Overview

1. The hope that restores and transforms
2. A guilty conscience was never God’s design for you
3. Don’t be deceived by the enemy’s strategy
4. Your conscience has been made perfect by Jesus
5. Live knowing that Jesus has overpaid your sins

The hope that restores and transforms

Hope is an integral part of our Christian life. It is not a vague optimism but a deep, joyful anticipation rooted in Jesus, His finished work, and His long-expected return. The New Testament word for hope, elpis, carries this meaning: a positive expectation of good, especially the good that will come when Christ appears again.

This hope isn’t just something we are to look forward to, but also something that can transform how we live now. It speaks directly to our hearts, especially to where many believers quietly struggle: the conscience. A guilty conscience robs us of peace, paralyzes our faith, and distorts how we relate to God. But when you live with a confident expectation of your full redemption—spirit, soul, and body—your heart will rest. You stop striving, and you start receiving.

Romans 8:11 reveals a powerful promise,

“If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

This is the resurrection life that we get to experience while we are still here on earth. Even though the law of sin and death is still active in our bodies, causing weakness, decay, and sickness, there is a higher law at work: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is already working in you, and He is in you to give you life, strength, and renewal from the inside out.

At the moment, our bodies are mortal, susceptible to sickness, disease, and death. But we are not without supply. The Holy Spirit in us is constantly infusing us with divine life. So every time you trust Jesus, draw near, or listen to His Word, that resurrection life will quicken your body and restore your soul.

And one day, when our Lord returns, this process will be complete. Our bodies will be glorified, and our struggle with sin and death will be finished. Until then, we live with this hope of our Lord’s coming back for us, changing our bodies, and bringing us to where He is now, at the Father’s right hand.

A guilty conscience was never God’s design for you

Many people today live with anxiety, worry, and a constant sense of unworthiness, believing that it’s normal. But it’s not. These are symptoms of a guilty conscience, and their origin can be traced all the way back to the garden of Eden.

“I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
—Genesis 3:10 NKJV

Before he fell into sin, Adam walked with God in full confidence. He was clothed with God’s glory. But the moment he sinned, that glory departed—and in its place came guilt, shame, fear, and separation. His instinct was to hide, not because God had rejected him, but because his conscience condemned him.

Yet God’s response was not one of rejection, but of fellowship. He came into the garden and called out, “Adam, where are you?” It was not a rebuke, but a call to restore intimacy. It was not a geographical (or location) question, but a spiritual one.

Fear, guilt, and shame distort our view of God and drive us to hide from Him. It’s similar to how a child may avoid eye contact after having done something wrong, even though the parent’s love hasn’t changed. A guilty conscience creates distance, though not real separation, and it is just such an attitude of avoidance that hinders closeness with God.

The Bible calls fear a spirit (2 Tim. 1:7), so it is not just a feeling or condition but a spiritual force that must be resisted. When fear, anxiety, and worry are left unchecked, they not only rob you of your peace but also damage your body. Science has confirmed through various studies that chronic stress, often rooted in guilt and/or fear, can lead to illness.

Beloved, God wants you to live in peace with Him—not running, not hiding, nor anxiously trying to earn your place. This peace doesn’t come from trying harder to be good. It comes from believing right. Adam lost that sense of peace when he believed he was no longer accepted by God.

This is why justification by faith is so vital. Without it, the conscience remains burdened. And this is exactly where the enemy wants you, full of sin consciousness.

Don’t be deceived by the enemy’s strategy

In 1 Timothy 4:1–2, the apostle Paul writes:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron...”

In the New Testament, the phrase “the faith” consistently points to the gospel of grace, specifically justification by faith. In the last days, the enemy’s first strategy will be to corrupt this truth. Every spiritual deception begins here—by shifting the believer’s focus from Jesus’ finished work to self-effort.

There is a battle going on for your mind and what you believe. If the devil can’t stop you from being saved, he will try to make you ineffective as a believer by keeping you sin-conscious. When your conscience is overwhelmed by guilt, even your good works become burdensome. You may try to draw near to God, but inwardly you feel condemned and disqualified.

1. The devil works through hypocrisy
In verse 2, Paul spoke about deceiving spirits “speaking lies in hypocrisy.” These are people who speak as though they are holy but live otherwise. They are not just false teachers with strange ideas; in fact, they are often very religious, very strict, and very focused on what’s sinful. They will point fingers at others, highlighting their sins, but will never truly point people to Jesus.

A sin-conscious ministry may appear spiritual on the outside, but it will only damage believers’ consciences. Paul says their consciences will be “seared with a hot iron.” The Greek word for “seared with a hot iron” is kautēriázō, from which we get the word “cauterized.” It describes a soul that has been branded by sin, numbed and desensitized to God, constantly aware of sin but no longer sensitive to His grace.

This is not the conscience God wants you to live with.

2. Legalism is a doctrine of demons
Paul also warned that some would teach “forbidding to marry” and “commanding to abstain from foods” (1 Tim. 4:3), things that appear righteous but are actually “doctrines of demons.”

