The following sermons by Dr. Caldwell will help to deepen your understanding of these truths shared in the podcast today:

Confessing Our Sins:    • Confessing Our Sins | 1 John 1:10  
The Lives We Are Urged To Live:    • The Lives We Are Urged To Live | Roma...  
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 1:    • The Goal of Our Ministry | Expository...  
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 2:    • The Goal of Our Ministry Part 2 | Rom...  
The Goal Of Our Ministry - Part 3:    • The Goal of Our Ministry Part 3 | Rom...  
Attitudes That Belong To The Spiritually Mature - Part 1:    • Attitudes That Belong to the Spiritua...  
Attitudes That Belong To The Spiritually Mature - Part 2:    • Attitudes That Belong to the Spiritua...  
Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part 1:    • Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part...  
Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part 2:    • Answers For The Doubting Heart - Part...  
No Condemnation:    • No Condemnation | Romans 8:1-4  :    • Wisdom For Life's Trials - James 1:5-8  
Wisdom For Life's Trials:    • The Only Hope For The Guilty Soul | P...  
The Joy Of Forgiveness:    • The Joy of Forgiveness | Psalm 32  

How should a Christian deal with the sins, before coming to Christ, that the conscience brings to bear on our hearts and minds? What should we do when some sins we remember are 5, 10, and maybe even 20 years old? How can we deal with our emotional feelings of embarrassment, shame, pain, and guilt over our past sins?

The very moment a person turns from their sin, by faith, in repentance to Jesus Christ, all sins, past, present, and future, are forgiven. But as Christians, we know this is not the end of it all, for the entire life of believers is to be one of repentance. Throughout the rest of our lives, through the work of the Holy Spirit, our sins are brought to bear upon our hearts and minds. Many of these may include sins from our past, which can sometimes weigh heavily upon our consciences. What do we do when we are conflicted over past sins, especially if they nag at us and provoke feelings of guilt? In what situations or circumstances do we need to go back and seek the forgiveness of others and make amends for those sins? What can we do when we struggle with the pangs of guilt aroused by the conscious awareness of our lives before knowing Christ? These are some of the questions that Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot will attempt to help us make sense of this week on the Straight Truth Podcast as we seek to be open, honest, and transparent before the Lord.

Dr. Caldwell tells us it would be helpful to have blueprints for every situation so that we might instruct people in exactly what they are to do. While we don't have specific instructions, what we do have is the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, we have principles. But the application of these principles requires wisdom. Some of these issues become a matter of judgment. By the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, we develop the ability to make good judgment calls. Good judgment is judgment saturated with Scripture, which includes wisdom, which is how you apply the Scriptures in any given situation.

If we can clear our consciences by going to another and have the occasion to make amends for a wrong we’ve done, where it will make sense to the person we are going to, we should do that. If there is a barrier between us and someone else due to our sin, we should want to make things right with them. However, where no permanent barrier exists, it might be more beneficial for us to deal with the issue between ourselves and the Lord. In our pursuit of a clear conscience with/about others, we want to be as sure as we're able that the results would be positive, as in helpful or beneficial, and not destructive, even harmful or hurtful. To go back to people from 5, 10, or 20 years ago might not be for the best. There will be times when the most appropriate way to handle certain sins of the past is between yourself and the Lord. Times, for example, when you might bring injury upon another person because they have no idea of that sin.

Dr. Caldwell shares Romans 12:18, which shows that sometimes there will be things that will not be possible for us to fix, make right, or make amends for, as it depends on us. Where we can live peaceable lives with others, to the degree that we can, we should. But there are going to be situations where it isn’t possible. He also shares 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 which is an example of this truth as it relates to husbands and wives and divorce. In these texts, there is an acknowledgment of what we can do and what we cannot. Dr. Caldwell shares that sometimes our consciences will be loaded down with things we can’t go back and fix. When we find ourselves in these kinds of situations, then we go and make it right between ourselves and the Lord. If we are given the opportunity to make things right with a person or party we've injured, we always want to do that. But those times of opportunity will not always be there.