No More Conscience of Sins

[Ken & Sue Brown]

Nearly 20 years ago, not long after leaving TWI, I came across a section of Scripture that astounded me. I was stunned because the section seemed to contradict something I had long held to be an important and fundamental doctrine. I must have read this section before, but apparently I had never seriously considered what it was saying.The section to which I refer is in Hebrews.Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.The Israelites could get forgiven of their sins, but they had to keep coming back to the temple year by year to get forgiven again. If they had had a sacrifice that made them perfect (telios), the Children of Israel would not have needed to offer any more sacrifices; and having been “purged” (cleansed), they should therefore have had no more conscience of sins. The record goes on to say that we DO have such a sacrifice, a one-time sacrifice that perfects us forever.12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.The obvious conclusion is that we should have no more conscience of sins. How can this be? Israel had to be reminded of their sins once a year and God wanted to deliver them from that. I was remembering my sins and confessing my broken fellowship multiple times every day! I would gladly have traded that for only needing to be reminded of my sins once a year. And yet if I was correct about what I understood 1 John 1:9 to be saying, what I was doing was needful.1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.What Hebrews seems to clearly say contradicts what 1 John seems to clearly say. If I have to remember my sins to confess them, asking God for his forgiveness, thus obtaining His forgiveness and getting cleansed of my unrighteousness, I cannot have “no more conscience of sins.” Either my understanding of Hebrews was incorrect, or my understanding of 1 John was incorrect.In 1972 at the HQ Advanced Class, I talked to Dr. Wierwille about the practical application of 1 John 1:9. We were under the apple trees. I said:“Sir, I know there are sins of omission as well as sins of commission. I may have missed the revelation or not thought something through. Since this is true, I do not necessarily always know when I may have just sinned. Since all sin is broken fellowship, and since the only way to repair my broken fellowship and be forgiven and cleansed of my unrighteousness, is to confess my sins, and I never know when I may have just sinned, I confess my broken fellowship before the father whenever it comes to my mind. It might be 5 or 10 or 20 times a day. Is this what you do?”He looked startled. Then he leaned back in his lawn chair and stared toward the sky for a moment or two with his hands clasped behind his head. Finally he looked at me and said, “Oh no son. You’ve got to get out of your sin consciousness. I go to bed at night and I thank God for forgiving me for sinning all day long, and other than that, I just never think about it.” I appreciated his practical advice, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t have the doctrine to back it up. From what I was taught and believed, what I was doing was the logical response.It took a quest lasting many years before I understood the correct doctrine from God’s Word that freed me from sin consciousness. Reading Hebrews chapter 10 that morning was a major stepping-stone in the right direction.In PFAL we learned a principle. If there are 50 verses that apparently say one thing, and one verse that apparently says something else, believe the 50 and take a second look at the one to see if you understand it correctly. What do other Scriptures have to say about forgiveness, about righteousness before God, about our fellowship with Him, about confession of sins, etc?Let’s take a few examples. Ephesians says we have already been forgiven.Ephesians 1:7In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;Ephesians 4:32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.These verses say we already have the forgiveness of sins and that we have already been forgiven. They do not say we have been forgiven for some sins but still must do something to gain God’s forgiveness for others. I used to read that into these verses because of what I thought 1 John was saying, but they don’t say that. They just say we have the forgiveness of sins and have been forgiven.Colossians states the same truth.Colossians 1:14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:Colossians 2: 13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;Colossians 3:13Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.Romans says we are dead to sin and freed from it.Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.1 Peter tells us the same.1 Peter 2:24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.How can it be said that we are dead to sin(s) and freed from it if God is holding certain of my sins (the ones I haven’t confessed yet) against me; these sins causing a separation between us such that God will not answer my prayers. That doesn’t sound like dead to sin(s) to me. (Incidentally, the words “sin” and “sins” are not used in God’s Word to distinguish between the state of sin and the acts.)1 John seems to say I must do something to get cleansed of my unrighteousness. The Church Epistles say I don’t have any unrighteousness. They say I have been made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Righteousness basically just means rightness. Our righteousness is our rightness before God. The Church Epistles say I have that rightness before God as a gift (Romans 5:17) because Jesus Christ paid for my sins.If it were true that any given sin would cause you to be “out of fellowship” with the Father, causing you to be in a state where He does not hear, much less answer, your prayers, and that the only way to get out of this condition is to confess your sins, doesn’t it seem like that would be important to know? What else could be any more crucial for the born-again believer to know? Why is it then that confession of sins is not discussed in Romans, the foundational book of doctrine? Why is it that confession of sins is never once so much as alluded to in all the seven Church Epistles? Confessing your sin to God is never mentioned ANYWHERE in God’s Word relative to the grace administration other than 1 John 1:9!This whole doctrine of “broken fellowship” and the need to confess your sins to get back “in fellowship” and explaining away clear verses that say we have been forgiven, made free from sin, and made righteous is all based solely on one verse outside the Church Epistles. I had previously, without ever really considering what I was doing, redefined scores of clear verses “in light of” 1 John 1:9. When I read, for example, Ephesians 4:32, “… even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” I would automatically think “yes, for the sins I committed before being born again but not for the ones after until I confess.” But this verse does not say that.Acts 13:39 has a piece of interesting information.Acts 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.“Justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” What was it that people could not be justified from under the law of Moses that they can justified from by Jesus Christ? David was under the law, and God forgave him for murdering Uriah. There are many examples of heinous acts that God forgave people of in the Old Testament under the law. What exactly was it people could not be justified from under the law of Moses but can be justified from by Jesus Christ? The verse in Acts tells us. It is all things. The children of Israel could be forgiven of any one thing or a number of things, but as Hebrews shows, they did not have a one- time sacrifice that justified them from all things. If we today still have to piece meal getting forgiveness from God, confessing one sin at a time to gain God’s forgiveness, we have nothing better regarding forgiveness than did the children of Israel.Let’s think about this from a practical point of view for a moment. It is simply not possible to confess all your sins. The verse does not say to acknowledge your state of broken fellowship; it says (or seems to say) that being cleansed of your unrighteousness is dependent on confessing your sins. Would you agree that willfully, knowingly violating the Word of God is sin? What about the verse that says to lead every thought captive to Christ? Is there anyone who honestly believes that it is possible to identify and confess every bad thought? What about the guy who goes out in “left field” for 20 years, and then has a change of heart? He decides to come back to God and follow Him and love Him. Unfortunately, he will always have unrighteousness before God (thus being “out of fellowship”) no matter what he does, because there is no way he is going to be able to remember all his sins for the past 20 years to confess them and get forgiven. 1 John 1:9 just cannot be telling born-again believers that they must confess individual sins to gain God’s forgiveness and get cleansed of their unrighteousness. That would be an absolutely unattainable standard for righteousness.For a long time, I didn’t know what the story was with 1 John. I just knew that what I had believed it was saying was contradictory to many other Scriptures. For years I chose to believe the many clear records from the Church Epistles and other places regarding righteousness and forgiveness and hold 1 John 1:9 in abeyance, having no explanation. Whether I had an explanation for 1 John or not, it was life changing to finally begin to believe the Church Epistles: that I am righteous before the Father, not just righteous in one way but not another; that I am dead to sin(s) and freed from it; and that I have been forgiven all trespasses, not just some of them. (Also, not needing to spend half my prayer life apologizing and asking for forgiveness freed up a lot of time and mental energy.)To understand what 1 John 1 is talking about, we must first understand what “fellowship” means as it is used in God’s Word. We must determine to whom the book is addressed. We must learn the meanings of the idioms: “walk in light” and “walk in darkness.” We must also examine what the sin is that is referred to, among other matters. These will be the subjects of future articles.

