Introduction
In our current culture, we see aspects of an honor-and-shame, condemnation-and-cancellation culture. Often people plunge deeper into sin, opposition, unbelief, legalism, and antinomianism because they don’t know how to be forgiven. In several cases, the reason why people stop coming to church is because of the lack of assurance in Christ’s atoning work. Whether plagued by false guilt or rightly convicted of sin, the troubled conscience is like a dog on a bone that stubbornly refuses to break its focus. Preachers must target these people with faithful exposition, helpful illustration, experiential application, and mature unpacking of the gospel. (1)
Thomas Brooks famously said, “Christ, the Scriptures, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched.” (2) Satan’s devices tempt us to indulge in sin or to despair over our sin. The latter of these always leads to a troubled conscience. If preachers are going to be effective in their pastoral ministry then they must preach to the troubled conscience. The difficulty in defining the troubled conscience is that troubles abound. There is the guilty conscience, overly sensitive conscience, and hardened conscience. There are those who are wrongly buried by false-guilt, while others wrongly ignore the necessary conviction for their sin and guilt. The troubled conscience can be haunted by the past and daunted by the future. “What if” thoughts can drown out the promises of God and “what have I done” thoughts can downplay the sufficiency of Christ. The troubled conscience is anyone who is trembling within—believer or unbeliever.
1) Preaching is not the counseling room, but it does counsel.
Because the preacher is a pastor, he must preach in such a way that cares for the different cases of conscience and cures the different conditions of the heart. We believe in the sufficiency of Scripture to speak into any and every condition with the highest authority and unrivaled power, which means the preacher must work hard to wisely use the scalpel of the gospel to cut to the heart and apply the balm of Christ.
Because the preacher is a pastor, he must get to know his people—not merely for preaching, but for loving them. We don’t preach for podcasts or potential conferences; we preach to shepherd the people right in front of us. Another important reminder is that preaching is not a Sunday School class. We are not simply explaining Scripture, doctrine, history, geography, and archaeology. Preaching is also not a therapeutic moment. It unashamedly heralds the gospel, lifting up one’s voice with authority, intentionally pricking the consciences of the people, and passionately calling for faith and obedience. Preaching heralds the truth, getting to the heart with the gospel that is faithfully exposited from that particular text. Preaching is preaching, but biblical preaching does counsel.
Practical: The preacher does this with variety in his preaching, using indicatives, imperatives, interrogatives, and exclamations. Indicative statements help the troubled conscience rest upon the truth. Imperatives rightly command the troubled conscience to believe the gospel and to walk in obedience. Interrogatives effectively bring the troubled conscience to reflect on their condition and use logical reasoning to examine their doubts. Exclamations exhort the troubled conscience to recognize their condition, look to Christ, believe their union with Him, and to worship Him.
2) Get particular but not awkwardly particular.
If we’re too general, then the troubled conscience will say, “That’s not me.” But if we’re too particular, then the troubled conscience might not apply it to themselves because they will think it refers only to another particular person. If we’re overly particular, we might make the particular conscience feel unnecessarily “called out”. But you must get particular and preach to the people in front of you. It takes much wisdom, but it is necessary if you’re going to “land” the truth.
The troubled conscience will not be relieved if you aren’t particular. Doubts arise one after another like waves at the beach. The troubled conscience is often very stubborn and needs to know that God is speaking to them and their condition. They need to know that the gospel is for them in this particular situation they’re in.
Practical: Think about potential objections the troubled conscience might have to the text. This is different from apologetics, but there is an overlap. In particular, you want to imagine what the troubled conscience might object to that might influence them not to take hold of Christ by faith. Raise the objection and then answer it accordingly. Sometimes it can be helpful to take Paul as an example and have a string of objections and answers.
