Eternity Daily Bible Study
(A ministry of Eternity Christian Fellowship)
Walking In The Spirit - 27
Studies in this series can also be found online at www.globalchristians.org/walkspirit/
Topic: The Awakening Of The Conscience
Date: 20th August 2009
The conscience is a very important part of our being that helps us to line our lives up with God's perspective on things. Conscience is from two Latin roots “con” - alongside/with and “science” knowledge and it means to “know along with”. The conscience operates along with our normal senses and a sort of sixth sense, a sense of what is right and wrong, good and evil.
In 1979 I read John Stott's exposition of the Sermon On The Mount and it changed me. My conscience went from being uninformed to informed and from unawakened to awakened. Jesus really woke me up to the fact that I dwelt in His moral Universe.
Hebrews 5:14 MKJV But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, even those who because of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
When the conscience awakes the spiritual senses start working properly. I began to SEE the world differently and have a new perspective on issues such as materialism and competition. I began to HEAR God calling me to a different lifestyle and way of being Christian. I began to TOUCH the solid realities of the Kingdom of God, and to TASTE of the goodness of the Beatitudes.
A literary critic or a unbeliever could have read the same book (or even the Bible) and have been totally unaffected by it. While their eyes would read the book and their mind would understand the words, it would have been like a magazine article that was read one moment and ignored the next. Without an operational conscience the 'solid food' is not digested or understood. The moral sixth sense called conscience must be in working order for the comprehension of spiritual truth.
Let us go on to look at some bible verses about conscience:
The Operation Of Conscience:
John 8:9 MKJV And hearing, and being convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, until the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Romans 2:14-16 MKJV For when the nations, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves; (15) who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or even excusing one another, (16) in a day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
The Good Conscience
1 Timothy 1:5 MKJV But the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned,
Hebrews 13:18 MKJV Pray for us; for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.
Romans 9:1 MKJV I tell the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
The Corrupted Conscience
1 Timothy 1:19 MKJV holding faith and a good conscience, which some have put away and made shipwreck as to faith.
1 Timothy 4:1-3 MKJV But the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, (2) speaking lies in hypocrisy, being seared in their own conscience, (3) forbidding to marry, saying to abstain from foods which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
Titus 1:15 MKJV To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
From the above bible verses we find out that:
1.The conscience acts as a moral arbiter which convicts or excuses us of sin and is a common part of all humanity saved or unsaved (the Pharisees in John 8 and the Gentiles in Romans 2 were not Christians). Because of this inner judge we will be without excuse when we stand before God.
2.The conscience operates at its best and is most accurate when the person is filled with faith and the Holy Spirit and is living an honest and transparent life in obedience to Christ.
3.Christians can ignore their conscience, 'putting it away', and thus ending up in moral disaster so that they make shipwreck of their faith.
4.The conscience can be hijacked by the 'doctrines of demons' and become seared and unresponsive to moral truth. This leads to hypocrisy and deception.
5.The conscience can become defiled and impure so that every thought and every value is disgusting.
Many Christians now have very weak consciences and are barely conscious of their sin. Right and wrong seem to be regraded as unimportant. They are blind to their selfishness, and heedless of the needs of the poor or of the lost. In many churches even basic morality is lacking as couples 'live-in' together without shame or rebuke. This is unacceptable.
The Holy Spirit is holy and when He moves in revival He first convicts the consciences of church members to repent, to put away magic, witchcraft and idols, and to turn away from known sin.
There needs to be a giant shaking and reawakening of the conscience of the Western church if we are to see revival and if we are to enter into the Kingdom of God. We need to come to our senses and to be pierced inwardly over what we have become! We need to accept the Sermon On The Mount as our mandate for living and adopt the commandments of Christ with all seriousness and application. Moral apathy is not a valid Christian option.
Now I do not mean that we go back to the Law and to the ministry of condemnation and of death. Our role is to awaken the conscience so that God's Spirit may move into that person's life and bring love, joy, peace and power. But the Holy Spirit will not dwell in a moral garbage dump. Therefore we need to preach repentance, not so that we can condemn others but so that we can liberate them from sin and from its consequences.
We are allowing far too many believers to make shipwreck of their faith! We are not prodding them to stay away from sin. We are not activating the inner lamp of the conscience for them so that they have a healthy fear of God. Churches are full of ruined lives as a result.
We need to re-tune the consciences of Christians and renew their minds and hearts; repenting of the moral dullness of worldliness and advocating fervent Christ-like commitment to the values of Heaven. Because a good conscience is the one place where Heaven and Earth meet and agree.
Blessings,
John Edmiston ([email protected])
Pastor – Eternity Christian Fellowship
Chairman/ CEO Cybermissions
http://www.eternitychristian.com
http://www.cybermissions.org
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