Aged 94, Mikhail Kalashnikov just did.

He had previously refused to accept moral responsibility for the people his creation killed. But as death loomed, fear of hell increased, and the 91 year-old went to church for the first time. He followed that up with a long emotional letter to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church saying he was suffering “spiritual pain” over the many deaths his gun had caused. If you’ve ever doubted the power of conscience, read these extracts from his letter, published in Russia’s pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia:

My spiritual pain is unbearable….I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle claimed people’s lives, then can it be that I… a Christian and an Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?

The longer I live, the more this question drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression.

He signed it “a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.”

Don’t Give up
This should encourage us never to give up on someone, no matter how old they are or how hard they seem. The conscience within is our greatest ally and God can “drill” into it even after years of searing and numbing.

Let’s just hope that Kalashnikov took his conscience to the blood of Christ and not only to a Russian priest. The blood of Christ can cleanse from every sin, even the tons of blood shed by Kalashnikov’s guns.

Who’s to Blame?
It does raise the question as to whether it can ever be morally right to design weapons like the Kalashnikov. But is it really that different to someone making a bow and arrow or a primitive spear? It all depends on motive. Is it just to make money? Interestingly, Kalashnikov made virtually nothing from his gun. Is it to simply kill as many people as possible or is it to defend from aggressors? As the Russian Orthodox press secretary said:

The Church has a very definite position: when weapons serve to protect the Fatherland, the Church supports both its creators and the soldiers who use it. He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia.

Is it possible for a Christian to work in the arms industry? Yes, God can give some Christians that calling and a clear conscience in doing it.

Here’s hoping we see Mikhail Kalashnikov one day, dressed in white, washed in the blood of the lamb, and fellowshipping with many of the millions his gun sent to glory.

Help to the other side
What a joy to have such a conscience, a conscience that can look forward to the resurrection and final judgment with hope. In Pilgrim’s Progress, Mr Honest arranged for Good-conscience to meet him at the Jordan to help him over to “the other side.” We hope we will be able to do the same when we close our eyes for the last time. As one of the Puritans said: “There is no pillow so soft as a good conscience.” A good conscience can sleep in thunder.

Throughout his administration, Abraham Lincoln was a president under fire, especially during the scarring years of the Civil War. And though he knew he would make errors of office, he resolved never to compromise his integrity. So strong was this resolve that he once said, “I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reigns of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.”

Mr Recorder
And what a terrible experience to lack this! In The Holy War John Bunyan named conscience “Mr Recorder,” and portrayed his role and impact vividly: “Mr Recorder was a man well-read in the laws of his king and also a man of courage and faithfulness to speak truth at every occasion. He could make the whole town of Mansoul shake with his voice.” That’s why some criminals today will confess to crimes they are not accused of, because being punished by men can be better than being tormented by conscience.

To be living with an accusing conscience is misery enough, but to die with conscience witnessing against us, is even worse. And death does not silence it either. Jesus called it “the worm that never dies.” Hell turns up the volume of conscience and stirs it into relentless torment and trouble. Author George Crabbe wrote: “Oh, Conscience! Conscience! man’s most faithful friend, Him canst thou comfort, ease, relieve, defend; But if he will thy friendly checks forego, Thou art, oh! woe for me, his deadliest foe!”

Mr Reformation
As we commemorate the Reformation, we remind ourselves that the Reformation revolution was powered by Bible-bound human consciences. Again and again Luther was close to compromising with church authorities, but God’s inner voice strengthened him to stand with God. The testimony of a good conscience enabled him to stand firm, even if the whole church was against him: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God.”

May God bless us with similar strong and clear consciences that will not only change our inner world, but through us will change the world we live in as well.

1. The world-transforming power of a good conscience
2. A good conscience is an educated conscience
3. A good conscience is an exercised conscience
4. A good conscience is an encouraging conscience

Building a bridgehead
But his self-defense has a greater purpose than his own release. He defended and cleared himself of the most serious charges to form a bridgehead, from which he launched an all-out attempt to win Felix’s soul for the Lord. His good conscience gave him the courage to defend himself and to “attack” the conscience of Felix with the Gospel. His clear conscience in the face of multiple false accusations gave him confidence before God and, therefore, also men (Acts 24:16).

Bald Samsons
But guilty consciences turn people into cowards. A guilty conscience silences the Christian at home, at work, at college, and in the church. I’ve seen powerful preachers become bald Samsons in the pulpit because they compromised their consciences through the fear of man, majority votes, peer pressure, family considerations, or potential consequences.

Martin Luther King said: “Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”

Before God then men
If we do not have confidence before God, we will not have it before men. The loud protesting inner voice will quieten or silence our public voice. But if we keep a clear conscience before God, we can courageously stand before men, not just to defend ourselves but also to evangelize and witness for Christ.

If you preached faithfully yesterday, let the re-assuring inner voice of conscience encourage you to press on, whatever the discouraging external voices of your critics may be saying. Maybe ask God to turn up the volume of the former in order to drown out the latter.

1. The world-transforming power of a good conscience
2. A good conscience is an educated conscience
3. A good conscience is an exercised conscience

The muscle of conscience
Paul really portrayed the conscience like a muscle that has to be exercised to be healthy. And he exercised it “always.” He never let his conscience become lazy, or sleepy. He knew that, like his body, the more he exercised his conscience, the happier and healthier he would be. Paul was not a Sunday jogger. He never had a day off. In every area of life he was prodding his conscience, stirring it up, commanding it to speak: “Is this right or wrong, true or false, good or bad? What should I do with this church? What should I do with my money? What should I say to this person?”