3) Sometimes They’re Hiding, Sometimes They’re Hounded
The troubled conscience might be hiding in sin, doing all they can to ignore their guilt and shame. But it is very important to remember that they might not be hiding sin. Rather, they might be very aware of their sin, guilt, and shame, and are deeply pained by it. How often Christians find themselves in the Dungeon of Despair, having the key of God’s promises in their pocket, but thinking themselves unable to use it. They make statements like, “This truth isn’t for me. I am a different case.”
As these statements reveal, they might be unwilling to recognize that they are a real sinner with real sin. Their primary sin in this condition might be unbelief in God’s grace more than anything. Preachers need to target these and richly apply the depths of gospel truth to the conscience, working it into the hearts of “bruised reeds”.
Practical: Think about the different ways people hide when they’re hounded by their sin. Some of these are hiding because they don’t want to acknowledge their sin and guilt. Others are hiding because they know they’re guilty and only think of God as a severe Judge. Expose their hiding spots, and lead them to a better understanding of who Christ is for them.
4) Remember Satan’s devices.
Satan has innumerable numbers of devices to throw at people. They can be simplified into two main categories, but these two main categories can be packaged in a myriad of ways. Satan adopts one of two strategies: 1) He tempts us to indulge in sin. 2) He tempts us to despair over the sin we indulged in.
The wise preacher is one who has reflected on these devices and learns how to anticipate those devices being exposed in each text. Sometimes a congregant comes into church undergoing the wiles of the devil; other times the preaching of the text is when Satan shows up to snatch away the seed of the gospel. Faithful pastors need to study the hundreds, if not thousands and tens of thousands, of different devices Satan uses to cast one into doubt and despair. The troubled conscience pierced by these flaming arrows of the Evil One needs wisdom for how to dislodge these arrows from the conscience. When the preacher names, describes, and anticipates these arrows, the troubled conscience is often greatly relieved and seems to more readily receive the gospel truth.
Practical: Study the great works like Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks, A Lifting Up For The Downcast by William Bridge, Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel by Timothy Tappert, Grace Abounding for the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan.
5) They might have the wrong theology.
Our doctrine is experiential and must be preached in an experiential way. By “experiential”, I mean that it affects how I think, speak, feel, make decisions, and nurture or mortify certain affections. Doctrine is meant for living the Christian life. Preachers must preach in such a way that “brings doctrine to life”. By doing so, you will help the troubled conscience to see the head-heart gap. They might genuinely profess the right truths, but fail to apply it to all of life. Preach in such a way that reveals how doctrine interprets our experiences rather than experience re-defining our doctrine.
The troubled conscience might be functionally legalistic or antinomian. When we apply doctrine to the different stages and seasons of the Christian life, the troubled conscience can see how they are failing to live in light of what they believe. Much relief can be provided for those who are greatly burdened by false guilt when the preacher provides examples of what it is to believe in the finality of Christ’s atonement. This is also why we need regular teaching, preaching, studying, and reciting of our Reformed confessions and catechisms. The troubled conscience needs to know doctrine, know it rightly, and know it experientially.
Practical: Find moments in the sermon to accurately and precisely state what the doctrine is and contrast it with what it isn’t. You can also show the implications of how we think, love, and act based on those different statements. Example: How might the troubled conscience be functionally reversing the words “act” and “work” in relation to justification and sanctification?
6) They must hear of the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work.
Dismantle a “Jesus + _____” mentality. Point it out, expose it, show how it betrays biblical teaching, goes against the glory of God, and hurts our Christian lives. Make sure the troubled conscience clearly knows what Christ did on the Cross. Don’t shy away from important theological words like propitiation and expiation. Use these words and define them so that they know what Scripture is teaching. What greater shield against Satan’s fiery darts than clarity on what happened on the Cross?
But don’t only preach the death of Christ; preach the resurrection of Christ. Convince the troubled conscience that Christ rose for our justification, declaring victory over sin, Satan, and death, and by His resurrection power He empowers us to live new lives. The fullness of the atonement of Christ is the strongest ballast for the troubled conscience amidst the storms. From the doctrine of the atonement, assurance of our justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification strengthens.