These teachings seek to obtain righteousness through external restrictions rather than internal transformation by the Spirit. They imply that righteousness is earned through denial, and not received through faith.

But the gospel is clear: True righteousness comes only through believing in Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1).

3. Justification by faith frees the conscience
When you believe you are justified by faith and not by works, you are set free from guilt and the constant striving to be accepted by your heavenly Father. This is also when real repentance happens—not with groveling, but with a change of mind about who God is and how He sees you.

This repentance heals the conscience and brings an end to the inner torment of condemnation. It will cause you to turn from trusting in yourself to trusting fully in Jesus.

Where the gospel is preached clearly, a righteousness consciousness is restored. And this message of righteousness by faith must be carefully guarded. In these end times, deception won’t always look demonic. Sometimes it will look disciplined. But if it leads you away from the assurance of being justified by faith, it is not from God.

Your conscience has been made perfect by Jesus

Once you believe that you’ve been made righteous apart from your works, your conscience is cleansed, and an inward peace will begin to shape your outward life.

Hebrews 10 emphasizes this. It draws a sharp contrast between the old covenant sacrifices, which could never clear the conscience, and the one perfect offering of our Lord Jesus, which did.

“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.... For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
—Hebrews 10:12, 14 NKJV

Jesus sat down because His work is finished. His sacrifice didn’t merely cover sin temporarily—it dealt with sin completely and perfected us believers forever.

But what exactly did He perfect?

To understand what Jesus perfected, let’s look at Hebrews 9:9:

“Both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience.”

So the offerings and sacrifices of the old covenant had no effect on the conscience. The people brought their offerings, and the priests performed their duties, but deep inside, all their hearts were still burdened. In reality, these sacrifices and offerings reminded them constantly of their sins, yet could not remove their inner sense of guilt.

But Jesus’ offering was entirely different. It went straight to the root.

“For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.”
—Hebrews 10:2

Our Lord did something the law could never do—He perfected us in our conscience. This is not saying that believers no longer sin; we’re still growing in our Christian walk. But what it means is that when our heavenly Father looks at us, He sees us through the finished work of Jesus, completely cleansed, whiter than snow. So we, too, should no longer be sin-conscious.

Live knowing that Jesus has overpaid your sins

When your conscience is at rest, you don’t draw near wondering if God will receive you—you draw near knowing He already has. That’s exactly what Hebrews 10:22 invites us to do:

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

But what holds many back is what Scripture calls an evil conscience—not “evil” in the moral sense, but in the sense contained in the original Greek word, ponēros, meaning “full of labor and effort.” It’s a conscience that still feels the need to earn access to God, and believes “I must do more before I can come close.”

This is where many believers struggle. They know the cross paid for their sins, but they still carry a sense of spiritual debt. They live as if God has forgiven them, but only just enough. Deep down, they feel that they still owe something.

But here’s the good news: Jesus didn’t just pay your debt—He overpaid it.

Imagine someone owing $50,000, and a wealthy friend who loves this person stepping in to not only clear the debt, but to overpay it with $1 million on their behalf. The debt isn’t just settled—it’s been overpaid for. But if the debtor never learns of the good news, they’ll still try to avoid the person they “owed” the money to and carry unnecessary guilt and shame.

That is how many Christians live today. Though the blood of Jesus has more than paid for their sins, their conscience remains burdened, and they are still striving to earn their peace with God.

This is why knowing you have been completely forgiven is essential. Then you can draw near in faith, believing the Lord’s blood has fully qualified you. God is not waiting for your best effort. He’s already accepted the perfect sacrifice of His beloved Son.

This applies not only to forgiveness but also to how we receive from God in every area of our lives.

Many believe that if they behave correctly, then God will answer. But grace doesn’t work that way. God doesn’t respond to merit; He responds to Jesus. Healings, provision, and breakthroughs don’t come because of how spiritual someone is. They come because of who Jesus is and what He has done.

Thus, Pastor Prince shared that the miracles seen in his ministry aren’t the result of him or his pastors having greater faith, but simply because of their trust in the Lord and their resting in His finished work. Those miracles are all born out of grace.

Once your conscience is perfected and your faith assured, then you will have unwavering hope and be able to walk in love and compassion for others around you. Hebrews 10:22–24 says,

“Let us draw near in full assurance of faith…. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering…. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.”

• Faith—because you know you’re completely forgiven and fully accepted.
• Hope—because you expect God’s goodness and our Lord’s return.
• Love—because grace frees you to think of others.

How wonderful it is for believers to be full of faith, hope, and love! These are not Christian disciplines to master, but attributes that will flow naturally from a heart that has been set free.

This is the life Jesus died to give you. Not a life of inward struggle and toil, but one of confident nearness to the Father, joyful expectation, and love that overflows. And it all begins when you are set free by this settled truth: Our Lord Jesus has more than paid for all your sins.

We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.

© Copyright JosephPrince.com 2025
These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.