A Good Conscience

Thank you. Okay, thank you. And by the way, Jeremy, I did not get a song ready for after the sermon, so if you want to choose somebody else or whatever to lead a song, that would be great.

If you want to have a song at the end, then that's up to you. Maybe one other sickness I could mention. My wife is home, not feeling well.

She's been having various issues going on this past week, and some of us are getting ready to leave on a trip here yet this afternoon, so if you want to pray for our family during this time, that would also be a blessing. Okay, when I was back at the Billboard Conference in June, we were handed a book, at least I think that's where we were handed this book. It's the same book that was mentioned, I think, on our Purity Conference.

It's called The Freedom Fight, and it's especially about the whole issue of pornography. That's not what we're going to talk about this morning, but there's a story in this book that grabbed my attention that I wanted to share with you. It's called The Prince and the Dragon, and it goes like this.

There was a king that was over a realm. He was a good king. He had soldiers.

He had knights, and they would fight their enemies, but there was this dragon that was their enemy, and this dragon, he'd go around terrorizing people. He could do what dragons, of course, could do. They could blow fire out their noses, and so they'd go blow fire into a house, chase everybody out the door, and then he'd run around and grab them with his teeth or with his talons and devour them, and this dragon just terrorized the countryside, and the king and his sons, the princes and his knights, they would go and they would fight.

They would try to get rid of this dragon, but it was just always a huge problem. One day, one of the princes, one of the king's sons, was riding his horse out through the woods, and all of a sudden he heard his name called, just a really soft, low sound, and there he saw the dragon just laying there, just seemed like kind of helpless, I mean kind of harmless, and his eyes looked at this prince, and he said to the prince, he says, don't be scared. He says, I'm not as bad as what your father thinks I am, and the prince looks kind of skeptically at the dragon and says, well, then who are you? Well, he says, I am pleasure, and he says, if you would ride on my back, you will have more pleasure than you could possibly imagine.

He says, I don't mean to harm anybody. He says, I just want to have a friend. He says, have you ever thought you could maybe fly? Yeah, he asked the prince.

You know, riding through the clouds, just having a good time, and he says, you could do this if you come and join up with me, and so this prince started thinking about this. Wow, that would be fun. I've never flown before.

I've ridden horses. I've walked, but never flown, and finally he just said, wow, maybe this would be a lot of fun, and so the dragon helped him get up on his back, and they took off, and they flew around, and he gave him a ride of his lifetime. He had no idea how much fun this could be, and then they landed, and he went home.

He says, wow, that was amazing. From then on, I'll just read here, he met the dragon often but secretly, for how could he tell his father, brothers, or the knights that he had befriended the enemy? The prince felt separate from them all. Their concerns were no longer his concerns.

Even when he wasn't with the dragon, he spent less time with those he loved and more time alone. The skin on the prince's legs became calloused from gripping the ridged back of the dragon. His hands grew rough and hardened.

He began wearing gloves to hide his malady. After many nights of riding, he discovered scales growing on the backs of his hands as well. With dread, he realized his fate were he to continue.

So he resolved to return no more to the dragon. But after a couple of weeks, he again sought out the dragon, having been tormented with desire. And so it transpired many times over.

No matter what his determination, the prince eventually found himself pulled back as if by the cords of an invisible web. But silently, patiently, the dragon always waited. One cold, moonless night, their excursion became a foray into a sleeping village.

Torching the thatched roofs with fiery blasts from his nostrils, the dragon roared with delight when the terrified victims fled from their burning homes. Swooping in, the serpent belched again, and flames engulfed a cluster of screaming villages. The prince closed his eyes tightly in an attempt to shut out the carnage.

In the predawn hours, when the prince crept back from his dragon trysts, the road outside his father's castle usually remained empty. But not tonight. Terrified refugees streamed into the protective walls of the castle.

The prince attempted to slip through the crowd to close himself in his chambers. But some of the survivors stared and pointed toward him. He was there, one woman cried out.

I saw him on the back of the dragon. Others nodded their heads in angry agreement. Horrified, the prince saw his father, the king, was in the courtyard holding a bleeding child in his arms.

The king's face mirrored the agony of his people as his eyes found the prince's. The son fled, hoping to escape into the night, but the guards apprehended him as if he were a common thief. They brought him to the great hall where his father sat solemnly on the throne.

The people on every side railed against the prince. Banish him, he heard one of his own brothers cry out angrily. Burn him alive, other voices shouted.

As the king rose from his throne, bloodstains from the wounded shone darkly on his royal robes. The crowd fell silent in expectation of his decree. The prince, who could not bear to look into his father's face, stared at the flagstones on the floor.

Take off your gloves and your tunic, the king commanded. The prince obeyed slowly, dreading to have his metamorphosis uncovered before the kingdom. Was his shame not enough already? He had hoped for a quick death without further humiliation.

