Only a cleansed conscience can serve the living God; John 15:16.

Title: Only a cleansed conscience can serve the living God; John 15:16.

 

John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

 

You did not elect Me, but I elected you, and appointed you a place in the body of Christ,

 

Now we are given a purpose clause, “so that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain,”.

 

The purpose clause states the purpose of your election and appointment; the beginning of your predestination, is fruit bearing.

 

 “should go” - `upagw[hupago - present active subjunctive] = to go, to go away from, to depart or to leave. In context it refers to being spiritually self sustaining.

 

Very soon after the departure of TLJC these 11 disciples will have to bear fruit on their own, apart from the physical presence of Jesus Christ.

 

They will communicate the gospel in the face of tremendous adversity and will not have the person of Jesus Christ to stand behind.

 

Spiritually self sustaining - the ability to make good decisions and to produce divine good from your own spiritual strength gained from your own spiritual advancement.

 

Your own wisdom from God’s word will give you the ability to solve your own problems and answer your own questions without having to constantly seek consultation and advice from other people. The word of God is your true counselor.

 

The believer has to learn to solve his own problems and answer his own questions from his own storehouse of doctrine.

 

This cannot be done if the believer’s conscience is filled with guilt or blind arrogance. It cannot be done if the believer’s self-image, the self-consciousness thinks too highly or lowly of himself. How can a believer solve problems outside of himself when there are big problems inside of him? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.

 

Illustrate the soul: 5 compartments

 

All five compartments work in unison and each one has an effect on the other. In order to produce fruit the believer has to be SSS and to be SSS he has to have a healthy and spiritual soul.

 

Yet, every believer is fallen and possesses an OSN. In grace, God has found a way for a fallen sinner to execute His perfect plan.

 

Grace is realized in two stages: 1) At salvation the believer is introduced to the plan of God. 2) After salvation the believer’s power is sustained through doctrine and the FHS.

 

EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 

EPH 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

 

John 8:32

 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

 

1 Cor 2:10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

 

soul illustration

 

There are a number of doctrines that need to be well understood before one can truly be SSS.

 

Filling of the Spirit, Essence of God, Trinity, Hypostatic union, soteriology, election, predestination, Angelic conflict, total depravity of man, and dispensationalism.

 

With this foundation, and in no particular order, the believer begins to grasp a panoramic picture of God’s purpose, aim, and desire for human history.  

In this way the believer’s soul begins to line up with God’s perfect wisdom, and although never becoming perfect itself, enjoys soul prosperity in a supernatural way.

 

HEB 4:12

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

ROM 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

2 Tim 3:16-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

 

But herein lays a warning. The plan of God can prosper you or it can roll right over you.

 

There is no escaping the fact that filling your soul with sin, evil, and false doctrine sear the conscience which causes mental pain, depression, anxiety, worry, stress, and psychosis.

 

It begins with carnality.

 

Carnality is an absolute status quo which describes the believer out of fellowship with God and in a state of sin under the control of the old sin nature.

 

1 Cor 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh [carnal - KJV], as to babes in Christ.

 

1 Cor 3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,

 

1 Cor 3:3 for you are still fleshly [carnal]. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly [carnal], and are you not walking like mere men?

 

Continued carnality leads to blackout of the soul and hardness of the heart where the soul is enveloped in the slavery of ungodly thinking.

 

EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

 

EPH 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

 

EPH 4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

 

EPH 4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

 

EPH 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

 

EPH 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

 

EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

 

EPH 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

 

This slavery is the opposite of freedom under the power of being spiritually self sustaining.

 

1 John 1:7

if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

I repeat:

Positional truth cleanses the conscience from human viewpoint, human arrogance, and human good; all of which were rejected at the cross, HEB 9:14.

 

HEB 9:9 which [tabernacle] is a symbol for the present time [present dispensation]. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered [Levitical offerings] which cannot make the worshiper [the one performing the worship - ritual] perfect [mature] in conscience,