Welcome back again to the third-part of our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. So far we’ve seen some powerful truths regarding how sin is far deeper than actions that we commit, but it is an identity. Likewise, righteousness is also an identity. We also began to examine how Jesus changed our identity from sin to righteousness, and has cleansed us and given us a good and clean conscience.
Today, we are going to delve deeper into the cleansing of our conscience by Jesus Christ, and what a good conscience truly means.
Considering the Conscience
Most people think of a conscience as that “little voice” inside of us that tells us right from wrong; Listen to your conscience is the common advice for many people. The scriptures paint a different picture of the conscience than the typical worldview, however. Many Christians would also be surprised by what the scriptures say regarding the conscience.
The word “conscience” is used in various forms throughout scripture. The Greek word is suneidēsis, and means “consciousness of morality.” It’s also interesting to note that there is no Hebrew word for conscience mentioned at all in the scriptures.
Christians generally think of the conscience as a good thing; some even go as far as to venerate the conscience— even making it synonymous with the Holy Spirit.
Yet, as we saw last week, a conscience is not perfect; there are good consciences and evil consciences mentioned in the scripture. This fact alone precludes the idea of the conscience being the Holy Spirit. And this is also why the scriptures make a point of distinguishing between a good conscience and and evil conscience. And there’s some confusion among Christians as to what a good conscience and evil conscience are. Understanding these difference can help us to understand the scriptures which refer to Jesus cleansing our conscience.
To get a better idea of what a good conscience is, we need to understand what conviction is first of all. The word “conviction” has a somewhat negative connotation today, but in the scriptures it has a more general meaning and usage of “to be convinced of something,” which gives us our first clue regarding the conscience, and the work of the Holy Spirit from God’s perspective. Let’s read John 16:7-14:
“ 7Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.
8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more;
11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
13However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it to you.”
The Conviction of the Holy Spirit
Jesus says a lot of interesting things in these verses, not the least of which being that it is expedient (or beneficial) that He goes away. There are those today who greatly wish that Jesus would’ve never left, but Jesus stated plainly here that it is for our benefit that He left, so that the Holy Spirit would come. I think that sometimes we often fail to recognize the tremendous gift and value of the Holy Spirit in our lives; to Jesus the Holy Spirit is extremely valuable, as we see here.
Take a look at verses 8, 9, and 10. Verse 8 says something that a lot of people have misunderstood over the years:
when He [the Holy Spirit] comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment:
One key detail of this verse is that Jesus did not stop speaking after saying this! Many people stop at verse 8 and then fall into confusion because they are trying to make complete sense out of an incomplete thought. Jesus isn’t finished speaking, so let’s keep going with verses 9 through 11, and notice how the details are revealed:
- Of sin, because they do not believe on me
- Of righteousness, because I am going to my Father and you will not see me anymore
- Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged
As we read the complete statement of Jesus without taking any of it out of context, we can clearly see that He is talking about three distinct roles of the Holy Spirit, for three distinct people groups. So the question then becomes, which group are you in?
The first group is the one which the Spirit will convince of sin; Jesus calls this group “they that do not believe on Him”. Do you believe on Jesus? Are you trusting in His finished work and His promises for you? If so, then you are not in this group.
The Holy Spirit will show unbelievers their sin for the express purpose of leading them to their Savior. Once you believe on Him, then you are no longer in this category.
Now, the third group is the group that the Holy Spirit will convince of judgment— a very specific bit of information about judgment… that the prince of this world is judged. It’s not judgment regarding your sins, or your failings, it’s judgment regarding Satan and his doomed reign. The fact that the devil is defeated and has been spoiled by Jesus! It’s the victory chant of every true believer in Christ, and the warning cry to everyone who still hasn’t seen the proverbial writing on the wall.
Are you a child of the world? Are you trusting in the world? If not, then you are not in this category either.
This leaves only one remaining group in verse 10. The second group, which I saved for last on purpose, is the one that the Holy Spirit reminds of righteousness. This is the group that every believer is in, right now. Every person who believes on Jesus, has His righteousness accounted to them for all time, and the Holy Spirit convinces us of this fact.
Jesus also tells us why the Spirit does this: Because I am going to my Father, and you will not see me any more. We will no longer see His gentle smile, or His approving nod; but His Spirit will always be with us, to comfort us and remind us that we are accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), completely sanctified and holy (Hebrews 10:10), and entirely complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).