Sounds of revulsion ripped through the crowd at the sight of the prince's thick, scaled skin and the ridge growing along his spine. The king strode toward his son, and the prince steeled himself, fully expecting a backhanded blow, even though he had never been struck by his father. Instead, his father embraced him and wept as he held him tightly.

In shocked disbelief, the prince buried his face against his father's shoulder. Do you wish to be freed from the dragon, my son? The prince answered in despair, I wished it many times, but there is no hope for me. Not alone, the king said.

You cannot win against the dragon alone. Father, I'm no longer your son. I'm half beast, sobbed the prince.

But his father replied, My blood runs in your veins. My nobility has always been stamped deep within your soul. With his face still hidden tearfully in his father's embrace, the prince heard the king and struck the crowd.

The dragon is crafty. Some fall victim to his wiles and some to his violence. There will be mercy for all who wish to be freed.

Who else among you has ridden the dragon? The prince lifted his head to see someone emerge from the crowd. To his amazement, he recognized an older brother, one who had been lauded throughout the kingdom for his onslaughts against the dragon in battle and for his many good deeds. Others came, some weeping, others hanging their heads in shame.

The king embraced them all. This is our most powerful weapon against the dragon, he announced. Truth.

No more hidden fights. No more hidden flights. Alone you cannot resist him.

This story, it shows how one of the problems with addiction, and that's what this book is talking about, is addiction. And it says one of the things that's a big factor is this thing called shame. And I'm going to put that word up here on the board, shame, and then I'm going to put another word on the board, and the word is guilt.

I got a text here just, I don't know, the last two weeks I think it was, from my brother-in-law. He shared here his testimony, shared his testimony of being addicted many years to immorality and how God had set him free. But he sent me a text.

He says, hey, do you know, what do you think the difference is between guilt and shame? Or is there a difference between guilt and shame? I said, well, yeah, I think so. And I tried to give him some ideas about what I think maybe the difference is between guilt and shame. But if you were to look at those two words, what would you say the difference is? Shame, guilt.

What's the difference? Here it says shame is a big contributing factor to these problems, this addicted, you know, an addicted brain. Often there's shame that's wound in there, wound in through there. So there was a survey done of like 4,000 people who sought help, and he says shame was the most consistent key driver of unwanted sexual behavior.

Shame convinces us we're unwanted. We pursue behavior that confirms it. To find freedom disarmed the powers of shame.

Okay, so here's the difference. I just took a picture of this page, and I sent it to my brother-in-law. Shame is different from guilt.

Guilt says I've done bad, but shame says I am bad. So that's the difference here between these two words. Shame, sorry about that.

Get a little bit more space here. Move Africa out of the way. Okay, so shame says I am bad.

Guilt says I have done bad. Now there's a difference there. And, you know, the being bad is something that we say, well, I can't change it.

And there's some truth to saying I am bad. We are, you know, we do become what we do. But there is a difference between saying what I've done and who I am.

Shame is different. Okay, so let me go back to this. A person's shame declares some version of I'm not enough, there's something wrong with me, I am bad, or I don't matter.

Shame, a researcher defines it as an intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we're flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance or belonging. Now guilt, on the other hand, it can be healthy. It can be a healthy emotion.

It shows a person's their sin. Because now you can turn from it. I know what I've done, and neither one of these are fun emotions.

They're both very, very difficult to deal with. But shame can be very unhealthy. Guilt can be very healthy when we can point at something specific.

I did this. It was me. I chose it.

Guilt can be a healthy emotion when it shows a person their sin, when they can turn from it. Shame, however, makes people feel like they're unable to change because of an inherent personal flaw. Guilt is something people feel because they've done something bad.

Shame is something they feel because they are bad. Guilt can be good. Shame is toxic.

Guilt allows people to see that they need help. Shame makes them feel like they don't even deserve help. With guilt, a person can have the hope of a fresh start.

With shame, there's hopelessness because the person is the problem. Guilt can be a springboard to an improved life. Shame is an anchor that keeps people stuck.

So I don't know which of those two things stood out to you more, the unhealthiness of shame or the healthiness of guilt, but they're both true. By trying to reject shame, what I don't want you to do is to reject guilt because if God is speaking to you about something, about something that you have done, not something that you are so much, but something that you have done, He wants you to listen. He wants you to hear.

And He wants you to ultimately come to that part where those guilty things that you've done are dealt with and you have a clean conscience. And that's the title of today's message, a clean conscience. Or maybe we'll use the biblical term, a good conscience.

And this is found over and over in 1 Timothy 119, holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrecked. Also in 1 Timothy 1 verse 5, Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and faith unfeigned. 1 Timothy 319, holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.

And if there's anything I want to emphasize this morning, it is this thing of how important it is to have a good conscience. A good conscience, without it, your life is going to be miserable. Your eternity will be miserable.

