The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your bibles to Acts chapter 23, verses 1 through 5.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your bibles to Acts chapter 23. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 5 as we continue to go verse by verse through the word of God. We find ourselves in chapter 23 and looking at verses 1 through 5.

And Father, thank you. Thank you so much for this tremendous time to study your word. And oh God, we just pray that you would give us ears to hear it. We pray that your Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts. Thank you so much for the time of worship that we can talk to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

All right. Acts chapter 23, looking at verses 1 through 5. The title of this message is How Is Your Conscience? How Is Your Conscience, part one of this particular message. Now, conscience is defined as an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. I say again, conscience is identified or defined, should I say, as an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.

The word conscience comes from two Latin words, *con*, which means with, and *science*, which means knowledge. So when we do something, we do it with the knowledge that it is either right or wrong. The Bible says in Romans 2 and verse 15 that the law, the Ten Commandments, are written on our conscience, accusing us or else excusing us. And this is the subject of these verses.

Now, by way of background, Paul was rescued by the Roman commander Claudius Lysias because an angry mob was trying to kill him. And while they were taking him to the barracks to examine him under scourging, Paul revealed to them that he was a Roman citizen and that they had bound him illegally. The commander wanted to get to the bottom of why the crowd wanted him dead. He decided in verse 30 to bring Paul down to the chief priest and the council. And now we pick it up in verse 1. Look what it says there.

Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, "Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." Now Paul, I want to draw your attention to the phrase "Paul looking earnestly at the council." Before he uttered a word, he looked earnestly at them. The Greek word for looking earnestly is *atenizo*, and it means to gaze upon, to fix one's eyes upon, or to stare.

Some scholars suggest this is a hint to Paul's poor eyesight that he received from the time he was stoned in the city of Lystra. Or he could have been staring to see whom he recognized because he was a Pharisee and used to be a part of the Sanhedrin prior to his conversion. To confirm this truth, notice how Paul calls them "brethren." Members of the Sanhedrin were always addressed by the common people as either fathers, rulers, or elders, like Acts chapter 4 and verse 8 says.

Then Paul makes an incredible statement at the end of verse 1. He says, "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." Oh, what a powerful statement. And what an achievement to strive for and something to look forward to: having a good conscience before God. Now, the question is, what is Paul saying? He is not saying that all of his actions were right. It means that he felt no guilt over his actions as a Christian.

It means that he dealt with his conscience the right way before God. If his conscience convicted him about something he did or something he said, he repented. But if it didn't, then he continued. In other words, Paul was telling this council that his conscience was good concerning the life he had been living for Christ. Now we must be very careful because we can misinform our conscience, and it can convict us of something when God isn't convicting us of it.

Oh, this is important for us to understand. For example, I'll use my own life. I thought that my rigid, strict Christian life that I lived 30 years ago was a sign of holiness, when it wasn't holiness at all. It was a bunch of rules and regulations I put myself under, and it was convicting me—not of God's word, but of my strict standards and rules that I put myself under. I was miserable at the time, but I thought that's what holiness meant. It meant that you were miserable.

And I was miserable at the time, but I convinced myself that I was being holy. And I'm so glad that I had to re-educate my conscience. How? By exposing it more and more to the word of God, especially to the book of Galatians. It wasn't until I was a senior pastor here at this church and I taught the book of Galatians for the second time—second time around—it wasn't until the second time that the chains of my legalistic life that I was living were broken.

I'm talking about the second time. So I had to re-educate my very own conscience. So it is possible for a conscience to be damaged or destroyed. The Bible speaks of a weak conscience in 1 Corinthians 8 and verse 7 and verse 10. A weak conscience belongs to an immature Christian. Maybe they came out of something. Whatever it is they came out of, God rescued them from.

Their conscience is weak, and if they see a more mature Christian doing something that they used to do before they were a Christian, then the Bible talks about us wounding their weak conscience. So you can not only have a weak conscience, but you can have a wounded conscience in 1 Corinthians 8, verse 12. That's when you stumbled somebody by doing something, feeling that you have the liberty to do a certain thing.

Then somebody else sees you and says, "Oh, they've been a Christian longer than me and guess what? They're doing it, and they said it's okay. Therefore, I can go back and do it." And what you end up doing was wounding their conscience. The Bible talks about a defiled conscience in Titus chapter 1 and verse 15. Then the Bible talks about an evil conscience.

What is an evil conscience? An evil conscience is a conscience that caused you to depart from the living God in Hebrews 10 and verse 22. It talks about that. And worst of all is a seared conscience in 1 Timothy 4 and verse 2. A person in this condition has a conscience so covered with scar tissue from habitual sin that the conscience no longer responds to the prodding of divine truth and God's word.

