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What stills the heart and comforts the troubled conscience? Only the Gospel of Christ Jesus crucified and raised for sinners. Jesus says to His disciples in John 14:1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." Trouble and worry can come upon us from all sides. Worldly dangers threaten our mortal bodies, temptations bombard us every waking hour, and Satan seeks to undermine our faith with the old evil question: "did God really say?" (Genesis 3:1). Psalm 46 and Psalm 91 remind us of the Lord's providence and protection. The Holy Spirit says through St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that God will always provide a way of escape when we are faced with temptation, that we may endure. Likewise, when Satan tempts us and tries to assault the conscience, questioning our standing before God, we look outside ourselves to the promises God has made.
The Gospel comforts troubled consciences because instead of having to self-justify, we can point to the redemption and justification that Jesus Christ has won for us on the cross. We don't look at ourselves; we look to Jesus. The Epistle to the Hebrews says "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:19-23). And about that washing with pure water, St. Peter writes "Baptism, which corresponds to this [the flood], now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 3:21).
When our conscience is afflicted by Satan's arrows, wondering "could God really love someone as imperfect and awful as me?" God's clear and authoritative Word speaks His promises that we receive by faith. In the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper, God's promises to us in His Word come to us in tangible form. Speaking about the promises made to us in Baptism, Martin Luther writes "so when our sins and conscience oppress us, we strengthen ourselves and take comfort and say, 'nevertheless, I am baptized. And if I am baptized, it is promised to me that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body.'" (Large Catechism, IV, 44). When we remember our baptism, we know that the promise made by God in Romans 6:5 has been made to us, "For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united to Him in a resurrection like His." Likewise, when Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, he said "This is my body... this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28). We Lutherans confess in the book of Concord that the Lord's Supper "was set up to be a seal and testimony of the free forgiveness of sins, and so that it should remind alarmed consciences to be truly confident and believe that their sins are freely forgiven" (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XXIV, 49). When we receive the Lord's Body and Blood, faith takes hold of the promises that are made to us in the Supper, and there can be no doubt or denying what Christ has said regarding this gift.
When a guilty conscience assails us, we remember the words of 1 John 1:9 which promise "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And we know that we undoubtedly receive that forgiveness in the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5) and in the living bread from heaven (John 6), as we confess in singing:
What higher gift can we inherit?
It is faith's bond and solid base
It is the strength of heart and spirit
The covenant of hope and grace.
Lord, may Thy body and Thy blood
Be for my soul the highest good! (Lutheran Service Book 618, v.5)
In Christ,
Pastor Joe Pierson
This monthly column provided by members of the Webster City Ministerial Association, where Rev. Joe Pierson is treasurer. He has been serving as pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Webster City since his ordination in 2021. He and his growing family love cooking, gardening, canning, and fishing together.