Get a clean conscience, get a pure conscience. Get it soon and keep it. And it goes so well with what we learned in the Bible study there in 1 John.

It talks right there, right there you have in 1 John 1 and 2 and probably on through the rest of the book. It's going to keep on talking about how to get a clean conscience, how to avoid losing your clean conscience, how to get back a clean conscience if you have lost a clean conscience. And so if there's anything I want to commit, just to urge you, commit to saying, I'm going to have a clean conscience.

So how do you have a not clean conscience? If we, you know, if we think, well, a little baby is born and they seem to have a clean conscience, a clear conscience anyway. And by the way, there's a difference. Just because somebody's conscience is not bothering them does not mean they have a clean conscience.

Because they can still have a defiled conscience that has been seared with a hot iron. It says in, I think that's also in Timothy, 1 Timothy 4 perhaps, it talks about a conscience that has been seared with a hot iron. And nothing bothers them.

They say, oh, I'm fine, everything's good. But it's not fine, it's not good. They don't have a clean conscience.

And so that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a conscience that is truly clean. A conscience that has truly been washed.

So how do we, we're going to talk how to get it. But before we're going to talk about how to get it, we've got to talk about how it can be lost. How can it be that there's even people in this world that don't have a clean conscience? And there's basically three things that I'm going to mention.

Number one, a person has never been cleansed from their conscience to begin with. They were born with a sinful nature. They came to the age where they started making those choices themselves.

And it's never been purged. Because you see, there is a way for it to be purged. There is a new birth available.

We talked about some of that already, but I'll just read Hebrews 7 verse 24. It says, Wherefore God, He, is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. God is able to save someone from their past sins, to wash them clean.

We say, well, how does He do that? Two chapters forward, Hebrews chapter 9 verse 14 says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot unto God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. You see, your conscience can be washed. It can be purged.

It can be cleansed from all those things that you have done in the past. So that's one way. It's never been cleansed to begin with.

Number two, it's been cleansed, but then you fell into known sin. You saw sin. You chose to enter in.

And you know that you've sinned. You know you're guilty. You not only have guilt, but you feel the guilt.

That is also a defiled conscience. And then there's a third way. And this is unknown sin.

I fall into something and my conscience is not bothering me. Maybe I bought into a particular doctrine that tells me what I'm doing is okay, even though God's Word said it's not okay. Maybe I grew up believing a certain thing was okay to do, and I just never knew any difference.

I didn't know that this particular action was not part of the Christian life. And so as far as I know, I don't feel any guilt, but I don't have a clean conscience either, because I am guilty before God. God looks at me and says, you are guilty.

And then He wakens that conscience. Thankfully, God, for those who seek Him, He'll waken that conscience. Romans 2.15, which show the work of the law written in their hearts.

So that law of God comes and wakens that conscience. Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. So, if the law of God does its work, it's going to wake it up, and it's going to accuse a guilty person.

If it doesn't do its work, then they will excuse each other. So let's talk to those of us that are here, that have a guilty conscience right now. And maybe we have this river going up through the countryside, and I need to get from this side, which is a dirty conscience, over to this side, which is a clean conscience.

And so I need to find a bridge to cross this river. And I can't draw very well, but let's just say we have this big bridge here, and it's got all this scaffolding on it. And this bridge is made up of three different pieces.

In below is this raging river, and if you don't make it across, this freedom that's on this other side is not going to be yours. So this bridge is made up of three sections. And the first section that we have that we want to talk about here is remorse.

Remorse. I feel bad for my sin. Now you notice this is not three different bridges.

This is one bridge that goes across the stream. You can't just pick one of these pieces and say, I'm going to take one of these pieces of the bridge and not the other. No, if you take out a hunk of the bridge, it's going to collapse.

It's not going to work. So remorse is the first one. I feel truly sorry.

I recognize my sin. The next one is repentance. I need to turn from my sin.

I need to turn away from that. I need to be willing to stop doing it. I don't, you know, like that prince riding the dragon.

He needed to be willing. There was a time he became willing to stop for a while, but then turned out the pleasure was too much. He kept going back and riding the dragon.

But repentance says, no, I'm willing to stop. I'm willing to not ever go back there ever again. And then finally we have, I debated whether to put confession here.

I think I'm going to put up here restitution. And basically these are the things that can definitely include confession. But I appreciated what Brother Glenn shared last Sunday about the whole thing of verbal confession.

So that thing of restitution, it's more than just changing. You know, some people might discover, oh, you know, I've been riding a dragon. Maybe it's a dragon of lust.

Maybe it's a dragon of anger. Maybe it's a dragon of, you name it, loving the world and the things in the world. Maybe it's covetousness.

But they realize, okay, I haven't been. Maybe there's conflict in their life that they just, you know, they're not getting along with people. And they realize it's their own fault that they're not getting along with people.