I just wonder has this happened to you? Or should I say, is this happening to you? Oh, you come to church, and every message is for someone else. It's not for you. It is never for you. You're always looking for a loophole or justification for why you don't have to obey God's word in a certain area. Can you do things that everyone around you is saying, "Why are you doing that? What are you doing that for? Aren't you a Christian?" and you see nothing wrong with what you're doing?

This is a very dangerous place to be in, where the divine truth of scripture no longer moves you to change. This is a key thing when the divine truth of scripture no longer moves us to change how we're living. It's like leaving a hot iron on a piece of fabric, and in that particular spot, that fabric has been seared or permanently damaged. I mean, you've done that before. You left the iron on, and something happened.

You got distracted in some kind of way, and then you lift the iron up and that imprint of that iron has permanently damaged that particular piece of fabric. That's what people can do to their conscience. It's a dangerous place to be in. But on the other hand, the Bible commends a good conscience, according to 1 Timothy 1 and verse 5 and verse 19. It talks about Paul. Later, in the next chapter, it's going to talk about having a blameless conscience in Acts 24 and verse 16.

And the Bible talks about a clear conscience in 1 Timothy 3 and verse 9. When we achieve a conscience like this, it makes sleeping a lot easier at night. It makes the pillow a lot softer when we can go to bed with a clear conscience. And once again, we strengthen our conscience by constantly and continuously exposing it to the word of God: reading it, meditating on it, memorizing it, and most importantly, obeying it. It will cause us to have a good, blameless, and clear conscience.

And so Paul was saying that his conscience was good concerning how he was serving God. Now, how did they respond to such a statement that Paul made? Look at verse 2. "And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth." Now, why would the high priest, who is identified in this verse as Ananias, command for those who stood by Paul to strike him on the mouth? First of all, we have to know who Ananias is. Ananias was one of the worst priests in Israel's history.

He became the high priest right around in AD 47 to 48, and he reigned until AD 58 to 59. Josephus, that first-century Jewish historian, describes him as a profane, greedy, and a hot-tempered man. He used to steal the tithes that went to the priest, and he would beat any of them who resisted. He was hated by the people for his pro-Roman stance.

When a Jewish revolt against Rome broke out in AD 66, Ananias promptly was killed by these Jewish rebels. This is according to the writings of Josephus, the book of War, volume 2, page 17, and paragraph 9. So it would be War 2.17.9. So in keeping with his cruel nature and character, he ordered those who stood by Paul to strike him on the mouth.

Oh, we've got to go a little bit deeper because immediately many of us, when we hear that he got struck in the mouth, we just think that you just slapped him in the mouth. No, the Greek verb translated "to strike" is *tupto*, and it depicts more than just a slap on the mouth. Oh, this same Greek word is used in Acts 21 and verse 32 to speak of the crowd's beating of Paul and of the Roman soldiers' beating of Jesus in Matthew 27 and verse 30.

Ananias couldn't believe that someone accused of such serious charges as Paul was could have the nerve to declare having a good conscience. Now, I just have to pause here. I have to just pause here, and I'm going to look at you on the camera. I have to pause right here because if there is an Ananias that's slapping you in the mouth and beating you down, you don't have to stand for that. The Lord loves you. He never meant for you to be a punching bag to anybody.

Whoever is hitting on whoever, they've got issues. There's some counseling that's needed. And I would never tell anyone to stay in a situation where they're getting the beatdown like this, where there's an Ananias in your life that is slapping you in the mouth, that's hitting on you. You never stay in a situation like that. That person needs some help. That person has problems and issues.

And they've been doing that for a long time. Maybe it was done to them, I don't know. That's still no justification to mean that now I've got to be beaten down, so I'm going to beat you down. I know that's what the world says, but it doesn't have to be that way. And if you're the Ananias, you need to get some help. Need to get some counseling. You need to remove yourself from that situation. So I just had to pause there to just say that: that the Lord loves you, but you don't have to stand for having an Ananias do this to you.

Now, how did Paul respond to this slap-beatdown that they gave him? I love Paul. You know, one of the guys that I need to sit down for a few thousand years and just talk with is Paul. I love this dude. This dude was—he's my type of dude. How did he respond to this beatdown, this slapdown? In today's standards, today's time, people would have been like, "Oh, Paul, you know, just take it. You know, just—hey, he didn't mean it. They just—and just be—you know, you've got to love, and you've got to turn the other cheek, and you just"—listen to what Paul said in verse 3.

Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" I just love Paul. You've got to love this dude. This dude was not just going to sit back and just let you give him the slap-beatdown. He said—I just love this. We've got to dig a little bit deeper into this reaction.

Now, why would Paul react this way? Because of the illegal command that Ananias had given to strike him by assuming that he was guilty without a trial and by ordering his punishment by striking him on the face—something Deuteronomy 19, verse 15 forbids. Now, Jesus reacted in a similar way—probably not like Paul, but in a similar way—to how he was treated before this same council in John 18 and verses 20 to 23.

