The Burden Of A Guilty Conscience

Introduction

If you would then, then please open your Bibles to the book of Psalm, the 32nd Psalm, Psalm 32, where our text this morning will be from the first five verses of Psalm 32. Let me say, first of all, a cordial welcome to all who are visiting in our audience. Beautiful day today, the Lord’s day, and the privilege to be able to come out to worship him. And I see that we have some visitors, some perhaps who are traveling, and some who live in this area. We’re delighted that each of you could be with us, and we invite you to come and be with us every opportunity. In Psalm 32, verses 1 through 5, David, believed to be the psalmist writing, said, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity of my sin. I believe this psalm, at least this section we’re reading, exposes the feeling of every person who has a tender heart. That is, every person who has a tender heart, but is struggling to conceal the guilt of sin. Who knows that they have sinned and done wrong?

But they have not repented or openly confessed to the Lord and made it right with him. In the heart, they’re trying to conceal it. In fact, as David said in verses three and four, when I kept silence, my bones waxed old. In verse 4, he said, Day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned to the drought of summer, whose mouth grows dry with a feeling, the burden of a guilty conscience. David is believed to have written this as he described his state of mind when he knew that he had done wrong with Bathsheba and with her husband Uriah. No doubt you know the story recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 11, 12. And maybe while none of us have committed the kind of sins that David committed, yet perhaps on your heart and in your conscience, you may know of some sin that you’ve hidden in hope it’ll just go away.

Frankly, would you be terrified if at this very moment you heard the sound of the last trumpet signaling the second coming of Jesus Christ in judgment? Would it frighten you? Because you’d say, Lord, wait a minute, give me time to do something about this. I’ve been intending to turn in obedience, give me a little bit more time. Or would you be ready at this very moment? If it were publicly announced, the sin that you’re trying to conceal, would it embarrass you? Would your bones wax old, as he said, the heaviness of it all? I heard the story, really not a true one, but of a preacher of a large congregation and announced one Sunday morning that he knew in his audience there was someone who was guilty of adultery.

He had proof of it, and if they didn’t repent that morning, he was going to announce it publicly. Twelve people came forward that morning.

Well, maybe it’s not going to happen that someone’s going to announce your guilt. But the reality is God knows. David knew the guilt that he had committed. He was guilty of a sin. And as he said, my bones waxed old when I considered this, the burden of a guilty conscience. You see, in effect, conscience really is our judge. It is really our guide.

1. One Sin Multiplies on Top of Another

As you read the story in 2 Samuel chapter 11, you may remember how that David on an evening night from his roof looked out and saw a beautiful woman bathing. And while he inquired who she was and was told that she was the wife of another man, yet he sent for her. Having lusted after her, he lust conceived.

But later it multiplied when she came and let him know that she was with child. And what’s he going to do to cover it now? Her husband Uriah was off in the battle. Joab the commanding general in charge. David sent for Uriah to come back. And really, he pretended to say, Well, how’s the war going? Who’s winning? How are my troops doing? Thinking that that night Uriah would go home and lie with his wife, and later, when the baby’s born, Uriah would think it’s his baby, never knowing that David had been the guilty one. But lying didn’t work with Uriah, for he was too faithful. He did not go home to his wife. In fact, he said, You know, my Lord and his people are out in the field and they’re fighting.

Who am I to go home to my wife? So the next evening, David prepared a meal, calls him to be drunken, thinking in the drunken stupor he’d go home. You see, one sin just multiplies on top of another, like a snowball coming down the mountain, it gathers steam and just gets bigger and bigger when we try to cover it rather than dealing with it the proper way. So from adultery to lying to drunkenness, you know, eventually what he said, you send Uriah back with a message to Joab, the commanding officer. That you put Uriah in the hottest part of the battle, in the forefront of the battle, making sure that he’s slain. Finally led to murder, didn’t it? What a gift. David knew that what he did was wrong.

Perhaps we’ve never committed such sins like that, but we can understand even with what we’ve done, the feeling that David must have had. In fact, expressed in Psalm 38 and verse 4, he said, For mine iniquities are gone over mine head as a heavy burden. They are too heavy for me. Sin unrepented of.

It’s what he did. In the New Testament, in Acts chapter 13 and verse 22, when Paul was preaching in the city of Antioch, he said of David he called him a man after God’s own heart. You may wonder, how could a man like David be after God’s heart? A man who’s committed adultery, caused another tried to deceive another, cause him to be drunken, then had him murder. We’d never consider putting him as an elder of the Lord’s church, would we, in any locality? Well, we probably never even let him lead a prayer. Men who commit that kind of sin. But David, the man who reigned on the throne of God, and of whom it was said that of his lineage, the Messiah would come. We later reign on the throne of David.