And so they decide, well, I'm just going to do better. But they don't actually go and apologize. They don't finish this bridge of going and verbally confessing and saying, I was wrong.

I am sorry. I did you wrong. Going to whoever it was that they wronged in life.

You know, maybe it's a brother in church. Maybe it's the next door neighbor who's not a Christian at all. But there's restitution that's necessary.

And often sin does include some sort of, you know, it does require some sort of restitution. Because we don't just hurt ourselves. We're hurting other people.

So remorse, repentance, and restitution, all three pieces of that bridge is the proper bridge to get to the other side. So don't try to just change, but confess. Don't try to just silently say, okay, I'm going to do better from now on.

But bring it to the light. Bring it to the open where that is necessary. We had a family reunion here this past Sunday.

No, this past week. It was actually Monday, started Monday night. Tuesday and Wednesday were the main reunion.

Anyway, my dad told me about this book, and it's called Thy Kingdom Come. I said, oh, yeah, I've seen that book. I'm pretty sure I've read that book.

Then he started telling me what it was about. I'm not sure I have read that. So I went and got myself a copy.

I said I wanted to read what's in here. But he talks about some of these things. He talks about the kingdom, the kingdom of God.

We've heard about the kingdom. We pray thy kingdom come when we pray the Lord's Prayer. And so he tells, he's trying to describe in this book, and he says at the beginning of the book, he says, I'm not going to use any scripture in this book.

I'm just going to describe as I understand what the scripture teaches, and then you as a reader can go think about this and think about whether this really is backed up with the scripture, I guess is the way I would say his own words. So he starts out by telling a story about a man who had a dream that he went to hell. And he heard all this screaming and this arguing and this fighting and bickering in hell, and he finally peeked behind the curtain to see what he was going to see.

And he said it wasn't at all what he expected. He saw people sitting around a table with everybody having a bowl of soup in front of them. And they're trying to eat this soup, but their spoons are too long.

You hold the spoon way out here and the spoon's sticking past them. They can't get, and they're just angry. They can't get one bite of soup into their own mouth.

And they're just so, he just finds, these people are so angry at how this was going. But they were shouting, they were swearing, there was soup getting spilled everywhere. It was just a terrible scene.

Well, okay, then he got transported to heaven. And he started listening and, oh, everybody's happy and everybody's getting along and everybody's peaceful. And he went into the room and, oh, same thing.

Everybody's sitting around the table with a bowl of soup. I guess they got short spoons here. But no, they all had long spoons too.

Except this time they were feeding each other with their spoons. And now they're happy and everybody's getting along. Now, don't use this as a theology lesson of what heaven and hell are going to be like.

Please, that's not, I don't think soup's going to be necessarily part of it. But what it does, it's a contrast of the kinds of people that go to these places. You see, the kinds of people that end up in hell are the kinds of people that are not helping each other.

They're trying to help themselves and when they can't, they get angry. The kinds of people that end up in heaven are the people who are helping each other, who are doing differently. So keep in mind this story as you read this book and think about these questions.

So I want you to think about this in light of this whole thing of guilt, a clean conscience, the bridge of salvation. But now think about these questions. Who are the people in hell? Why are they in hell? Who are the people in heaven? Why are they in heaven? And then he says, My prayer is that this book will answer these questions and articulate the characteristics found in the people who will be in heaven and hell according to the teachings of the New Testament.

And then he goes on to say he's not going to quote from the New Testament. He wants us to think about them. So think about the country you live in.

Then let me ask you a question. Does your country resemble heaven? Think about the people in your country. Think about the crime, the war, the politics, the fighting, the abuse and the abortions, the drugs and the alcohol, about the false religions.

Does that sound heavenly? No, it doesn't sound heavenly at all. The simple truth is we're not in heaven. Look around.

Read the news. The earth we live in is not heaven. Actually, it's more like hell.

If we're honest, the characteristics of hell's inhabitants from the story in chapter one resemble most of the people on earth. Well, why is that? Well, for one thing, earth is filled with pain and suffering. There will be no pain and suffering in heaven.

But the main reason it resembles hell is because the earth is occupied by who? Selfish, sinful people. So what's it mean to be evil? What is an evil person? Well, we could explain it this way. Think how Jesus acted.

Jesus was the opposite of evil. He was heavenly. So a person who is evil is a person who is not heavenly.

That's what an evil person is. And so to expand, an evil person is not only heavenly, but he's not repentant either. He doesn't regret that he's not heavenly.

So I got a test for those of us here. Are you like Jesus? Do you have heavenly characteristics? Would you fit in in heaven? Now, obviously, we say, well, murderers, they're not going to fit in heaven. No, they don't fit there.

We'd agree with that. Rapists, they wouldn't fit in. Thieves, they're not going to fit in in heaven.

