HOW TO HAVE A CLEAR CONSCIENCE

TEXT- 2 CORINTHIANS 1:12-24

INTRODUCTION


As we have already learned, Paul experienced many kinds of troubles in his personal ministry.

John F. Kennedy once said, "Great crises produce great men and great deeds of courage."

A crisis not only helps to make a person, but it will also reveal what a person is made of.

This morning our text is found in 2 Corinthians 1:12-24 and the title of my message is, "How To Have A Clear Conscience."

One of the reasons why the Apostle Paul was so successful in his personal ministry was because he had a clear conscience.

Recently, we have all heard and read about campaign strategist Ed Rollins who boasted that he had suppressed the black vote in New Jersey to assure a victory for Republican Governor Christie Whitman.

Whether that was actually done or not is a matter of debate which will go on for some time.

One person however while being questioned by a judge admitted that he was paid by both the Republicans and the Democrats to vote for their candidate.  The judge asked, "And for which party did you vote in the end?"  To which the person replied, "I voted according to my conscience."

Someone has defined a person's conscience as, "The voice that tells you not to do something after you have done it."

I am sure that all of us have experienced a guilty conscience at some time or another in our life for something we shouldn't have done.

When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth the first time he told them in 1 Corinthians 16:5-7; "But I shall come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; and perhaps I shall stay with you, or even spend the winter, that you may send me on my way wherever I may go. For I do not wish to see you now {just} in passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits."

For whatever reason, Paul was unable to revisit this church and as a result some of his opponents accused him of being a liar and fraud.

Paul did not give up or run away and hide, but rather he answered these accusations in our text and shows us the need to have a clear conscience in three areas of our life today.