Maintaining A Good Conscience - (1 Timothy 1:18-20) Jeff Smith

What does it truly mean to wage the good warfare of faith? Journey with us as we unpack 1st Timothy, chapter 1, verses 18 to 20, where Paul charges Timothy with an urgent mission: to fight the spiritual battle with unwavering faith and a clear conscience. Drawing parallels to the tragic HMY Iolaire shipwreck, we underscore the grave consequences of neglecting our spiritual defenses against formidable enemies like Satan, worldly temptations, and indwelling sin.

In our exploration, we delve into the profound relationship between faith and a good conscience, essential pillars for any Christian. A good conscience is not merely peaceful but must be well-informed and aligned with Scripture. We discuss the vital role of continuous study of God's word in shaping a conscience that resists societal norms and personal feelings, staying true to divine teachings. By referencing key biblical passages, we reveal how a pure conscience aids in resisting Satan's accusations and maintaining one's spiritual integrity.

Lastly, we confront the peril of a seared conscience and the importance of church discipline as a loving corrective measure. Using examples like Hymenaeus and Alexander, we illustrate how a compromised conscience can lead to spiritual shipwreck. We also reflect on renewed repentance and maintaining a clear conscience through Christ’s atoning work. Our discussion concludes with a heartfelt prayer for divine guidance, urging believers to embrace their solemn duty in the fight of faith, maintaining purity and steadfastness in their spiritual journey.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Let's take our Bibles now and turn to 1st Timothy, chapter 1. We want to look at the first chapter one more time, god willing. 1st Timothy, chapter 1, picking up at verse 18, again reading down to verse 20. Picking up at verse 18, again reading down to verse 20. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected. Concerning the faith, let's pray, our Father. We are thankful now that we can come to the Holy Scriptures and we acknowledge our great need of your word, that your word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path, that your word is that which we live upon day by day. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the word of God that lives forever. And we pray that your Holy Spirit would come and give us understanding in the scriptures and that the truths of your word would be wedded to our hearts, deeply embedded in our hearts, and that they would shape our lives so that we would bring glory and honor to you and that we might be more like the Lord Jesus. We pray for those among us who are lost, that you would have mercy upon them and awaken them to their dreadful condition and draw them to your son. And we ask these things in the Lord Jesus' name. We also want to remember our Father, as we've thought about Zambia and other countries in Africa, that our dear brother, dr Gonzalez, will be traveling there this week and be gone for a few weeks, for a while teaching and preaching in various places. We pray you would give him safe travel and we pray that you would bless his ministry there as he teaches these men and preaches your word in various contexts. We pray that this would also be a means of the continuing fellowship and interaction and partnership that we have with the brothers there. We pray you'd bring him home safely. And now, father, help us as we consider your word. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

Speaker 1: 2:52

It was the early hours of New Year's Day, 1919. The naval yacht HMY Iolaire was carrying 283 men, mostly sailors, returning from World War I, to be reunited with their families on the Isle of Lewis, which is just off the coast of Scotland. And Lewis had suffered greatly during the war, with almost 1,000 of her men dying during the conflict. But this was to be a day of rejoicing and a day of reunion Soldiers who had survived the horror of the war returning to be reunited with their families, who were eagerly awaiting their arrival. But as the ship approached the shore near the harbor of Stornoway, a stiff gale was blowing from the south and the sea was pitching. It was a dark night and the ship seems to have mistakenly changed course at the wrong point. With the lights of the harbor in sight. The ship struck rocks at full speed and immediately began to tilt, filling up with water. The sailors were wearing their uniforms, including heavy boots, making it difficult to swim, and the ship went down just 50 yards from the shore, 50 yards from home. Of the 283 men on board, no more than 82 survived. The death toll was 201 men. It was a great tragedy and the terrible grief of that experience left a deep scar, really, in the collective memory of the inhabitants of that island. Some say, even to this day, so close to home, returning from the war, so close to the warm embrace of mother, father, sisters, brothers, but they suffered shipwreck.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Well, as we return to our study of first Timothy, paul is concerned that Timothy and the church at Ephesus be kept from making shipwreck of their lives concerning the faith. As we return this morning to this text, verses 18 to 20 of chapter 1, the apostle describes for us the Christian life as a warfare, a great conflict, and Timothy must successfully wage this good warfare in order not to suffer shipwreck. And Paul gives him, and gives us, encouragement and instruction regarding how to do this. And we've already been looking at this passage. It's been several weeks ago, but we've already been looking at this passage. It's been several weeks ago, but we've already been looking at this passage in the last three messages, so let me give a brief review.