[Michael Prahm]

I think the best context for understanding Romans 6:1 is Shall we contuinue in sin(remedies of the law) that grace may abound. Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come... A shadow... when cloudy or at night not seen. Moves depending on the angle of the light that causes the shadow. Hebrews is the only place you find any information on Melchisdek, that which belongs to the Patriarchel period, the only demonstrated actions from this time period are the wise men,"Where is he that is born King of the Jews, and the night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed, when he took Bread and wine(see Genesis 14). I highly recommend doing a word study on the word better in the book of Hebrews. Better promises and a better covenant.

love,
Mike Prahm

[John Richeson]

I think I get that from my mother, Karen.

My wife of almots 30 years, on the other hand, will beg to differ. She sometimes has another word for me, one which I used inappropriately on Billy's thread when I was mad one day.

I hope I get a chance to meet some of you in person some day. What an interesting and diverse group we have become. I love it.

[Dan Haas]

Liberty is a two-edged sword. Whether in government or ministry, it's "easiest" to let one man (or woman) rule. In the USA, freedom of speech allows things like porn to exist. But whether it is a website or a local church, I do find myself happier if I'm in an environment where I can speak my mind, and if would like friends, it seems that I might do well to be friendly. And I'm not talking about merely "allowing" others to speak their minds, but really caring about what they might have to say.

“For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” (1Co 11:18-19 AV)

My Christian experience has been one of both the Word and the spirit. The same with John, Ken, Karen, and Karl, and the apostle Paul. We have the canon of scripture because, I think, of its obvious value, and superiority over other writings of the time (as well as other times). And now here in my "old age" (55), praise be to God, I am still quite willing to learn -- quite willing for God to teach me something I do not presently know. And He does it directly or through the words of scripture, or through another believer's words. Of course, I should remember what He has taught me in the past, and hold on to it. But like others have expressed here and there, some of the things I was so sure of in times past weren't so sure after all. DrW expressed the same thing in PFAL: he'd read this and read that, concluded this and concluded that, but just when he truly needed communion with God, all he had was an empty hole. He'd been moving forward, doing what he thought were "the things of God," but it didn't line up with what he was now (then) beginning to see in the scriptures. A real Berean attitude.

My sense is that John's comment is the other edge of the sword that Karen and Karl have expressed. I too have felt the sting and the shame of being corrected by the Lord. And I have felt the exhilarating liberty of being able to move on, put it away, not having to give it another thought. That is, after all, the message of the cross. And I've found that if I ever get lost in the Bible, if I return to the cross, everything else is put in sharper focus and perspective.

I do think allowing people to speak their minds, and being allowed to express myself offers an opportunity to see that our experiences and study may differ from others, and yet we may find that together we see extra-dimensionally, as it says in Ephesians: the love of Christ, which transcends knowledge. And just as Paul straightened out the Corinthian church on matters of communion vs. division, heresy ought to be challenged, for truth is not variable. Both then and now, love is the ruling motivation, and communion the desire.

Ken has been doing what we were taught to do, and so have you others. It wasn't always how things were done practically in the ministry, but we WERE taught to think for ourselves and "make the Word our own." And that's the example DrW set himself. The irony, of course, is that when we break communion with our brethren, we may find ourselves in our own heresies!

[Karen (Hemmalin) McGrath]

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You are a good man, John. Seriously. People have different longsuits. I think mine is repentance. ;)

I think yours is loving people, you excel at it. You have that pastor thing going on and it's a blessing. :)

[John Richeson]

I am not as convinced as you two are. But I still feel ok and righteous and deserving. I am not so sure I have time to think about how much I sin, etc It would be a full time job. And I am not so sure I even know what the "Kingdom" is and am not really inspired to dig into it. Sounds nice. Maybe I'll make it. I usually end up where the action is somehow.

I simply try to treat my fellow man with respect and try to do good in this world and love people. I try to contribute something rather than take away.

[Karen (Hemmalin) McGrath]

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Yes! So cool, Karl! We were taught the renewed mind is change but it's change that God does, not us. We can't scrub the outside hoping it will be ok inside. We have to let God move in us, then we respond to him. It's beautiful and powerful.

[Karl Chang Wai]

Karen,

Amen and Praise God !!! I love your testimony. I had a similar experience one day driving to work. The Lord Jesus spoke to me and show me where I had sin and immediately I was so sorry and repented and confessed my sins to the Father. It was so powerful. I cried and my heart became overwhelmed with sorrow. Once I had repented and asked the Father to purify me with the blood of His Son, the rest of the day was spent hearing many things the Lord Jesus needed to instruct me on and the Father even interupted my conversation with the Lord to add His heart and wisdom and to futher teach me about HIS LOVE. Wow! I do not take for granted the tool we have as believers to confess our sins... Now is the time to ask for forgiveness... there is coming a time when Judgement will take presedent over confession of sins. Let walk by the spirit and as Karen rightly said make Jesus Christ Lord in your life every day. Our righteousness is a choice every day, not an automatic pass that we received at Salvation.