When he was questioned about his teaching, Jesus responded and said, "I spoke openly in the synagogues and the temple. I said nothing in secret. Why are you asking? Ask those who heard me." And one of the officers struck Jesus—same Greek word—struck Jesus and said, "Do you answer the high priest like that?" And Jesus said, "Well, if I spoke evil, bear witness of the evil. But if I spoke well, why do you strike me?"

I just—and I'm sure it wasn't with the same bite as Paul. You know, Paul—I relate more to Paul. Like Paul did. But Jesus responded in a very similar way. No doubt it was very loving and all. I don't want to get any letters and say, "Oh, you're saying Jesus wasn't." Stop. I'm not going to read it anyway. Stop. He probably responded very lovingly, very kind. But Paul was my dude.

Now, how did Paul react to being hit in the mouth? He said, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!" I just love this dude. Now, whether you believe it or not, these were some harsh, fighting words. See, the background to this statement is this: if you were traveling to Israel to celebrate Passover, it was very important that you didn't accidentally become ceremonially unclean by stepping on or brushing up against a grave or tomb that was called a sepulcher.

So what they would do so that this didn't happen, they would paint these graves white to warn you of the dead bones within. And so when Paul called Ananias a whitewashed wall, he was saying, "You look white and good on the outside, but you are dead-like bones on the inside." I can't tell you how many times I've felt like a whitewashed wall—looking good and pastorally on the outside, but dead like bones on the inside.

But it is so good to be able to go to the Lord during times like this and have him say, "Son, don't forget that I am the resurrection and the life. Though you feel dead, I can make you alive again." And just like when Jesus spoke this to Martha in John 11 and verses 25 and 26, he said, "Martha, do you believe this?" And I'm just here to ask you that same question: do you believe that Jesus can make you alive on the inside again?

I ask because maybe your desire for church and your desire for prayer, your desire for Bible reading has died, especially during this pandemic. I've talked to and seen a lot of people who have died during the pandemic. Spiritually, they have died. They have died. And the longer they stay away, the longer they stay from church, the longer they stay—because you know, it is in the sanctuary that we see from God's perspective.

The psalmist said, "My foot almost slipped when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." He said, "But when I went into the sanctuary, that's where I saw their end." It's here. It's in the sanctuary that we see things from God's perspective. The longer we're away from the sanctuary, the longer we'll get wrapped up. Our foot will slip when we see the prosperity of the wicked.

And here, there are many people who have died spiritually during this pandemic. And Jesus is the resurrection. He can bring back to life those things that have died, or or is dying on the inside of our hearts. Oh, I have to say, during the early times of the pandemic, I was dying on the inside. I was dying. There was no church, there was no fellowship, there's no hugs and high-fives, and there was no smiling and encouraged. There was just nothing.

And I started to die on the inside. And I mentioned it—maybe about two Wednesdays ago—I mentioned it how I felt myself slipping into a depression. And I had to—I had to speak to my soul like David did. David said, "Hey, soul, why are thou disquieted within me? Hope in God." I had to encourage myself in the Lord because I was slipping into a depression because I know people.

I know how people are. You give people any excuse for why they can't come to church—any excuse: my fingernail was broken, I stumped my toe, my kid sneezed this morning so we need to stay home. And now they've got a legitimate reason not to come. A legitimate one. I said, "God, I know people. People are a trip. Now the world have a legitimate reason not to come to your house."

And I was slipping into a depression because I know people. I just know people. I just know people. And I felt myself dying on the inside. I felt myself slipping into a depression because I said, "Lord, I don't know—I don't know when this is going to end." I said, "Satan is—that dude is the most crafty creature ever made." This is Satan. Satan is like this—watch this.

Satan is like, "I will sacrifice America's or the world's god, which is sports. I will sacrifice the world's gods if I can get the church to die in the midst of it." I will sacrifice sports. That's the world's god: sports. If I can kill the church in the midst of that, I will do it. And look what he's done. Look what he's done. Satan is a crafty dude. This dude didn't just get created yesterday. He's been around a good 6,000 or more years, and he knows what he's doing.

He's good at it. And I just needed the Lord to resurrect me because I felt myself slipping. It was a good month before I would leave the house. I just stayed in the house. I was reading, I was praying, I just stayed in the house and wasn't really binge-watching TV. It was more watching me. I was just in a fog because I said, "I know what this means." I just know.

And so I needed the Lord to be the resurrection and the life to me because I struggled and still struggle. I'm just glad that we have a savior that is the resurrection and the life. So here is Paul getting uptight. But what else did he say? The second part of verse 3, notice: "For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?"

Paul was saying, "How dare you judge me by saying I'm breaking a law when you're violating the law yourself?"

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