Liars won't fit in. You know, any of these groups. People who commit adultery, they're evil.

So are people who have sexual relations outside of marriage. But that's not all. Well, here's some more characteristics of people who are evil.

Fighting, pride, bragging, hatred, selfishness, covetousness, anger, complaining, rebellion, greed, gossip, lust. If any of these things describe you, I must tell you, you are not heavenly. And if you still feel like you're going to heaven, then I need to say one more thing.

Take the love test. Do you love God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit with all your heart? Even more than you love yourself, do you love your neighbors yourself? If not, you're not heavenly. I hope I didn't offend you.

I say these words with love and concern. I want to be clear on two things. Number one, there are evil people on this earth.

I hope you're not one of them, but there are evil people on this earth. Number two, evil people don't go to heaven. This may sound discouraging, but there's hope.

Keep reading. By now you may be thinking, heaven sounds like a great place for God and Jesus, but not for humans. Heaven would be contaminated if evil humans were there.

That's true. Very true. Evil humans would contaminate heaven.

That's why there's a hell. He says, sometimes the deepest truths come from children. When my daughter Naomi was six years old, she says, well, if God let everybody into heaven, then heaven would be just like earth.

And that is the truth. Think about it. If God let everybody into heaven, heaven would have greed, pride, fighting, lying, and more.

And it would not be like heaven. God cannot and will not let evil people into heaven, simply because God will not allow wickedness into heaven. Write this down.

If somebody is evil on earth, he'll be evil in the afterlife. That's because after you die, it's too late to change. Therefore, if somebody is evil on earth, unless they repent, they will not go to heaven.

They will go to a place called hell. Go back to the story in chapter one. Think about the people in hell.

They were in hell because they were evil. Hell did not make them evil. Long spoons did not make them evil.

They were evil on earth and went unchanged into the afterlife and continued to be evil. I realize it's just a story. People in hell will not be sitting around a table trying to eat soup.

But don't miss the point. Evil humans will go to hell. If you're evil, you will go to hell.

Let's look at an example. Jill. Jill is a woman who is very proud and selfish.

She grew up disrespecting her parents and always fighting with her siblings. As an adult, she continues to fight with people. She disrespects authority and mocks God.

She thinks only about herself and she hurts others. Do you think Jill will go to heaven or to hell? Would you want to be in heaven with Jill? Do you think God will allow someone like Jill into heaven? Now let's talk about heaven. Think about those who will be in heaven.

God will be there with all His glory. Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be there. The holy angels will be there.

And here's the beautiful thing about heaven. All these heavenly beings get along with each other. In heaven, everybody loves each other.

There's no fighting, no division, no arguing, no selfishness, no sin. That's part of what makes heaven so lovely. So far, we've established the following.

Number one, earth is very different from heaven. Number two, evil people on earth will be evil in the afterlife unless they repent. Number three, evil people will not go to heaven.

Number four, evil people will go to a place called hell. Now the question is, will anybody be in heaven? The answer is yes, there will be people in heaven. I repeat, there will be people in heaven.

That's the good news. People in heaven will not be evil. They will be heavenly.

They will love each other and get along like God and Jesus. Think about the people in the story in chapter one. That's what the people in heaven will be like.

The second story, the second part, obviously. Picture it. Humans living together in perfect harmony.

It's hard to imagine, I know, but that is heaven. All the humans in heaven will faithfully and happily worship God. And they will all love each other.

There will be no jealousy, no grumbling, no fighting. All will be peace. Wait.

You may be thinking, well, if earth is inhabited by sinful people, how will anyone become good enough to enter heaven? That is a good question. Let's take a few chapters and examine it. Here's the first hypothesis.

Maybe God's going to zap people when they get to heaven. So you've got these bad people. They're bad all the way through, and then they die, and they go to heaven, and God will just zap them with a gun.

And that will change them into good people who now get along with everybody. Is that what's going to happen? The zap theory. According to what I call the zap theory, God will zap humans with a heavenly gun and make them good.

So you may be cruel and selfish on earth, but after you die, zap. God will turn you into a saint. What do you think? For example, let me introduce you to Bob and Joe.

Bob complains all the time. He's hard to get along with. He's married, but he flirts with other women.

He yells at his children. Joe is a thief. He says mean things about other people.

And he's addicted to pornography. But that's not all. Bob and Joe hate each other.

However, according to the zap theory, Joe and Bob will eventually go to heaven, and God will zap them. Suddenly, they will no longer steal, flirt, or complain. They are holy, heavenly humans.

And when they see each other in heaven, they will run and hug each other. That sounds nice, but it is not right. Many people believe some form of this theory, although they may not call it the zap theory.

They think God will forget about everything Bob and Joe did, zap them, and everything will be peaches and cream in heaven. But it doesn't work that way. Remember, if someone dies after leaving an evil life on earth, he will be evil in the afterlife.