Practical: Consider taking a page out of the Puritans’ preaching ministry and preach a long series on the Cross of Christ, unpacking all the aspects of who Christ is and what He did to make atonement, aiming for saving faith in believers and unbelievers.
7) They must understand that repentance is not penance.
The antinomian tries to forget their sin because they think repentance is penance. They tell themselves that striving after obedience, working hard to produce good works, and self-examination is legalistic. They re-define repentance as works-righteous penance. The legalist tries to atone for and contribute to Christ because they also think repentance is penance. The legalist thinks it is antinomian to rest completely upon Christ alone and not look to repentance as any contribution to our justification and adoption. Both the antinomian and the legalist misunderstand repentance. This misunderstanding greatly affects the troubled conscience.
The troubled conscience must be clear on what is gospel repentance, or “repentance unto life”. Preach about repentance in such a way that clarifies that it is “an evangelical grace” and “not to be rested in, as any satisfaction for sin, or any cause of the forgiveness of sins”. At the same time, preach that repentance is “of such necessity to all sinners, that none may expect pardon without it”. Clarity on repentance is often one of the greatest antidotes to the troubled conscience so that they look to Christ alone for all heavenly blessings.
Practical: Preach the riches of WCF 15.2. Few paragraphs in all the Confession are more rich than this, striking a wonderful balance of striving, effort, and zeal with resting upon and apprehension of the mercy in Christ.
8) They must stop trying to justify themselves and rest upon Christ.
The troubled conscience often examines whether something is or isn’t sin. Biblical self-examination is necessary, but there is often the tendency of unbiblical introspection. Rather than trusting God as the perfect Judge, the troubled conscience seeks to justify itself by resting on whether something is sin or not. The problem is that if they realize that something is sin, they plummet into despair rather than confessing their sin to God, trusting that He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse them from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9). If it is not sin, they can begin to functionally depend upon their own righteousness rather than Christ.
Preachers must expound the fullness of Christ’s active obedience and the fullness of sin. Call sin for what it is—don’t excuse it, water down, explain away, or find other reasons why their sin is not their fault. The troubled conscience needs to know what sin is and what Christ has done for sinners like them. They do not want sin to be excused; they want sin dealt with. Do not tell them that sin “isn’t that big of a deal, so just don’t worry about it”. They want to know if God has justly damned their sin and guilt by His infinite justice upon the Cross of Christ so that they can rest upon Christ alone for salvation. The troubled conscience needs to know if the verdict of justification has been immutably declared upon them at the moment of their conversion. They need to be assured that God’s infinite justice has been satisfied and that the courtroom of their conscience needs to come in alignment with God’s.
Practical: Call sin for what it is and make sure you call God’s grace for what it is. Grace is only grace if there is sin, but ensure that you preach grace far more than you preach sin. And make sure you don’t preach “grace” as some separate “thing” apart from Christ. Preach Christ Himself as the grace of God.
Conclusion
Troubled consciences are in your congregations every Sunday. They might act like they are unbothered, super spiritual, not struggling with sin, and assured of their salvation. But even the most mature believers—and especially they—are in the crosshairs of Satan’s fiery darts. They will be shot at, and sometimes the arrows land and lodge deep in the conscience. The wise and loving preacher must minister to the troubled conscience in his preaching. If he can dislodge the arrows and help the people grow in assurance of the gospel, they will empower them to zealously pursue holiness, spread the gospel, and perform acts of mercy.
(1) By “mature”, I mean one that is not shallow. Rather, the “mature unpacking of the gospel” is that which is well-versed in the nooks and crannies of the doctrine and also knows how to rightly apply it to particular conditions of the people. The soul-physician and spiritual heart surgeon is one who richly knows the gospel, his people, and the dynamics of the heart.
(2) Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), p. 15.