2. David’s Response: I Have Sinned

How could a man so guilty of sin be forgiven? It’s because of what David did in response to his guilt. You know the story perhaps in 2 Samuel chapter 12, when Nathan, the prophet of God, came to David, and he used a little illustration. He said, Now, there was this man in the city who had one little ew lamb. But he took it and nourished it like it was his own daughter. Raised it up, cared for it. He was so poor, that’s all he had, though. A traveler came through town, and there was a rich man who had many flocks and herds. But instead of taking a lamb from his multiple number of flock, he took that poor man’s one little ewamb, dressed it, and served it to this traveler coming through.

Well, David’s anger, being a just man that he was, knowing righteousness, good and right from wrong, good from bad. His anger was kindled. And he said, That man surely shall restore fourfold what he’s done. Not only that, his own life should be taken. What he’s done is such a guilty, such extreme guilt. He should pay for it.

I’ve often thought, tried to imagine how David must have felt when Nathan said, You’re the one. You’re the one. You’re like that rich man who’s taken the poor little ew lamb and taken it from another. You know, David could have said, Look, who are you, Nathan? Mind your own business. It’s none of your business what I do. Don’t you know I’m the king. Nathan, don’t you know that Bathsheba’s really to blame, not me. She was out there in the open bathing. Don’t blame me. Why, don’t you know that others do the same thing? Maybe even worse than what I’ve done. Why are you coming to me, Nathan? I’m the king. Who are you? But David did not react that way. David did not blame others, excuse himself, tell Nathan to go mind his own.

He did none of those things. And 2 Samuel, in fact, chapter 12, and in verse 13, after Nathan completed his little parable and accused David of sin, David’s reaction unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. I’ve sinned. Someone has said, I think rightly so, that the three most difficult words to enunciate are the words, I was wrong. I have sinned. I’ve done wrong. I need forgiveness.

Sometimes I call this the most difficult thing to do in serving God or becoming a Christian. It’s a simply humbly before the Lord, say, Lord, forgive me. I’ve sinned. We have a sense of pride about us. Especially in this generation where we look at success as people who, from the outward view, are always really looking right and they’re doing things properly, and maybe like the Pharisees, the hypocrites of the past. We fall into that category. We make a show before men rather than before the Lord, who really knows our hearts. Who really says, Look, someday you’ll stand before me in judgment. You see, conscience, in effect, is our judge. Conscience really says, I know whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong. I know what’s right and wrong.

3. Conscience Is Our Judge and Our Guide

You may remember the story recorded in John the eighth chapter, when among these hypocritical Jews, one day they brought to Jesus a woman taken in the very act of adultery. And they asked him, Well, you know, what would you do with this woman? They weren’t really trying to know truth from Jesus. What they were trying to do was to trap him. You see, on the one hand, the law of Moses had said, anyone taken in the very act of adultery, they should be stoned. Death. But on the other hand, the Romans were in charge, and the Jews did not really have the authority to stone a woman to death like that. And so they’re trying to put Jesus. They think whatever answer he gives, they’ve got him tricked.

Whatever answer he gives, he’s either against the Romans or he’s going to be against the law of Moses. And so, how is he going to get out of this? You may remember Jesus began to write in the sand and made the word, whichever of you is without sin, you cast the first stone. And they began to depart one by one, beginning with the oldest. Why? Well, first of all, they knew they weren’t really trying to seek truth in the matter. If they were, they had both the man and the woman. If she was taken in the act of adultery, the law said both the man and the woman should be stoned to death. All they were trying to do was just mockery here and bring someone to Jesus.

And yet, when Jesus said, Look, if you’re without sin, you do the first casting of a stone. It’d sin in the very very thing they were doing, bringing to Jesus. A mocked up illustration. But they were with sin. Conscience. They were convicted by their own conscience, actually. The scripture says in verse 9, they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience. In Romans chapter 14, the apostle deals with the fact of a conscience. The fact even that sometimes our conscience may be misguided. In Romans 14, he was talking about a matter of eating of meats, unclean meats. Among those who were Jews, they had been taught by the law of Moses that there were certain meats that were unclean they should not eat of, for example, pork.

And yet there were some who perhaps were new Christians. And at that point in time, they still had that feeling it was wrong. And therefore, the apostle, while he teaches that really it’s not a matter of sin in the sight of God any longer, now that the law of Moses has come to an end, nailed at the cross. Yet he said, in effect, in verse 23, he that doubteth is damned if he eat. He that eateth because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If you believe something to be wrong, you better not participate in it. Whether your conscience is right or not about it. You must recognize that our conscience is really our guide. Sometimes I’ve heard people say, well, you know, our conscience is not our guide.

That’s really not accurate. Our conscience really is our guide. It’s not our Savior. But it guides us. I mean, you know, we all probably, most of all, have a watch on our arm here, and we took a look at it, and we said, Oh, I’m either late or I’m early getting here today. I mean, some of us were late, weren’t we? And you knew by your watch, you were convicted by it, that you were late getting here. Or you knew that you were on time. The fact is, our conscience is like that. It helps us to know right from wrong. It gives us as a guide for us. Now, what we need to recognize is that while it is our guide, it is not our Savior.