Speaker 1: 5:31

In the first message, the focus was simply on this way in which Paul describes the Christian life, his description of the life of faith, devotion and service to Jesus Christ, as a warfare. It could be translated by the word fight, wage the good warfare or fight the good fight. And I drew out from this description several very basic and yet important truths that we need to be clear on as God's people. For example, this reminds us that the Christian life is indeed a warfare. We have enemies, real enemies, who are seeking to destroy our souls, enemies that are seeking to hinder us and to destroy our testimony for Christ and even to lead us, if possible, to apostasy. And we saw that these enemies include Satan and his demonic hosts, the allurements and temptations, and also the hostility of an evil world. And there is also the presence of indwelling sin in our own hearts. And we saw that not only is the Christian life a warfare, it's a warfare that you and I have to wage.

Speaker 1: 6:40

Wage the good warfare, he says to Timothy. Yes, we wage this warfare, depending upon God, upon the promised help of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us in union with Christ. But still, it is a warfare that we must wage. We're not to be passive in this. We must actively, earnestly and sometimes painfully engage in this conflict or we will be defeated. But then the Apostle Paul gives Timothy encouragement to motivate him in this conflict or we will be defeated.

Speaker 1: 7:06

But then the apostle Paul gives Timothy encouragement to motivate him in this warfare. And what does Paul underscore to help Timothy to fight this good fight? Well, the first thing Paul says in effect Timothy, you must remember that it's your solemn duty to wage this good warfare. It's a charge, it's a commission that has been entrusted to you, for which you are accountable to God and to the church. As Paul begins, this charge I entrust or I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. But then Paul begins to tell Timothy that you must wage this warfare in a proper manner and by proper means.

Speaker 1: 7:47

What Paul then describes in the next words, verse 19, having faith and a good conscience. And this points us to how this fight is to be carried out. In order to wage this warfare successfully, timothy, you must have faith and a good conscience, or better, you must maintain faith and a good conscience. The word here is a present active participle. The idea is continuing to have, keeping, maintaining faith and a good conscience. So we have this personal activity of maintaining these two internal conditions of soul faith and a good conscience. Both of these are absolutely essential to waging a good warfare and to avoid suffering shipwreck in your Christian walk.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Now, last time our focus was on the first of these, this matter of faith, having or maintaining faith, and I sought to demonstrate, from the context and elsewhere, that what Paul has in mind here is the personal act or the disposition of believing, in other words, maintaining personal faith, maintaining faith in the gospel message. If we would wage this good warfare successfully. We must keep believing and trusting entirely in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and acceptance of God and salvation, waging this warfare from a position of confident trust in the mercy and the salvation that is freely given to us in Christ. And we looked at a number of things related to that I even mentioned. I think that we may come back to it, but I've decided that we're going to move on this morning, that we'll say a few things as we work through our passage today about it, but this morning I want to move on in our time remaining to focus on the second necessary means of waging this Christian warfare, this good warfare against the enemies of our souls what Paul refers to as a good conscience, having faith and a good conscience.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Now, these two, faith and a good conscience they're very, very intimately related to each other, as we're going to see. Indeed, as I was thinking about this, really, what we have here is a more or less comprehensive summary of what it means to live a Christian life, the whole of what it means to live a Christian life. In a nutshell, we have faith, continuing to trust in Christ for acceptance with God and repentance, maintaining a good conscience in our walk with God. In essence, paul is telling us that we must continue believing the gospel and repenting of sin. As I think it was Matthew Henry who said, faith and repentance are not only at the beginning of the Christian life, at our conversion. Faith and repentance are the two legs upon which the Christian walks all the way to glory, maintaining faith and a good conscience.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Well, as we begin to focus now on this matter of having a good conscience, let's consider first of all, what does it mean to have a good conscience? What does it mean? This is very important. It's something Paul makes reference to often. In fact, he refers to the importance of having a healthy conscience three other times in the pastoral epistles alone. In verse 5, we've already seen this. In verse 5 of this same chapter, he tells Timothy that the purpose of the instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. Later, in chapter 3, verse 9, he says that deacons must hold the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. In 2 Timothy 1.3, speaking of his own ministry, paul says I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience. And in many other places the New Testament speaks of the importance and the value of a pure conscience. And in many other places the New Testament speaks of the importance and the value of a good conscience.