God doesn't change a person's heart and character after he arrives in heaven. For example, if he carried hate in his heart, he will carry it into the afterlife. God will not ignore that.

He won't just zap it away. Hate won't come into heaven. But this theory has another flaw.

If it puts everybody in heaven, it doesn't sound like something God would come up with. If someone was evil on earth, doesn't it seem reasonable for him to go to heaven? Can you imagine unrepentant murderers, liars, and thieves going to heaven? So the zap theory, that's not right. So if God doesn't zap people to get them into heaven, how do they become good? Well, here's another idea.

One denomination came up with the idea of purgatory. There's a cleansing after you die. You're not good here on earth.

And so after you die, you go to this place called purgatory. And then you get cleansed, you suffer, and it's there to punish and purify them. And it might take months, it might take years, but eventually you're going to come out of purgatory when you're ready to go to heaven.

Well, that theory is not true. The concept of purgatory was invented centuries ago by church leaders who had gotten away from the truth. And they said, hey, look, your grandma might be in purgatory right now, but if you pay us, the church, you pay us money, we can pop your grandma right out of purgatory and she'll go straight to heaven.

And, of course, people gave lots of money to the church so they could get their loved ones out of purgatory. Well, that's not a true idea either. And so here's another idea.

So we heard the word church. So maybe the next idea is, well, you mentioned church. So to go to heaven, you've got to be part of the right church.

Is that the idea? Well, let's find out. Is that the idea, just to be part of the right church? Now you're going to be to heaven. Well, in 2015, he says, I got a job in a construction crew.

He says, I worked with the same four men every day for a year. Needless to say, we got to know each other very well and we became close friends. I learned a lot from those men.

First, I learned a lot about construction. They were hard workers and they knew what they were doing. Also, I learned firsthand from these men that there are people who think church affiliation will take you to heaven.

The men I worked with went to church. But it breaks my heart to share that they were not heavenly. They constantly lied.

They used foul language. They were arrogant. They smoked and chewed tobacco.

They were very derogatory toward people who didn't go to their church. The sad part was that they believed they were going to heaven. Why? Because they were part of a particular denomination.

To them, it didn't matter how they treated people, how they lived, what they said. As long as they were good members of their church, they believed they were going to heaven. The men I worked with are not alone.

Many think they're going to heaven because they're members of a certain church. If you're evil, you will not go to heaven. It doesn't matter what denomination you're connected with.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not downplaying the importance of being part of a church family. Please understand that church affiliation will not take you to heaven.

You need to know that. And your church needs to be clear about that. No church will take you to heaven.

I know, you say, God covers my sins so nobody will be able to see it in heaven. Okay, maybe that's what we're going to do. This chapter is called Covered by the Blood.

When my daughter Amy was two, she liked to hide from me. When I put her to bed, she would go under the covers and say, Daddy, where am I? She thought I couldn't see her. I played along, but I knew where she was.

The game's cute for a two-year-old, but it's not cute when adults play it. Many people believe God will cover their sins. It sounds more sophisticated than that, but it's not any different from Amy's game.

The theory goes something like this. Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood, so all humans who put their trust in the blood of Jesus will go to heaven because the blood will, quote, cover their sins. Thus, God won't see their sins, and He will declare them righteous.

This theory was created by Christian theologians. Brilliant men. I'm sure they meant well, but I hope you see the falsity in this.

God won't cover your wickedness and pretend not to see it. A person is either righteous or unrighteous. You can't be declared righteous if you're unrighteous.

Remember, if somebody's evil in life, he'll be evil in the afterlife. Nobody who's evil will go to heaven, even if he claims to be covered by the blood of Jesus. Perhaps an illustration would make it clearer.

Zach had a rough life. His parents divorced when he was young, and he went to live with his grandma. She was poor and in bad health.

Zach made friends who were a bad influence on him. He got into drugs, stealing, fighting, and all kinds of vices. Zach eventually got married and calmed down a bit, but continued to live a sinful lifestyle.

One day, Zach met a Christian. The Christian told Zach that Jesus died on the cross. He said, Zach, if you pray with me, the blood of Jesus will cover your sins.

God will stamp righteous on you, and you will go to heaven. This sounded good to Zach. He wanted to go to heaven.

So, the Christian prayed with Zach and went on his way. Zach went on his way, too. But his life didn't change.

He was the same rude, crude, violent person. But now, he believes he's bound for heaven because he is, quote, covered by the blood. Zach was told he's righteous, when in reality, he is unrighteous.

But, you may be saying, Well, didn't Jesus die on the cross? Yes, the fact that Jesus died on the cross... But the fact that Jesus died on the cross will not get humans to heaven. And if somebody's evil, the blood of Jesus will not make that person righteous unless he repents. Maybe I should put it this way.