4. Our Consciences Can Be Wrong

Our consciences can be misguided. Our consciences can be wrong. We come to the New Testament. We know that of Saul of Tarsus. When we first see Saul of Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul. When he’s first introduced to us, he is at when they’re stoning Stephen, the first martyr, and they’re laying their coat at the feet of Saul. And then in Acts chapter 9, he has letters with authority to go to Damascus to bind Christians, to bring them back. He’s persecuting the church. He’s persecuting those who are following Christ and is on the road to Damascus that he has the vision of the Lord. He’s on that time that he turns in obedience to the Lord. But some years later, when he is now, after three preaching journeys, teaching Gentiles, converting the lost, and he comes before this Jewish council.

In Acts chapter 23 and verse 1, he makes a significant statement when he says, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. I mean, even when he was persecuting Christians, he could say it was out of clear conscience. I thought I was right. In fact, more clearly, in in Acts chapter 24, the scripture says in verse 16, herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. I’ve tried to do what’s right. In chapter 26, verses 9 and 10, he said, I barely thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints that I shed up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.

Here was the a man who could say, Look, even though I put Christians to death and gave authority for it, I did it out of clear conscience. Honestly mistaken. But he was mistaken, wasn’t he? And later, when he learned truth, he knew he was mistaken. In fact, uh, as he wrote the young preacher Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15, he described himself as the chief of sinners. Now you may not think of Paul as being the worst sinner ever, but that’s what he thought of himself. Why, he’s he’s given voice against Christians. He made an about face, you may say he’s going this way, and he had to turn and completely change and do what was right.

5. Truth Brings Our Conscience to a Crossroads

And yet, there’s another sense in which he didn’t really make that kind of reversal. Or he was honest. Even when he was putting Christians to death, his conscience said that’s the right thing to do. Wrong, but he thought he was right. Now, when he came face to face with the Lord, truth then came upon him. And truth brings our conscience to a crossroads. When he saw the vision on the road to Damascus, and for the first time, when he asked, Who art thou, Lord? In Acts chapter 9, the scripture comes back, I’m Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Jesus of Nazareth. You mean he really is the Son of God? Saul, who’s been thinking that he’s been an imposter and that he’s not really the Messiah, has been persecuting those who would follow after that man named Jesus.

But now, for the first time he really understands truth, he has to do something. He either has to continue honest or continue mistaken. He’s no longer honestly mistaken. Either he has to say, Lord, what will thou have me to do, or else he’s going to say, Now, Lord, you know, I’ve really been sincere about all this. You know, I’ve been zealous above many mine own age and equal. I’ve done many things because I believed it to be the right thing. I’ve done it to serve you. Zealous toward God. I’m going to keep on doing it, Lord. Surely you’ll forgive me. That’s not the way he did it, was it? Even though he had been following maybe the traditions of the fathers and what he believed was right.

When he came face to face with truth, he had to make a decision either to continue honest or to continue mistaken, but no longer honestly mistaken. And that’s why I said, in one sense, he didn’t make a complete reversal. Because while outwardly it looked it was reversal, inwardly it was of clear conscience. That’s why I could say, even years later, now that he’s a Christian, and after having converted many, he could say, I have lived in all good conscience before God.

6. Our Consciences Can Become Seared

Is that what you can say? That as you’ve come to the truth, you can ask, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And upon knowing what is truth, to obey it. Well, I said truth brings conscience to a crossroad. In fact, the Bible teaches how conscience can become seared. No, we can say, Lord, for a moment, you know, you shook me up a bit. I was nervous about it. Maybe like Felix, whenever Paul appeared before him in Acts 24, and reasoned to him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, the scripture said, Phoenix, tremble. And he said, Go your way, and when I have a convenience season, I’ll call you. I mean, if you’ll just put it off a little bit, maybe we’ll maybe somebody forget about it.

Maybe the Lord won’t hold it against me. Maybe it’ll get better. We don’t do anything about it. Our consciences can become seared. Hardened, callous. In 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 1 and 2, in fact, the scripture says the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter days or times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared as with a hot iron. I mean, you finally get to where it just doesn’t bother you any longer. You may have known once what truth was, but it’s you finally can get it where it just won’t bother you anymore. In Titus 1 and verse 15, speaking about evil men, says, even their mind and conscience is defiled.

You can defile your conscience. You ever had your watch wrong by some means? Maybe the battery quit, and you thought you were on time when you were an hour late. Can it become defiled? So it is that you can sear over your conscience and it won’t bother you. I think of the passage in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 19 when it describes the heathen, the Gentiles. The scripture says in verse 19, who being past.