Speaker 1: 11:50

Paul in Acts 23, 1,. As he stood before the Sanhedrin, he could look them straight in the eye and say I have lived before God in all good conscience. And then, standing before the Roman governor Felix, he could declare in Acts 24, 16, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. In 2 Corinthians 1, 2, he writes for our boasting, is this the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity? The author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 13, 18, pray for us, for we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things desiring to live honorably. The apostle Peter exhorts Christians in 1 Peter, 3, 15 to 16, to be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. And here in our text, paul is underscoring that maintaining a good conscience is vitally important when it comes to waging a good warfare.

Speaker 1: 13:16

So what does it mean to have a good conscience? Now, perhaps, before answering that question, we should be clear on what is meant by the conscience. Now, sometimes there can be confusion about this. I think there's a tendency to think that the conscience is that which teaches us the difference between right and wrong, but that's not the case. God's word and God's law teaches us the difference between right and wrong, and God's law teaches us the difference between right and wrong. But the conscience is that faculty of soul that, based on our understanding of right and wrong, either condemns us for having done wrong or commends us for having done right. And this tells us that, first of all, a good conscience is a well-informed conscience.

Speaker 1: 14:02

A well-informed conscience, and some seem to think that their conscience is the final authority, so that if they feel that something is right, it must be right. They're governed by their feelings. Like the common saying if it feels good, do it. And this is what some people mean when they speak of following your conscience. But no, conscience is not given to us to be the final and authoritative arbiter of what is right and wrong.

Speaker 1: 14:30

Now, before the fall, before sin entered into and defiled the human heart, the conscience could be fully trusted as an accurate judge. And even after the fall, there still remains in men, even in the worst of men, in some measure, this innate sense of right and wrong by which their consciences convict them or commend them, as Paul tells us in Romans, chapter 2, though that sense is often blurred and even, at times, perverted, and so perverted that they call evil good and good evil. However, ultimately, it's not the conscience that determines right from wrong. God's word tells us what is right and what is wrong. Also, it's not human opinions, it's not man-made rules and regulations, it's not the expectations that other people have of us that determine right and wrong. Again, it is God's word that determines what is right and what is wrong.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Therefore, a good conscience that determines what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, a good conscience, among other things, is a conscience that is well-informed by the Scriptures. It's a conscience that convicts you when you do what God's Word says is sin and it commends you when you do what God's Word says is right and good. Therefore, if I would have a good conscience, if I would cultivate an increasingly healthy conscience, I need to be a student of Scripture. I need to know God's law. I need to know what God requires right. I need to know God's word. I need to sit under the regular ministry of the word and seek to know what God requires and what God forbids. A healthy conscience is a well-informed conscience God forbids. A healthy conscience is a well-informed conscience.

Speaker 1: 16:11

Secondly, a good conscience is not necessarily the same as a quiet conscience. So what do I mean? Well, a quiet conscience, a conscience that never troubles you at all, is not always a good thing. It can be a bad thing. There are many in the world who go on in their sinful ways with very little trouble of conscience. They have a false peace. But we must remember that there is a difference between a good conscience and what the Bible refers to as a seared conscience.

Speaker 1: 16:40

Over in 1 Timothy 4.2, paul speaks of those who have their own conscience seared with a hot iron. And notice the picture Paul draws here. He draws the picture of something that is so burnt, some part of your body that has been so scorched, that it doesn't feel anything anymore. Think about when you take a sip of coffee and the coffee is like McDonald's coffee, for example, and the coffee is way too hot. You know why they do that Because the coffee is so bad. They don't want you to realize how bad it is. Anyway, you take a sip of coffee and the coffee is way too hot and your tongue is seared for a while after that, so you can't taste the french fries or the cheeseburger, right?

Speaker 1: 17:20

Well, the scripture speaks of people having a seared conscience. Their conscience is quiet, it's at peace, yes, but it's quiet because they have no feeling, no sense of guilt when they sin, no remorse. They're morally and spiritually asleep. Everything's okay. They're asleep in a false peace. But a seared conscience is not the same thing as a good conscience. A person with a good conscience has been awakened to the evil of sin and of their own sinfulness. They have a conscience that is sensitive to sin. They have a quiet conscience, yes, but more than that, it is a quieted conscience. In other words, it's a conscience that has felt the guilt of sin, that knows what it's like to be aware of sin in myself and to be pained because of my sin, but being grieved by it and having confessed my sin and looking to Christ by faith for mercy and cleansing. The conscience has been quieted and pacified by the blood of Christ. It not only has peace. A good conscience knows peace after trouble.

