Study the Word

Host (Male): What happens when the conscience is disregarded? Here to answer that for us is Pastor Thom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: The conscience that God has placed in them to help him obey his laws and reap the blessings that come from obedience. If they resist their conscience long enough, yielding to, giving into what they know they should not do, eventually, eventually God turns them over to what the Bible calls a reprobate mind, which is a mind without a conscience. That is a scary thing.

Host (Male): The conscience has been called the voice of God in the soul. And we're also given one. And now some suggest we're to let our conscience be our guide. We'll hear more about that on today's Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. We'll hear as we continue in Philippians of the Spirit's help as well. And now with today's lesson based in Philippians 3 verse 15, here's Pastor Thom.

Pastor Thom Keller: I have known people, you have probably known people who were really on the fast track. And then the Holy Spirit convicted them that they needed to forgive someone for something that was done to them. Maybe a parent or a former spouse or a friend or a sibling. And they refused. "I can't do that. I'm not going to do that."

Well, that refusal won't just impede their spiritual journey. That refusal will stop them dead in their tracks. In fact, it'll stop them so suddenly they're going to need a spiritual airbag to keep them from smashing their head because of that instant stop.

Hebrews 5:13-14 says this, NIV: "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

Living Bible says it this way. I like this: "You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God's word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right." You'll never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things until you practice doing right, the truth that God has revealed to you.

Listen, always remember this: Truth, faith, wisdom, knowledge, they are all progressive. They're all progressive. As we obey, God opens our minds to new understandings. Because it is the Lord that opens our minds. Luke 24:45: "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures."

And when God opens your mind to new thoughts, obey. Because obedience is the key to seeing God. Because obedience leads to a pure heart. And without a pure heart, you will not see God.

How do you get a pure heart? Stop sleeping with your girlfriend. It's the pathway to a pure heart. Stop smoking pot. It's the pathway to a pure heart. Because Jesus said if you want to see me, people tell me this all the time, "Look, I just want to see God. I want to hear from God. I don't hear from him like other people hear from him. I don't see him like other people see him." Matthew 5:8, here's the answer. It's simple: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Going on, verse 17: "Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine and learn from those who follow our example." New King James says: "Join in following my example."

You know, this always sounded a bit prideful to me, almost grandstanding. "Hey, follow me. Follow me. As I follow Christ." Well, it's interesting, looking up the Greek in this. The Greek word for "follow" here is "symmimētai" and it is a co-imitator. It means to follow together. So it softens it quite a bit because Paul is really saying, "Hey, walk with me as we follow Christ together side by side."

I like that. Do you like that? Well, there's a problem. Paul two other places says the same thing, but he uses a different verb. 1 Corinthians 4:16: "Therefore I urge you, imitate me," Paul says. Same book, chapter 11, Paul says again: "Imitate me as I also imitate Christ."

Different verb. In Greek here, the word for "imitate" is "mimētai" and this is not a co-imitator, but an imitator. An imitator. Back to the original problem. But John MacArthur says this, I like it. He says: "Since all believers are imperfect, we need examples of people who are less imperfect than we are." It's pretty good, isn't it? I like that.

Going on to verse 18: "For I have told you often before and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows that they are really enemies of the cross of Christ." Now these are false teachers who are enemies of the cross, which means their teaching rejects salvation by the cross alone through Christ alone by grace alone.

And Paul says anyone who teaches salvation by works is automatically, by definition, an enemy of the cross. Why? Because they deny the power of the cross to forgive and save and instead shift that over to works. And Paul says this in verse 18: "with tears in my eyes."

Why tears? Out of compassion for their immortal souls of these who are lost and on their way to hell because they're trusting in works to save them. Philippians 3:19, listen again: "Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things."

Here we see that there are three marks of false teachers. Number one, their God is their belly. Number two, their glory is their shame. They glory in the thing they should be ashamed of. And their minds are focused on the earth instead of heaven.

First, their God is their belly. Every human being on the face of this earth is tempted to yield to, to give into sensual desires and fleshly appetites. How are we to deal with these temptations? Well, in one of only three ways.

The highest form of control over these desires is by the Holy Spirit convicting us, helping us. And this can only take place in the life of a born-again believer because only born-again believers have the Holy Spirit living in them.

Galatians 5:16: "So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." You won't yield to those sensual desires.