But he went on to say that he exercised it for a purpose. He was not just exercising conscience for fun, or as a philosophical pastime. It was not enough for Paul to have an internal debate or discussion; right action had to follow. His aim was that his conscience would be literally “without a stumbling block.” He was picturing his good conscience as a runner moving swiftly along a smooth road without obstacle, impediment, or pain. But when conscience is rejected and disobeyed, it’s like running into a sharp piece of rock that bruises and bloodies us. Thank God he makes us feel pain in our consciences when we sin, so that we are stopped from going further.

A seared conscience
And at that point we have two options. We can ignore the “pain” and carry on regardless. If we do, we will end up with a seared and calloused conscience (1 Tim. 4:2). The “scar tissue” will thicken and we won’t feel the pain so much the next time. We will be able to go further and more comfortably into sin. Izaak Walton said, “The person that loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping.”

Or, we can take our painful, bleeding wounds to the bleeding wounds of Christ (Heb. 9:14; 10:22). His blood can purge and heal our consciences. And not only that, if we remove the pains of our bleeding conscience via the blood of Christ, we end up with a conscience that is even more sensitive than it was before we sinned.

If we exercise our conscience in one area of life, we will strengthen it for all other areas of life. But if we offend it without repenting in one area of life, we will be desensitized in every area of life. If we steal from our employer, it becomes much easier to abuse alcohol, and commit sexual sin. If we give up one doctrine, (e.g. the creation of the world in six days), it becomes much easier to give up other doctrines (e.g. the historical Adam, etc.).

A saved conscience
If we have calloused and seared our consciences, the way to re-sensitize it is to bring it back to the blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14; 10:22). In fact, daily application to Christ’ blood is an essential element in the exercise of a good conscience.

I humbly beg to differ. Conscience is not just a negative (telling us what is wrong and convicting us when we do it), but a positive (telling us what is right to do and approving what is done right). Romans 2:15 tells us that conscience not only accuses but defends; it not only tells us what is wrong but also what is right. And it does that not just retrospectively but prospectively as well. That’s what makes Adam and Eve’s sin even worse. They not only had God’s command, they also had clear and clean consciences. They had the outer voice of God’s command and the inner voice of conscience. And despite all that they rejected that knowledge and disobeyed that voice by sinning in the garden of Eden. This resulted in serious damage to their consciences, and ours.

Sin filled our consciences with guilt, shame, and fear, suppressing the volume of God’s inner voice; muffling it and mixing it up. While conscience is still present, even in the heathen (Rom. 2:15), its loss of reliable knowledge means its voice is dim, distant, and often confused.    

Due to the effect of sin on our consciences, and its subsequent fallibility, we need to have our consciences re-educated. Our lack of information and our misinformation must be replaced with divine information. And that only comes through God’s Word. Alphonse De Lamartine said: “A conscience without God is like a court without a judge.” That’s why, before claiming possession of a good conscience in Acts 24:16, Paul said in verse 14 that he believed “all things written in the law and the prophets.” He had a good conscience because he had an educated conscience.

There are many who claim to have a clear conscience, whereas what they really have is an uninformed conscience, or a badly educated conscience, often resulting in a brazenly insensitive conscience. A badly educated conscience though can also produce a paralyzingly oversensitive conscience (1 Cor. 8:7, 10, 12). People can think something is wrong when nothing is wrong. All consciences, insensitive and over-sensitive, need to be informed and filled with the Word of God.

Martin Luther started a revolution by educating his conscience with God’s Word. When the religious superpower of the day accused him of pitting his puny conscience against the might of the Church, he replied: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other, so help me God.”

Tomorrow we will see that a good conscience is also an exercised conscience.

TV with a conscience
So that’s TV with a conscience! It’s thought-provoking and provocative TV. It’s TV that challenges the usual norms. And, to the extent that it reminds us of the oft-forgotten difficulties and dilemmas that people face, and makes us more thoughtful and sympathetic, it is good. But its “conscience” seems to have no reference to divine moral standards, it is dependent on electronic visual images for its long-term maintenance, and its effects are limited to the one issue of life being addressed. This is quite different to and far short of the world-changing good conscience of the Apostle Paul or of Martin Luther.

The greatest friend – or enemy
Conscience is the inner voice in every person that tells us that we ought to do God’s will. If we do, it will comfort and encourage us, regardless of painful external circumstances. If we don’t, it will accuse and pain us, regardless of external comfort. That’s why Richard Sibbes said that “conscience is either the greatest friend or the greatest enemy in the world.” As such, it has been given various names over the years: God’s spokesman, God’s deputy, God’s watchman, God’s sergeant, God’s preacher, God’s whisper.

And even the unconverted recognize the existence and benefits of conscience. The late Christopher Reeve (of Superman fame) said: “I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don’t know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.”

Always striving
In Acts chapter 24, Paul was in a dire situation. He had been arrested in Jerusalem, and sent to Caeserea to protect him from would-be assassins. There he was called before Felix, the Roman governor of Judea, then residing in Ceaserea. A skillful and powerful advocate, Tertullus, was the prosecuting attorney. He accused Paul of three things: (i) you are a political rebel, (ii) a Nazarene sect leader, and (iii) a Temple defiler. Paul denied charges (i) and (iii).  And though he admitted charge (ii), he denies any sense of guilt being associated with the admission.  He denied two charges with a good conscience and he admitted one charge with a good conscience. In other words, however many people, courts, Kings and Ceasar’s accused him of wrong, his conscience comforted him.

This was because he was always striving to to have a conscience without offense toward God and man (Acts 24:16). This good conscience, this clear conscience, was the great power behind Paul’s life. It changed Paul’s world, and through him changed the whole world. In the next few days we’ll look at four characteristics of a world-transforming conscience.