Speaker 1: 18:30

But let me cut to the chase. To have a good conscience doesn't mean you are sinless. It doesn't mean that you are not painfully aware of remaining sin in your life and indwelling sin in your heart, or that there's no longer any conflict with sin. No, but to have a good conscience means that you're not clinging to some darling sin that you're unwilling to repent of. That there is no controversy with God. But you're seeking to walk in the light, as the light of God's truth shines in your life. You seek to walk in that light, confessing and repenting of sin as you're made aware of it, and seeking to walk with integrity before God. Let me put it this way To maintain a good conscience means that we must keep short sin accounts with God and with man, thinking first with reference to God.

Speaker 1: 19:20

It is always to be our sincere purpose and endeavor as Christians to never sin at all. But we do sin, and when we do sin you must never leave sin lying on your conscience. You must judge it before God and confess it, and your conscience freshly washed by renewed faith in the cleansing blood of Christ. Unconfessed sin left lying on your conscience, sin that is cling to and cherished gives opportunity to the devil. We're told in Ephesians 4, let not the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. And the implication of that is is that when sin is left undealt with, we give place to the devil, we give up ground, we give him room, we give him opportunity to do us greater damage.

Speaker 1: 20:09

Our enemy is an encroaching enemy. He looks for the opportunity to get a foothold within our souls from which he can launch his attack with greater force and subtlety. Therefore, if the line of defense is broken, we must be quick to repair the breach. One of Satan's primary objectives is to make a breach in our communion with our Father. He wants to separate us from the enjoyment of unfettered communion with Christ and with God by the awareness of sin upon our consciences. And if a breach is made and we fail to quickly repair that breach, the devil gains a foothold. So we must keep short sin accounts.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Whenever you're aware of committing sin, you run to Christ. You look to Christ in repentance, confessing your sin, and then you must know and believe, on the testimony of God's word, that the blood of Christ has cleansed you from all iniquity. You see, this is where maintaining faith and a good conscience are intimately connected. Maintaining a good conscience is not just feeling bad when I've sinned and it's not just confessing my sin that results in a good conscience. Martin Luther he used to drive his confessor crazy confessing sin. He'd try to think of every possible sin he could think of to confess, but he still didn't have a good conscience. And there I remember, before I was converted, when God began to deal with me and awaken me and I wanted to have a good conscience, I started writing down all my sins, and that wasn't a bad thing to do. But I'd write down every sin I could think of over my whole life and I was confessing them and confessing them and I still didn't get any peace from that. Why is that? Because I wasn't believing the gospel. So it's not just confessing sin.

Speaker 1: 22:06

You can turn confession of sin into another work that you do to try to commend yourself to God. No, it's confessing it with faith in the gospel and in God's promise of forgiveness because of Christ. As John writes in 1 John 2, 1,. If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation, the wrath, appeasing sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And I must believe that 1 John 1.7,. If we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all iniquity.

Speaker 1: 22:53

But someone says, is it not true, that if we're Christians our sins are already forgiven? We've been justified once and for all by faith in Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Romans 5, 1,. Having been passed, justified by faith, we have peace with God. And that means that from the moment we first believe in Christ, god accounts us as righteous. We're justified. He forgives all our sins, past, present and future. Well, that's true, my friend. That's wonderfully, gloriously true in terms of our legal standing and the legal condemnation of our sins. We are freed forever from hell and wrath and reconciled to God from the moment we are first converted.

Speaker 1: 23:39

But that doesn't mean that our sins as Christians are not still sins. Now the context of those sins is different. Now we're no longer in the covenant of works. Now we're in the covenant of grace right. We belong to Christ. Before we were in the courtroom, as it were, condemned to hell by the law, our relationship to God was like that of a condemned criminal before the judge. But now we're in the living room context. You see, god is our Father, but those sins committed in the living room are still sins against our Father's love and they still provoke His fatherly displeasure.

Speaker 1: 24:23

And when we are aware of sinning against our Father and against Christ, our Savior, what are we to do? Well, we must not allow the consciousness of guilt to drive us away from God, cause us to draw back from our Heavenly Father. That's precisely what the devil wants you to do. But no, the consciousness of sin and guilt must drive us to God in confession and repentance, looking by faith to the sufficiency of Christ's blood to cleanse us. And this is the way, you see, to overcome the devil in your battle with remaining sin and to resist his attempts to gain advantage over you.

Speaker 1: 25:04

Revelation 12, 11 says that the saints overcame the devil. How? By the blood of the lamb. It's by renewed repentance and faith in the substitutionary, sin-bearing death of the Son of God that our consciences are kept clear and free. It's by the blood of Christ that we are able to silence all of the accusations of the wicked one. It's by the blood of Christ, through faith and the sufficiency of that death, that he died for our sins, that we are enabled, in the very consciousness of our sin, yet to draw nigh to the throne of grace, in the language of Hebrews 10, 19 and following.