If someone is evil and claims to be a Christian, then that person is not a Christian. Actually, it's a big turnoff to non-Christians when they see people who claim to be Christians, but are selfish, rude, mean, judgmental, shrewd in business, and so on. More importantly, God is disgusted by hypocritical Christians, too.

Hypocritical professing Christians, too. Now, I don't want to squabble over theological phrase. I know many sincere Christians who use the phrase, I'm covered by the blood of Jesus.

I would not phrase it that way, but it's not a big deal. I'm just stressing the fact that Christian terminology will not make you righteous. To get to heaven, you actually have to be righteous.

So, what's the answer? So, we aren't zapped. We don't go to purgatory. A particular church denomination won't take you to heaven.

We aren't just declared righteous. I give up. How, then, can evil humans go to heaven? The answer is simple.

Evil humans will not go to heaven. So, how can humans go to heaven? There's only one plausible answer. If evil humans are evil in the afterlife, then the opposite is true.

Humans who are loving and kind will be loving and kind in the afterlife. These will be the people in heaven. They aren't zapped or declared righteous.

They actually are righteous. Some of you are probably saying, Are you saying we're saved by works? No. Keep reading.

Christianity is not simply about getting saved. It's not about going to heaven, although both of these things happen. It's about heaven coming to earth.

I believe that is God's desire. That's what this book is about. Have you thought that maybe God wants earth to resemble heaven? Obviously, it's not possible for earth to resemble heaven, while there's so much wickedness here, but parts of the earth can resemble heaven.

A little here, a little there. That's God's heart. Humans on earth living like they're in heaven.

And those humans will be the humans that are going to heaven. Go back to chapter 1. Why were those people in heaven? It's because of who and what they were on earth. These people were living heavenly lives on earth, and they lived the same way in the afterlife.

Basically, if you have heaven in you now, you will go to heaven. So, that's the key. Getting heaven in you.

Is heaven in you today? Do you want to live a life that's free of guilt and also free of shame? Do you want a clear conscience? You need to have heaven come and dwell in you. Do we have to wait until heaven to experience God's kingdom, or can we experience God's kingdom now? We can experience a measure now. Of course, heaven will be much more later on.

It's going to be much more pure and all that. But think about Jesus, and he talked about repentance. He did not come merely to tell people how to get to heaven.

He personified it. So, think about Jesus and think about his life. What did Jesus do? He loved God.

He loved others. He spoke against sin. He didn't sin himself.

How he helped those in need, about his humility, his kindness. So, Jesus wants this kingdom to continue. He wants people on earth to represent heaven.

People, actual people with heavenly characteristics living godly lives. People filled with love. People who love God.

People who are kind, humble, and help others. People who don't fight and complain. People who are not evil.

People who have heaven inside them because they've repented their sins and been born again. I hope it makes sense now. Those who are part of God's kingdom are the ones who will populate heaven.

And conversely, those who are not part of God's kingdom will not be in heaven. You may be thinking, how do I enter God's kingdom? I was hoping you would ask. And we have five minutes left to answer that question.

Well, how do we enter the kingdom of God? This author, his name is Matt Dreher. He says, I became part of the Dreher family when I was born into it. He says, I had no choice in the matter but.

He says, there's a difference. When I become part of God's kingdom, there was a choice. I had to make a choice.

I had to desire it with all my heart. And he says, you need to come face to face with God. And, you know, you need to acknowledge your own sin.

You need to acknowledge that God made you and he wants you to be part of his kingdom. That's why you're here. In the song written by Philip Brooks, he says this about Jesus.

O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. A beautiful picture, a sinful human calling out to God.

That's how we get heaven coming to this earth. That's how we get the kingdom of God dwelling in us. And this is where the blood of Jesus came in.

Remember we read earlier how the blood of Jesus does not cover us. It does something much more powerful than covering us. It's gone.

It's not covered. It's washing our sins away. Your sin is not covered.

It's gone. You're forgiven. You're born again into God's kingdom.

So if you want a clear conscience, you want to get rid of the shame, you want to get rid of the guilt, you need the blood of Jesus. Only the blood of Jesus cannot cover but wash away your sin, can cleanse you. This, along with baptism, is how you enter the kingdom.

It's sometimes called the new birth or heavenly birth, but it's just the beginning. It says in the next chapter we'll look and see what life is like when you're in the kingdom. So I'm just going to read this one example yet and then that'll be it from this book.

So he says I want to paint a picture of this man who is part of this kingdom. He's done this. He's crossed the bridge of repentance.

He has allowed the kingdom of God to dwell in him. He says I'm going to call him Paul. He says, now this is a mythical guy, but it's a picture of what we as Christians should aspire to.

When Paul entered God's kingdom, he knew he needed change. He was willing to give up anything for God, his bad habits, his ungodly rock music, his selfishness, anything that would not be allowed in heaven. He continues to find things about himself that he changes because he loves God.