Convinced of Righteousness
The fact that the Holy Spirit convicts us of the righteousness of Christ is huge, and deserves significant meditation. As I’ve shared in the past, there was a period of my years that I was not convinced of righteousness, but the exact opposite! I was convinced of my sin, and the result was terrible!
I was recording my sin, I was focused exclusively on my performance and behavior. I hated myself and my life.
There are many people today in similar situation and in a pit of guilt and despair, trying to make sense of it all, conquer their own sin, and rid themselves of their old nature. All the while having their conscience scream at them to “do better,” stop doing this or that. As we continue examining other portions of scripture though, we see a different truth emerge.
Check out 1st Timothy 1:18-19:
“ 18This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on you, that you by them might war a good warfare;
19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck”
These scriptures often don’t get enough attention, but the truth involved here is so powerful. So let’s take some time to study these verses.
The charge, the directive that Paul instructs Timothy in order for him to “wage a good warfare”is to hold faith, and a good conscience. Take note that this is a good conscience, not a seared conscience.
Contrary to what is generally thought, a seared conscience is not a callous and unfeeling conscience that doesn’t feel sorry for sin— quite the opposite! A seared conscience is what I and many others had in the past, where sin-consciousnesses was burned-in deeply, and heavily marked with guilt and shame.
The Greek worked for “seared” means to be burned with a branding-iron. The imagery speaks of a permanent mark remaining on the burned victim. Such a picture is all too real for anyone who has ever lived in that manner.
Unlike a seared conscience, the verse here speaks of a good conscience; this is a clean and light conscience, one rooted in the faith— the truth of Jesus Christ, what He has done for you, and who you are in Him. This is a clear conscience because in Christ Jesus today, you are holy, blameless, and completely righteous. There is nothing for your conscious to be upset about because Jesus has completely cleansed you! That is not high-minded pride, that is Biblical reality! Can I prove that in scripture? Absolutely!
Turn to Hebrews 10:1-2:
“ 1For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.”
The Law could not accomplish this, it could never make anyone perfect. No amount of trying hard, no amount of works could ever truly clean anyone. If it could have, then they would’ve stopped offering the sacrifices because if the worshippers were truly purged of sin, they would have no more conscience of it! Let this fact truly sink in. The worshippers once purged [cleansed] would have no more consciousness of sin!
The one thing that I constantly had, was a persistent consciousness of sin. A permanent mark and stain of guilt, with no way out. Every time I would fail, I would promise to “do better next time,” “read my bible more,” fast, or pray more, sacrifice more. And then I would feel better for a very short time until my next sin, and the guilt and shame would come crushing down like a tidal wave twice as strong as before.
Cleansed by Jesus Christ
Though I felt that there was no way out of the pit of a seared conscience, there was one way out… Jesus Christ, though I didn’t see that at first. You see, the deceptive thing about sin-consciousness is that it can cause a person to think that they are pleasing God by trying to perform better. It’s a very deceptive frame-of-mind, that can trap a person in a deadly cycle.
The true way out, the literal salvation from this trap comes from accepting what Jesus has accomplished, personally for you. Check out Hebrews 10:12:
“ 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God”
Jesus offered one single sacrifice… Himself. His sacrifice accomplished for all time, what the entirety of the Old Covenant Laws, rituals, and sacrifices could not do.
Verse 14 goes into more detail:
“ 14For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”
He has perfected us! We are sanctified in Him! We are not trying to become perfected or sanctified, He has made us perfected and sanctified!
And what is the result? Look at verse 22:
“ 22Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
We can have full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
This is your reality, right now today in Christ. Your sins are not just covered for a short time, they are completely purged and gone! Jesus did it! It is finished! Now release it to Him and Rejoice! Not a false smile of hypocrisy, but in honesty and truth! The truth of Jesus has made you free today!
Join Me Again Next Week…
So now that we understand how our conscience has been cleansed in Christ, we can move on to the final area of sin, the total change of identity. We will be exploring identity next week, and I look forward to sharing that with you.
Today, I encourage you to meditate on your cleansed conscience, and rejoice in what Jesus has accomplished for you.
Be blessed.
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