And confirming that, Paul says the same thing in Romans 8:9: "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You're controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all."

So, the second way, the second level of control over our flesh is by way of our conscience. Romans 2:14 says this: "Even Gentiles who do not have God's written law show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience," these are unsaved people, "for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them that they are doing right."

So the Bible says that God has placed a conscience in every human being. A moral compass, if you will. An instinctive knowledge that certain things are wrong. That it's wrong to steal someone else's baby. That it's wrong to kidnap someone else's wife. We know that instinctively.

And what happens to you if you refuse to yield to your conscience? Well, once a person fights against their conscience, the conscience that God has placed in them to help him obey his laws and reap the blessings that come from obedience, if they resist their conscience long enough, yielding to, giving into what they know they should not do, eventually, eventually God turns them over to what the Bible calls a reprobate mind, which is a mind without a conscience. That is a scary thing.

Romans 1:28: "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient." Here's the mark of a reprobate. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents; without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.

Wow, that's what they're turned over to, that life. You know, I've heard explained like this. God takes an unbeliever and by way of their conscience, he grabs hold of their belt. Just picture the conscience of a man is God holding onto his belt, holding him back from pulling into things that he should not do. It's a restraint. It's causing him to know there's something wrong with this. I should not do this.

But here's the truth. After someone resists that pull long enough, as they pull against that belt longer and longer, eventually, eventually God lets go. And when he lets go, they go full bore into life of a reprobate because their conscience is no longer holding them back.

God turns them over to a debased, reprobate mind. And because their conscience has been seared, they are, as Paul says in Philippians 3, controlled by their bellies, by their base, animalistic, crude, unrestrained sensual desires and fleshly appetites.

And even worse than just living in their debased life, they actually brag about their debased life. They glory in what they should be ashamed of. Verse 19, they brag about shameful things. Isaiah 5:22: "What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold." They brag about the things they should be ashamed of.

Romans 1:32: "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, not only do they do it, but have pleasure in them that do them." Not only do they do these debased things, but they take pleasure in others who do the same. And this Paul says actually describes these false teachers as well.

Listen, Philippians 3:19: "They are headed for destruction. Their God is their appetite. They brag about shameful things. They only think about life here on earth."

In Jude verse 8, it says this: "In the same way, these people who claim authority from their dreams live immoral lives," he's talking about false teachers, "live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at supernatural beings."

Going on two verses later: "But these people scoff at things they do not understand. Like unthinking animals, they do whatever their instinct tells them, and so they bring about their own destruction."

And then verse 13: "They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness."

In 2 Peter chapter 2, it says these false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. See, they're controlled by their bellies. They're unthinking animals. They scoff at things they do not understand. And like animals, they will be destroyed.

Same chapter, verse 14: "They commit adultery with their eyes and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well-trained in greed. They live under God's curse."

And then in verse 20, Paul transitions once again to you and me as believers. He comes back to us. Verse 20: "But we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our savior."

Verse 21: "He will take our weak mortal bodies," listen, this is you, "He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control."

You know, this verse tells us so much about what heaven will be like. Would you like to know more about what heaven will be like? Would you like to know what you're going to do in heaven? Would you like to know what your body's going to look like in heaven? Would you like to know more about all of this? You just have to come back next week.

You don't want to miss next week. I have next week done and man, there is so much in the Bible about heaven. I'm very excited about heaven and telling you about it.

So how does today's lesson apply to me? Number one, remember when it comes to non-essentials, non-essentials, God is able to tell you and others if they are right and wrong. Philippians 3:15, listen closely: "All of us then who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you."

So it might be okay or even proper to point out some error to someone, but it is not your responsibility or obligation on a non-essential to convince them that you are right. That is God's responsibility. Because if you take on that mantle, it will lead to arguing and divisiveness in the body.

You know, back when I first gave my life to Christ, I would witness to anything that moved. I mean, I was a witnessing machine. People came in my office and look, I was in the car business. So in the car business, you close a deal. You close the transaction. You close, you close, you close.

So I closed, baby. I mean, I started talking about Jesus. They weren't going to get from that table till they bent their knee right there and prayed and I wasn't going to let them out. I didn't know anything different than that. I thought, start to finish, man. I start it, I'm going to finish it. And so I wore these people out. It was a sad thing to watch. I really, I pity some of those people.