[Karen (Hemmalin) McGrath]

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Hi Ken,

I really enjoyed your article, thank you! :)

It struck a particular note with me because God taught me these verses experientially in December 2000.

My husband and I had been ministering in a particular fellowship and the door was soon shutting and we needed to move on. We were seeking the Lord to find out where he wanted us to go next. I kept coming across the verse; If we say we have no sin we are essentially liars. I John 1:8. I came across it often enough that I realized God was trying to get my attention.

Finally one morning during my private worship & prayer time, I told God I had seen the verse he'd been sending my way and I wanted to know what he meant. I was born again at the age of 5, what sins had I committed? Other than Adam's sin of course, breaking spiritual ties with God and being born physically into that deadness. Since being born again at 5, I had committed dead works but knew he had forgiven me all of those since I had asked him to and these verses in I John indicate that if I asked, then he'd forgiven, right?

I also had an early Way teaching that said confess is the Greek word homelogeo meaning to say the same words that God would say; homo = same and logeo = words. Therefore the way to get forgiveness was to confess or declare what God says about you, that you are holy and without blame, etc.

Nice doctrine, dead wrong.

Consequently I was dancing around thinking I wasn't sinning when the circumstances of my life were clearly indicating that something was wrong since I did not have the peace and wisdom necessary to overcome any obstacles.

As I sat there that morning, I asked the Almighty to tell me why he kept bringing me that verse. Obviously I was sinning but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how or where.

God did not speak. I was devastated. I knew that whatever he was going to reveal to me I was not ready to hear it; his silence was mercy. I asked him to grow me, to help me understand so that I could stop sinning against him. For three weeks I sat in worshp & prayer every morning waiting on God and asking him to reveal the sin to me.

At the end of three weeks he said I had been selfish. Immediately I rose up to say to him that I was not selfish at all, I was one of the most generous people I knew. The Almighty was again silent. When I realized I was defending myself to GOD, I placed my hand over my mouth and stopped the torrent of unbelief. Then I apologized profusely for refusing his word. I said, yes, Lord, I have been selfish, please forgive me. In that instant I realized it's not homelogeo what words God says about you in the Bible, it's what words God is saying to you now. He is the only one who can reveal our sin because he's the only one who can righteously diagnose our sin. We can't do it appropriately because we are not our own lords. We can try but that is sin.

I accepted his lordship and asked him to say on and begged him to help me destroy selfishness in my life, knowing I cannot do it on my own. We cannot renew our own minds, that was an erroneous teaching that resulted in us taking lordship over our own lives, playing into Satan's hand.

God began to speak and revealed that he had done so much for me and I hadn't told very many people. I reminded him that those I had told had tried to kill me on more than one occasion and he reminded me that they hadn't actually been able to hurt me at all. He was right, of course. I was loving my life more than him, clearly I was very ill.

I repented of my sin of selfishness and I have been telling people ever since. Yes, some have tried to make things very difficult for me. My family has been in jeopardy more than once. The enemy has sent messengers to try to shut me up many times, but one thing is true, I am finally doing what God has asked. I have lost more friends than I've kept but I figure those worth keeping want to hear what He's done and those lost, are lost.

I spent the next three years in worship & prayer every morning crying before the Almighty. Those three years were full of deep mourning and repentance for the sin of selfishness I had committed against the Almighty. In no way did I consider I was wallowing in sin or being sin conscious. I was letting God cleanse me. After three years I stopped crying one morning. I was revived. He gave me an assignment. I went and did as I was told. He gave me another, which I am still doing. It’s great. I don’t spend time asking forgiveness but when God points something out to me, I repent immediately and stay where the grass is eternally green whether it looks that way on earth or not!

We cannot tell what our sins are. We have to ask God. Jesus Christ is our LORD. He's not a one-time ticket into heaven. The written word does not take the place of the absent Christ because Christ is not absent from us. We are not completely redeemed physically but the time is coming. We are completely redeemed spiritually and manifest redemption in our soul life as we allow God into our hearts and act accordingly. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11. It’s not every word of the Bible but what is he saying now? Verses help us understand his spiritual accent, of course, and his nature so we can discern what is from him and what may be another spirit trying to lie to us.