Speaker 1: 25:46

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus Christ, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Satan may try to block your way by his accusations, together with the accusations of your own convicted conscience. But pleading the atoning sacrifice that was made by the Lord Jesus, looking afresh by faith to Christ and his death for us and his advocacy on our behalf In the presence of the Father, we drive Satan out of the way, we resist him and we drive him back from that ground that he has taken. But if we refuse to repent and you're determined to cling to that sin, if, rather than walking in the light, we live in the shadows, nurturing and cherishing that darling sin, our conscience remains defiled, you see, and we place ourselves in a position of terrible danger, as we're going to see in a moment.

Speaker 1: 26:53

Now let me go on to add here, brothers and sisters, that maintaining a good conscience, a clear conscience before God, also involves keeping our consciences good and clear with our fellow men. Because if our sin against God has involved sin against another person, sin that person is aware of or has consciously harmed them in some way. I'm not talking about something bad thoughts you've had about a person that's between you and God. You need to deal with that between you and God. But you've sinned against that person in some way that they're aware of or has brought harm to them in some way, and you're aware of that. Well, I'm still sinning against God if I'm unwilling to make things right with my fellow man if it's possible, make things right with my fellow man if it's possible.

Speaker 1: 27:40

You remember the Apostle Paul said it this way in Acts 24, 16. He said I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and man. And to have a conscience without offense toward man means there is no person that I am aware of that I have wronged or sinned against in a way that they are aware of or has harmed them in some way that I have not sought biblically, where possible, where possible, to make it right with them. It means if God convicts me that I've been insensitive to my wife, I'm prepared to go and to say honey, will you please forgive me? Of course Kelly knows I'm never that way. I never am insensitive. In my life. I've had to do that many times. I'm not proud of that, I'm ashamed of that, but I have. If I've been harsh or insensitive to the kids, it means that I gather them around and I confess it and I ask their forgiveness. If you've been disrespectful to your parents, it means that you don't just let that go. No, you go to them and you ask their forgiveness.

Speaker 1: 28:49

If there's a breach in your relationship with one of your brothers or sisters here in the church, you sinned against them in some way that they are aware of. You've harmed them in some way, you go to them and you humble yourself and you ask their forgiveness. And sometimes there can be differences of opinion as to whether I sinned against you or you sinned against me. Well, you come together and you try to reconcile and you try to work it out right and you extend forgiveness to one another and you ask forgiveness from one another to walk with a good conscience before man. So this is what it means to maintain a good conscience, a good conscience toward God and also toward man. This is what we must do. This is the way we must live as God's people.

Speaker 1: 29:36

My dear brother or sister, have you given place to the devil by playing games with your conscience? Well, I want to warn you again that, having gained that advantage, the devil will press it and he will not be satisfied. He'll keep pressing it until he's destroyed your soul, the souls of others. So I plead with you repair the breach, destroyed your soul, the souls of others. So I plead with you repair the breach. A defiled conscience, if allowed to continue, will eventually become a dulled conscience, begins to lose its sensitivity. An adult conscience, if continued, will eventually become a seared conscience, and a seared conscience will eventually become an evil conscience. And a seared conscience will eventually become an evil conscience and the end will be disaster, or what Paul describes here in our text as suffering shipwreck concerning the faith. So, having answered the question, what does it mean to have a good conscience? Let's consider now, secondly, what Paul tells us concerning the dangerous consequence of rejecting a good conscience. Verse 19.

Speaker 1: 30:44

Paul says having faith and a good conscience, which Now the pronoun translated, which in the Greek text is in the singular, probably referring back. This tells us. It refers back to a good conscience, not to faith. So what he's saying is having faith in a good conscience. Which thing specifically? A good conscience?

Speaker 1: 31:11

Some, having rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck. Concerning the faith refers to that which is to be believed. Now, to be fair, sometimes the article can be used like a pronoun and you could possibly translate it their faith. But normally, when you have the article, it's speaking about what is to be believed, the Christian faith, sound gospel doctrine. But really, if you translate it either way, it's still saying the same thing because, having rejected a good conscience, what's happened to them? Well, they no longer believe. They no longer believe it. They no longer believe the faith. They've swerved in some way from it, they've taken a wrong turn, they've gone off course. They've taken a wrong turn, they've gone off course. They've crashed against the rocks, like that ship off the Isle of Lewis that was mentioned in the introduction. They've made shipwreck of their lives.