But see, it's the same thing here. You know, that's a Holy Spirit's work, isn't it? Who saves them? God, by his Holy Spirit, not through my convincing arguments, not through my arm-twisting. What's going to convince people that the word is true? Not you. Not you.

You know, we want to create a culture of love here and acceptance and then let the word of God be the hammer. Let the word of God be the hammer, the Holy Spirit through the word of God hammer people. And the whole time it's hammering them, we're loving them. Oh, that's powerful.

That's like, get me out of here, I don't know what's going on, they love me but I'm being convicted. And here's the other really cool thing. Listen, if you try to convince him, if you try to convince him, they will feel condemnation. If you let the Holy Spirit convict them, they will never feel condemnation. They'll feel conviction. There's a big difference between conviction and condemnation. We are not to condemn. The Holy Spirit convinces, he does not condemn.

So, second point, verse 19: "Their end is destruction, their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." Remember your behavior will be controlled by only one of three tools.

One is your conscience. The moral natural man apart from salvation. Just your raw conscience, the same thing any person has. Or secondly, your spirit. The spirit of God dwelling in you. This is a saved man, a saved woman, alive and sensitive to the spirit dwelling in them telling them what to do and what not to do.

And if you're not controlled by those first two, then you will be controlled by your belly. You will be controlled by your base, animalistic, crude, unrestrained sensual desires and appetites.

So partaking in illicit sex is being controlled by your belly, your base animalistic cravings. Partaking in drugs is being controlled by your belly. Your conscience knows it's wrong, the Holy Spirit tells you it's wrong. So what's controlling you? Only three choices.

Partaking in drugs is being controlled by your belly, your base animalistic cravings. Partaking in pornography is being controlled by your belly, by your base animalistic cravings.

The answer? Put the old man to death. Galatians 5:24: "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." The old man needs to die, the new man living in you, Jesus Christ, appropriate that new life.

Romans 6:6 says this: "We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin."

And the final point, how has your devotional life been lately? How's your spiritual journey been lately? Is it stagnant? Is it dry? Listen, let's not be confused about this. This is on you, not on God.

And it just might be because of verse 16, which says: "But we must hold on to the progress we've already made."

Hebrews 5:14, same idea: "You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God's word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right."

You want to continue in your spiritual journey, obey what God has revealed to you to this point as far as truth. Is there something God has been prompting you to either do or to stop doing that you're resisting, that you're refusing?

If so, your spiritual growth has been, will be arrested. Do you want to get your spiritual life back on track? The answer is simple. When God speaks to your heart, obey, and your spiritual growth will restart. Listen, when God speaks to your heart, obey on all those points, and your spiritual growth will restart.

Psalm 128:1-2: "How joyful are those who fear the Lord, who follow his ways. They will, you will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be." That's what you're forfeiting, folks.

And then John 13 says this, Jesus speaking: "Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them." Obedience is a pathway to blessing.

Listen, as we look into calling, the calling that God has on your life, you want to go into these classes, you want to go into this period of your life all in, all in.

You know, I've likened this already to an ant crawling along a railroad rail. And this is a guy on the fast track. This is the ant on the fast track. He just keeps going and going and going.

And then at some point, some despicable person puts a railroad tie across both railings and it's like a wall to him. And he just stops at that railroad tie. Now he could go over it and he could continue that journey onto an infinity, but he stops at that tie and he stays there and dies on that track at that wall.

That's where we are. If there's some issue that God has prompted you to give up, to change, to stop, and you're resisting that, you're that ant at that tie. And there's miles of journey ahead of you, but you're parked right there until you walk up that tie because you can do that and get over it.

Maybe God's been speaking to your heart today, maybe some of you have some business to do with God on this. Ask the Lord to give you a heart to want to obey whatever this issue may be. Because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Whatever that is, no matter how difficult that's facing, the enemy says you can't do that, you can't forgive, you can't give her up, you can't give him up, you can't stop doing that. Greater is he who lives in you than he that is in the world. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Because if you say God can't get me over that, you're saying there's something God can't do. I don't think I want to charge him with that.

Host (Male): Indeed, nothing is too hard for the Lord. Trust you're encouraged to persevere in your journey with the Lord. We're here to help. This is Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller.

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