The sins that are characteristic of the times we live in are mainly sexual sins which are sins of unlawful lordship. As we allow Jesus Christ to be our living Lord and Savior, then we will avoid the collective sin of our times and be able to help others out of that hell fire.

Repentance is a gift. It's not the turning of the mind to God; it's far deeper than that. Esau sought the place of repentance, with many tears and never found it. He was quite sincere and diligent. What was the sin that required repentance? He accepted provision beyond what God had given him. Adam did the same thing. Lordship. God is enough, we must understand.

Acts 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

The wife may seek to return to her husband but the husband has to grant the open door. Nowhere does it say in the Bible that God will absolutely give us repentance when we ask. It's a gift the Giver keeps as his prerogative. Of course, we can ask.

Without repentance we cannot get into the kingdom. There are those that say once born again you are in the kingdom. Eventually that will be true. But what about walking in the kingdom now? John the Baptist said "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." What the heck does that mean? I believe it means the kingdom of God is within your reach when you repent. It is also within us, but it can be in us a lifetime and we can still miss it, eh?

Repentance can’t be the turning of the mind to God, unbelievers do that frequently. It's a turning to the only God we ever want with all of our being to have worship called forth in us so we cannot help but say that God is our God, that we will do nothing but live in his presence forever.

It's a heart thing.

No more consciousness of sins means that we have so accepted his lordship so that we do not realize sin unless he points it out to us. When he does, he has the remedy. I can have ten people telling me what they don’t like about me, in other words, sin. If I go and do what they all say, I am pleasing men, am I not? But if I am listening to God, I am pleasing him. He has made us righteous so that when our sin is revealed by him, we know it’s contrary to our spiritual nature so we stop claiming it as our own and let him remove it.

with much love, Karen

[Dan Haas]

Absolutely, John. The trouble is not so much that they take "It is written" too far, it's that they do to what is written something akin to your two examples. One cannot take "But I say unto you, love your enemies..." too far. A perverted view of scripture taken as absolute is the cause of so much evil.

Your point about the one-teacher scenario is a good one. I wonder even about the architectural setup of most churches, with the podium and pews. The Quakers, at least the ones who follow the older practices, face one another in worship, and wait upon God together. Someone speaks only if he or she feels immediately inspired. Sometimes the entire worship service is silent. They call this "unprogramed worship" to differentiate it from "programed" worship, as some of the more progressive congregations do. And I think that early model is a good one. The idea of an Old Testament priesthood carried through to the New does violence to the NT revelation. Even so, as Paul writes in Romans 12, for example:

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith;” (Ro 12:6 AV)

And so on. Over on another thread, Steve M. spoke of a "college of peers," I think. This is exactly as the scriptures teach, "... all of you be subject one to another....", "and if something is revealed to another, let the first hold his peace....", "...may be able to comprehend WITH ALL SAINTS what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which transcends knowledge."

[John Richeson]

A side note - This this format of bible study is far more interesting and inspirational to me than when we were younger and all agreed with each other in our twigs. Maybe it would be good for others to consider drifting away from the lone teacher concept sitting in the main chair in the living room who does all the talking.

"My opinion - if someone wants an excuse, they'll find it, whether that be the grace of a forgiving God or their own justification for their actions. We do have "free will", the ability to choose and make our own decisions. If we understand that something is wrong, it's wrong. Forgiveness doesn't make it any less wrong."

I love it. Sounds like years of practical experience talking there. I agree with you.

Where it may get complicated for some is

1. If a person decides that the "Word" says it is not wrong when it really is (for example: having sex with anyone is just a physical act if we renew our minds. It only becomes sin if we allow it to.)

2. and equally if not more harmful he decides something is wrong when it is not (for example: socializing and befriending others who are not in my ministry).

Common sense has to come into play tempered with his view of scripture. In each of the above examples, in my opinion, in some cases it could be sin and while in other cases not.

Scripture-a-holics or bibliolators are two phrases I think of to describe extremist views of the bible who allow only a black and white point of view. They carry "it is written" too far and use the bible as a weapon of mass destruction. We've seen this in both olden times and in modern times. Couldn't that be a form of sin too?