Speaker 1: 32:10

And then he mentions, for example, in verse 20, two men referring back to some of the introductory stuff, when we were beginning this epistle. These men were probably former elders in the church there, hymenaeus and Alexander. He refers to these two men. And when did these men suffer shipwreck concerning the faith. Well, it all started when they rejected, when they thrust aside a good conscience.

Speaker 1: 32:40

Now this word translated rejected. It's a strong word. It means to push something away from oneself, to push aside. It speaks of a deliberate repudiation or rejection of something. So the issue here is not a temporary lapse. It speaks of a deliberate, conscious, determined choice. There was something they wanted, some sinful lust or sinful relationship or practice that they kept clinging to, something they refused to let go of, and they kept suppressing the voice of conscience, stifling its admonitions, and the result was that their views of divine truth began to become dim and wavering and they started compromising and accommodating the truth to their lusts Until, as someone has put it, like an anchorless vessel, they drifted off into serious error and made shipwreck concerning the faith. Sadly, it happens all the time I've been a pastor for I don't know, 33, 34 years Seen it happen. Happens all the time. As Calvin wrote, a bad conscience is the mother of all heresies. Now, that's a pretty strong statement, isn't it? And that may not always be the case, but it often is.

Speaker 1: 34:14

I've mentioned this before. You'll remember me mentioning this before, but when a young man or a young woman says to me, pastor. I don't think I believe what the Bible says about such and such anymore. I know what the Bible says and the church teaches and what I've been taught for many years, but I just don't agree with that anymore. I've come up with a different interpretation or understanding. You know what I'm tempted to say to that single young person. I'm tempted to say is that right? Well, tell me who is she, or who is he, or where's the point, my friend, where you've decided to cast off a good conscience in order to get something that you want?

Speaker 1: 34:59

Pastor, I don't believe anymore that the fourth commandment applies to Christians. I've changed my mind on that. I don't believe the Lord's day is the new covenant, day of worship and rest from our ordinary duties and activities. And you hope. Well, is this a real studied position that you've come to? You've really carefully considered the scriptures. So is this really so?

Speaker 1: 35:23

And then you find out that one of their kids has been doing exceptionally well in gymnastics class or on the ball team, and now this wonderful opportunity has come for them to move up in the sport and to advance to higher levels. But to take advantage of that opportunity, many of the tournaments or games are held on Sunday. So suddenly they don't believe in the Lord's Day, sabbath, anymore. What happens? They begin to miss church services, they begin to drift away from the church and from the Lord. This is what so often happens from the Lord. This is what so often happens when some sin or lust or worldly desire or idol has control of your heart. There's this pressure to find some way to justify your sin. And in the process of trying to accommodate the Bible to your sinful desires or to that darling idol that you cherish, you end up embracing false teaching, making shipwreck concerning the faith.

Speaker 1: 36:29

And I find it interesting when I read, or read about many of the leading modern thinkers of our day, or the generation before us, that have produced a lot of the ways of thinking today, the sources of so much of the wicked ideology that's permeated Western society, I find it interesting that the private lives of many of these thinkers were marked by gross immorality. For example, I think there can be little question that the philosophies of men like Karl Marx and Bertrand Russell and John Paul Satter and others like them were in part an attempt to justify their own sinful behaviors. My dear friends, beware of this. It may be some secret, unmortified lust for money or desire for recognition in academic circles, or the pursuit of some ambition, or it may be some vile, immoral habit or secret practice. And God's truth is compromised or twisted. Why? Because it stands in the way of what you want. Having rejected a good conscience concerning the faith, they suffered shipwreck. But now this raises a question. We have reference to two men, hymenaeus and Alexander. Here's the question Were these two men ever truly Christians?

Speaker 1: 37:54

To begin with, does this passage teach us that a true believer can make shipwreck of his life and become an apostate, someone who no longer is a believer, that a true believer can lose their salvation? Is that what this passage is telling us? No, but we need to remember this that the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints has two sides to it, and this is this will help you to to understand passages when you read them sometimes seem to be contradictory, and they're not really contradictory. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints has two sides to it. On the one hand, perseverance in the faith is a certainty for all who are truly in Christ. God has promised to preserve his people in the faith all the way to the end. If we're in Christ, we can be assured of that. We can rejoice in that, but at the same time, perseverance in the faith is also a necessity. It's both a necessity and for the true believer it is a certainty.

Speaker 1: 38:59

This will help you understand Pilgrim's Progress, by the way. What's it all about? What's it talking? What's it about? The believer must persevere to the end, all the way to the celestial city, and true believers, ultimately, will persevere. God has promised to complete that work he has begun in them until the day of Christ's coming Philippians 1.6.

