city and the clergy in the country is this,

  490. that they're not severe enough in their congregation, they're

  491. not sufficiently laying upon their souls and conscience of

  492. their hearts, their moral obligation and the probing of

  493. their heart that brings up their whole life, their whole actions

  494. to the bar of conscience. Now that's what Gladstone said.

  495. He had somewhat against the clergy in the country and in the

  496. city that they weren't preaching and applying the word and a

  497. scrutinising effect to bring about real repentance in the

  498. putting away of sin. And that statement come about

  499. actually because of a man called Lord Melbourne.

  500. I don't know if he was a minister of Parliament or not,

  501. but he went out of church one Sunday morning, region near,

  502. took the door from him and he was protesting himself,

  503. supported that church all along. I'll never be going back into

  504. that church. I'll never set foot through it,

  505. not even from a funeral. What?

  506. What on earth happened? The man applied religion to my

  507. life. Well, it's not the job of the

  508. preacher. When we preach the cross, we're

  509. calling for repentance and recognition of sin.

  510. We're calling to kneel at the feet of Christ and receive Him

  511. as Lord and Saviour. I want you to think not only of

  512. the preaching of the cross, but the pardon of the cross.

  513. And with us we finish. Let me give you this text of

  514. Scripture and this illustration over there in the book of

  515. Colossians. In Colossians chapter 1 and in

    Colossians 1 chapter mention

  516. the verse 20, we read this tremendous statement.

  517. Think of these words. And having made peace through

  518. the blood of his cross, by him, to reconcile all things unto

  519. himself, by him, I say, whether there be things in earth or

  520. things in heaven. I want you to think of a young

  521. student. She's a young girl, 1960s in

  522. America. Her name's Anne Parr.

  523. Her student protest was probably about the Vietnam War at that

  524. time. Her involvement deepened in the

  525. student protest and sadly it went into an act of terrorism.

  526. I think it was in Brighton and Massachusetts.

  527. There was a bank robbery. A police officer was shot dead.

  528. Most of the gang was caught and charged with first degree

  529. murder. But there was one lady in the

  530. gang who was never caught. Her name was Anne Parr.

  531. With the help of others, she changed her name, changed her

  532. identity, lived in different parts of the United States of

  533. America. And after, I think it was the

  534. best part of 23 years, the FBI gave up and they closed the

  535. case. They were never going to define

  536. this woman called Anne Park. Nobody knew anything about her

  537. or where she had gone to. They just assumed that she had

  538. left the United States of America altogether when that

  539. woman was middle-aged, 23 years after the event.

  540. She's older now, middle years, maybe wiser.

  541. Listen to me as I finish, because I want you to think of

  542. the power of the cross here. I want you to think of the

  543. pardon of the cross. Her conscience stirred.

  544. She couldn't live with herself. She was depressed.

  545. She was on medication. She was deeply troubled.

  546. She couldn't sleep. She went to classes.

  547. She went to counsellors. Nobody could help her.

  548. And she said, I'm going crazy here because all she could

  549. remember was the bank robbery that had gone wrong and the

  550. murder of a policeman. And she felt and believed she

  551. had blood in her hands. And you know what she did?

  552. She walked into the police station.

  553. She confessed all to the astonished Sergeant.

  554. At the police station. She told them, I'll accept

  555. imprisonment, I'll accept the death penalty if I can find

  556. relief for my conscience. On September 1993 and the 15th

  557. of September, she was convicted of an armed robbery and for

  558. involvement in the killing of a police officer.

  559. The trial was shocking, but this is what she said at her trial.

  560. The death, the murder of the policeman was so shocking that I

  561. cannot any longer excuse my conscience and I'm willing now

  562. to accept my responsibility. She was a guilty striven woman

  563. and did she find relief? Did she find help and peace?

  564. She did and there was only one place through the preaching of

  565. the cross. She found peace at the cross

  566. through the power of the blood, and the Bible tells us this as I

  567. finish. The blood of Jesus Christ His

  568. Son cleanseth us from all sin and no matter what your sin is,

  569. no matter what you've done, even it's the deepest crime, the

  570. vilest offender who truly believes that woman from Jesus a

  571. pardon receives if you come with your guilt, own up to your

  572. responsibility and say Lord have sinned.

  573. I've broken your law. I've done this, I've done that

  574. and kneel at the cross. Don't hide your sin.

  575. Don't cover it up because your conscience will come to the

  576. fore. Discover this morning the

  577. acquittal of your conscience is connected to Christ and His

  578. cross and his blood shedding by the knee to Christ.

  579. Amen. The Lord bless you this morning.

  580. Thank you for.