Paul's acquaintance Hank is very rude, arrogant, and inconsiderate. Hank says I can't help it. That's just how I am.

Paul doesn't feel that way. Paul says if there's anything in my life that doesn't resemble heaven, it needs to change. Praise.

Paul has a deep relationship with God. He gets up early and prays every morning. He communes with God.

He likes to think about God. He loves God and God loves him. God hears his prayers and walks with him.

Paul's filled with the Holy Spirit. God lives in Paul through the Holy Spirit, guiding him and making his life similar to Jesus' life. He's obedient.

He passionately reads and memorizes the Bible. He carries a pocket Bible with him where he goes. He submits to God and tries to obey all the commands in the New Testament because he wants to please God.

He's humble. People like to be around Paul. He's kind, happy, and polite, but he doesn't brag.

He doesn't even talk about himself much. He's thinking about other people. Paul works with a man named Pete.

When Pete got a promotion, Paul congratulated him. Other people thought Paul should have gotten the promotion, but Paul assured him it was okay. He was not jealous.

He happily supported Pete. He respects authority. God is the ultimate authority, so God can empathize with authority figures when people complain and speak evil of them.

God has a soft spot in his heart for people in authority. Paul understands that. He's careful to respect his boss.

He loves and honors his parents. He tries to be respectful to all the authorities in life. He speaks kindly about police officers and lawmakers, and he cheerfully obeys the laws.

He's peacemaking. People notice Paul's usually smiling. He loves everyone.

He's easy to get along with. He does not get worked up over trivial matters. If he doesn't get his way, he's compliant.

He's gentle, kind. He's quick to apologize when he hurts someone. And then there's a few others here.

He's uncompromising. He's a man of conviction. He's forgiving.

If someone criticizes or slanders him, he doesn't let it bother him. He's tenderhearted. One day, Paul said something to his wife that hurt her feelings.

He felt bad for what he said, so he called her and apologized. He's loving to all. He's patient.

He's filled with integrity. Paul was walking through Walmart, and he noticed a magazine with a picture of a woman in a bikini. Paul looked away.

Whether he's at home or church with nobody watching, Paul lives his life knowing God's always watching. He's selfless. It seems like he's always serving.

He's honest. He's faithful. He loves his wife.

He helps her. He cherishes her. His wife is happy.

She knows she doesn't have to worry about Paul leaving her. He tries not to tempt others with sin. And he likes fellowshipping with other people.

So that's just a brief description of a man who has crossed the bridge. He has now a clean conscience, so he is free from that thing of sin that will keep him from that. There is a couple of passages in the Bible, and I'm not going to read them because of time, but I'm going to tell you what they are about.

These passages are Psalm 38 and Psalm 51. Now, if I were to ask you what Psalm 51 is about, you would say, well, that's the time David had committed sin with Bathsheba, and he felt so bad about it, and he confessed his sin. But if you back up 13 chapters to Psalm 38, David says, he says, I kept silence, and my bones were groaning, and it was just horrible.

And some people think, I don't know if it's true or not, but they think this was the time before Nathan the prophet came to David and confronted him with his sin. And he was just eaten up inside. Why? Because he did not have a clean conscience.

He had not crossed the bridge of remorse, repentance, and restitution. And it's going to be the same with us. If you don't have a clear conscience here tonight or this morning, I want to invite you to get a clear conscience.

Why don't we all just, let's all bow our heads, close our eyes. I just have a question I want to ask. And again, in light of urging you to get a clear conscience, I simply want to say this.

If there is someone here that says to yourself, that you say in the honesty of my own heart, I don't have that peace with God. I don't have that assurance that I am bound for heaven. I don't have a clear conscience, and I want help getting a clear conscience.

If that's you, you can stand up. I'm giving you this opportunity because it's a choice everybody needs to make. And if you've never made that choice, or maybe you have and backslid on it, I want you to have the opportunity to change that, to get help and get right with God and get that clean conscience and get help getting across that bridge to the freedom that's on the other side.

So once again, if you would like some help, I just want to give you the opportunity to stand. I'll just wait five seconds. If no one stands, we'll close the service.

Is there anyone who would like help getting that clean conscience, that peace with God? Thank you. You can be seated. Let's pray.

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, and we thank you, Lord, that you have made way, made a provision for a clean conscience for each one of us. And I thank you for the blood of Jesus that doesn't just cover sin but cleanses. I pray, Lord, that you would help us today.

Help us walk with you. I pray, Lord, that if there's anyone here that should have responded and didn't, that they would seek this help to get across the bridge, to get a clean conscience, and to walk with you. Thank you, God, for your blessings on us today.

We just commit our time to you. In Jesus' name, amen. And we will talk after the service for anyone who wants this help.