Speaker 1: 39:22

So then, what are we to conclude when someone who once professed faith in Christ has turned away, has left the church, left the faith, like Hymenaeus and Alexander, they've embraced heresy or they've given themselves up to some kind of scandalous, sinful pattern of behavior? Are we to conclude that they were never a Christian to begin with? Well, often that may be the case, but ultimately we don't know. Time will tell. As long as there is breath, there's still hope that they may repent, they may get back into the way of devotion to Christ, thus proving that they really are true believers. Indeed, this was Paul's posture toward Hymenaeus and Alexander. You'll notice, paul doesn't write them off completely, not yet. But what does he do.

Speaker 1: 40:18

Well, this leads us to the third and final consideration from our text. We consider the meaning of a good conscience, the danger of rejecting a good conscience, and how this is illustrated by the example of these two men who had done this and had suffered shipwreck and now notice. Thirdly, we have the corrective discipline Paul applied in the effort to rescue and recover these men he says, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Now, what does this mean? They were handed over to Satan. Well, there's one other place where we see this same language used. It's 1 Corinthians 5, verse 5. And it's used there to refer to church discipline, particularly the discipline of excommunication. Now, excommunication is a public act of the church in which a member living in unrepentant sin is put out of the membership and is barred from the Lord's Supper, barred from communion excommunication.

Speaker 1: 41:20

You see, now I may come back to this subject and open it up in more detail, but for most evangelical churches, sadly, in America today, church discipline is completely ignored. Sadly, in America today, church discipline is completely ignored. You think the doctrine of church discipline was hidden in some obscure little corner of the Bible, somewhere in apocalyptic language that no one can be expected to decipher, something that's easy to miss in the New Testament. But many churches operate, but this is pervasive in the New Testament. Many churches operate, but this is pervasive in the New Testament. Sadly, many churches today operate as though Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5, romans 16, 17 to 18, 2 Thessalonians 3, titus 3, 10 to 11 are not in the Bible. But these and other passages in the New Testament teach the important place of church discipline. And other passages in the New Testament teach the important place of church discipline.

Speaker 1: 42:16

By church discipline is meant such things as when it's a private situation, a private admonition, sometimes a public reproof and even excommunication, when a member persists in the kind of sin for which church discipline is called for by the New Testament promoting heretical doctrine, persisting to engage in disorderly, immoral or scandalous conduct. Probably many or most of you are familiar with Matthew 18, 15 to 20. And there Jesus is speaking there of a serious private offense that's not being resolved privately. It must be addressed publicly After attempts to correct the person privately. If that proves unsuccessful, jesus says you are to take two or three witnesses, you're to go and show this brother his fault in an attempt to bring him to repentance. But if, after private reproof has failed, failed and after going to him with witnesses has failed, jesus says you're to tell it to the church, normally in the person of the church's elders, and this is to be made known to the church body. And the church is to speak. Let him hear the church. Jesus, the church is to speak. And where there is no repentance, jesus says if he will not repent, you're to let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, that person is no longer to be viewed as having a credible profession of faith and is to be put out of the membership of the church, barred from the Lord's table.

Speaker 1: 43:45

That's when a serious private offense has escalated through this process to the point of having to be dealt with publicly by the church. But then there are some occasions when the offense is already public, it's already known and it's in a scandalous nature. And that's what we see in 1 Corinthians 5. Let's turn over there briefly 1 Corinthians 5. 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. Paul says it is actually reported. So this is known, this is reported among them, that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles. I mean, this is even scandalous to unbelievers. He says that a man has his father's wife. This man's living with his father's wife, he's having a sexual relationship with his father's wife, and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. In other words, they were kind of puffed up. They were sort of congratulating themselves on how open-minded they were and how kind they were. Paul says no, you should have dealt with this.

Speaker 1: 45:02

Verse 3, 4, I, indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I were present with him. Who has judge as though I were already, as though I were present with him? Who has, as though I were present him? I've already judged him. Who has so done this deed? And then notice the language Paul uses as he instructs the church what they are to do in this situation. Verse 4 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together this is ultimately an act of the church along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, the authority of Christ behind you, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Notice this is the same language Paul uses back in our text in 1 Timothy, and he goes on to describe how they're no longer to treat this man as a brother Excommunication described here as delivering such a one to Satan Same language Paul uses in 1 Timothy.

Speaker 1: 46:08

Now that's a scary thing, that's serious business. To be placed under church discipline is not something to be made light of, and I've seen people make light of it. I've had people say, oh well, the church wants to discipline me, that's okay, just go ahead, it's fine. I wouldn't think that way if I was you, my friend. It's to be placed out from under God's care and protection and to be subjected to the buffetings of Satan. God uses Satan as his hound dog. He has him on a leash, but sometimes God even uses Satan to drive his people back to where they ought to be right. You remember what it was like for Job when he was taken out from under God's protection. He was handed over to Satan. Remember what that was like for him, my friend? Now someone might say well, that's mean, that's cruel for any church to do that, to discipline a member who has left the faith or is living in unrepentant sin. But it's not cruel, it's loving.

Speaker 1: 47:14

The goal of such an action is remedial. The goal is to wake that person up, to bring them to repentance, to save their soul. Paul's attitude here was not one of malice, nor is ours to be. His attitude was one of grace. Notice again here, verse 5. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. That here's the goal in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. This is the goal, you see their salvation.

Speaker 1: 47:47

As we turn back to 1 Timothy, this is the same thing we see in our text. There Paul says of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I delivered to Satan? Why? That they may learn. The word translated learn. It's a positive word, that means to instruct, to train, to correct. That's the goal that they may learn not to blaspheme. Now, later in 2 Timothy, when Hymenaeus is mentioned again, paul seems to be a bit more pessimistic about him. But at this point he's still hoping that by means of church discipline, both Hymenaeus and Alexander might survive this spiritual shipwreck and, by repentance, make it safely back into the port. That's the goal restoration.

Speaker 1: 48:32

And there are other goals when it comes to church discipline, mentioned in the New Testament. When properly used, it's a means of maintaining the honor of God in the church, protecting the reputation of the church, maintaining the purity of the church, even avoiding a chastisement of Christ on the church for treating sin lightly. Read the seven letters to the seven churches at the beginning of the book of the Revelation. Now, of course, when it comes to church discipline, there's always the danger that spiritual authority may be abused. But this is not about mean, nitpicky, hypercritical men kicking people out of the church for trivial reasons. It's about elders and a church of people who love Christ and love the souls of men enough to address gross offenses in the church, even when it's painful and uncomfortable to do so.

Speaker 1: 49:29

So this is what Paul had done and presumably had led Timothy and the church in Ephesus to do with respect to these two men, hymenaeus and Alexander. And how did they respond to this action of the apostle and of the church? Were they ever brought to repentance? Were they ever brought back to the faith? Well, we don't know for sure. In 2 Timothy 2.17, when Hymenaeus is mentioned again, at that point he was still going astray. And also in 2 Timothy, paul mentions a man named Alexander whom Paul said had done him much harm. Now, whether it's the same Alexander, we can't be sure. So we don't know how things turned out for these two men in the end. If they were truly converted men, we can know that eventually they were brought to repentance. If not, if not, the church was better off by being protected from their evil example and influence.

Speaker 1: 50:27

Well, as I close, philip Riken in his commentary makes the comment here that it's sobering. It must have been sobering for Timothy to realize that pastoral work sometimes includes putting sinners outside God's protection so that they might be saved. I remember reading Robert Murray McShane and talking about when he entered into the Christian ministry. This man was a man who had a great burden for souls, great gospel preacher, and he said that church discipline was such a difficult and distasteful thing it almost put him out of the ministry, but he realized it's necessary. But he realized it's necessary. It's a means that God uses to recover the soul who is strayed away. And, as Ryken says, it's pastoral work, and this is good for all of you young men to know. Sometimes it involves some very difficult things.

Speaker 1: 51:29

Ministry is not easy, same thing for all of us in the church. But then, warfare never is easy. Right, and that's what Paul is talking about here Waging the good warfare. And Christians must never forget that they are soldiers. Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, being faithful to Christ in this present world is not always easy. It's not a picnic, it's a battle. It's a conflict against the powers of darkness, against the alluring temptations of an evil world and against the remainders of indwelling sin in our own hearts and against the enemies of the church. And sometimes we find ourselves in difficult situations and there's the need to do difficult and hard things. But we must always remember that the Lord is with us to help us and to sustain us in the conflict, as we seek, by his grace, to be faithful to him. And may God grant that every one of us, at the end of our lives, will be able to say what Paul could say at the end of his life 2 Timothy 4, 6 to 8.

Speaker 1: 52:34

The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who love his appearing. Amen. Let's pray together. Our father, we thank you today for your word. Your word is truth. We thank you for the instruction that we receive from it. We pray you would help us to embrace it, to govern our lives, our church, by your holy word. Lord, please help us that we would not drift away from you. Lord, we are aware of the power of sin and its alluring nature and how easily we can be led astray. Help us, lord, to maintain faith and a good conscience. We look to you for these things. We ask them in the name of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Amen.