Do you remember the Flip Wilson show? Probably not if you are not over 40 years of age. But one of his laughable statements in his presentation was “The devil made me do it.”
You have probably seen a picture of a person’s head with the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. When facing a moral or life decision, you are trying to make a good decision. Who or what would you listen to? We would call this the conscience. It’s the ability to know right from wrong. A simple definition is “an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.”
– If any of these have blessed you in some way, let us know! –
A conscience is given by God to everyone that is born. Because human beings are made in God’s image, they reflect his moral standards. The conscience, like all elements of human nature, has fallen into sin. Therefore its promptings are sometimes distorted, and even when they are accurate, people sometimes repress them in unrighteousness. So the conscience can at times lead us the wrong way. It is not always infallible. The good news is that when we are made spiritually alive through the New Birth our conscience can operate at a higher level. The Bible calls this regeneration. That transforms the conscience as it transforms the whole personality to reflect God’s character. We call this the renewing of the mind-
Rom 12:1-2. So the New Testament speaks of the awakened or purified conscience
( Heb 9:14; cf. Titus 1:15). This awakening leads to a spiritually mature conscience, what Paul sometimes calls a “good” or clear conscience (Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Tim 1:5). Let’s look at Romans 9:1-“I AM speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; my conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me. When people have a good conscience, they know that nobody can bring a just accusation against their actions.
I can’t emphasize enough how important truth is to a healthy conscience. Our culture is inundated with half-truths and lies. They tell you what they want you to hear rather than the truth. A culture where they say there is no absolute truth. It is all relative to what you believe. Someone once told me, “Don’t confuse sincere belief with the truth.” ThereareChristians who won’t let the Bible get in the way of what they believe. A lot of times it’s because of religious traditions. Have you ever and I’m sure you have done something that you knew on the inside was wrong? We all have. You knew it was wrong and you did it anyway. It was that inner voice inside telling you not to do it. We violated or went against our conscience. If we do it enough times our conscience in that particular area becomes numb, hardened, and callous. In our culture today we have left our moral compass. We navigate life aimlessly. Just going by popular opinions, feelings, and emotions rather than the truth. “I’m willing to tell a lie if it gets me ahead in life.” In the book of Isaiah, it prophesied that “people will call evil good and good evil.”( Isaiah 5:20 ) Jesus said in the last days “the love of many will grow cold, because of lawlessness.” We are talking about hardened hearts. Look at ( Matthew 24:12 ).Matthew 13:15 (NKJV) – 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn so that I should heal them.’ A healthy conscience is so important. It can be life and death. A hardened heart can express itself in stubbornness, rebellion, obstinacy, and perverseness.
( Matt. 19:8; Mark 10:5; 16:14 ). It indicates man’s attitude toward God and His grace when he ought to have a willing and receptive heart. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10-“and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. People today are rejecting the truth! They have no love for truth. It is all subjective feelings and emotions. The compromise truth for personal gain. I appreciate the reality, the fact, and the truth of the law of gravity. It doesn’t matter what I feel or think! Otherwise, I would be flying off into space and life would be sucked out of me. Let’s look at different kinds of consciences:( Just click on the scriptures )
Different Kinds of Consciences
1. An evil conscience by sin—Heb. 10:22.
2. A defiled conscience by unbelief—Titus 1:15.
3. A seared conscience by hypocrisy—1 Tim. 4:2. -because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Eph 4:19
4. A convicted conscience by Christ—John 8:9.
5. A weak conscience by ignorance—1 Cor. 8:10.
6. A cleansed conscience by Christ’s blood—Heb. 9:14.
7. A perfect conscience by Christ’s perfect sacrifice—Heb. 9:9; Heb.10:2.
8. A faithful conscience by obedience—1 Peter 2:19.
9. An offenceless conscience by carefulness—Acts 24:16.
10. A good conscience by godliness—Acts 23:1.
11. A pure conscience by fidelity—2 Tim. 1:3.
12. A testifying conscience by consecration—2 Cor. 1:12.
As you can see the Bible has a lot to say about our conscience. The Bible is our true north. It deals with every area of life. It will lead us in the right direction. I love this scripture-
1 Thessalonians 2:13 (KJV) –13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. God’s Word is truth-(John 17:17 ). God is not a man but Spirit and He cannot lie ( John 4:24, Num 23:19 ). It is against His holy character. I read the other day that only 28 percent of Millennials believe the Bible is the Word of God. Yet two-thirds believe they are Christians. A major disconnect. Fifty-eight percent reject the existence of absolute truth. Only four percent believe in a Biblical worldview. That is why we need to preach and teach Biblical truth. We need to address the lies and deceptions that are in our culture. We have people who are past feelings, and no conviction of what is right. You have to be a lover of truth if you are going to make the right choices in life.
Can our conscience be restored? Absolutely. Let’s read – Hebrews 9:14-how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Also in 1 John 1:7-But, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. The first part is to have a relationship with God. To be Born Again. ( Romans 10:9-10 ) To receive His cleansing and forgiveness. We cannot know good and evil apart from God. The next thing is to renew your mind through the Word of God. ( Romans 12:1-2 ). Allow the Holy Spirit to minister truth to your heart regarding those areas affected by sinful habits. You can change, and you can make the right choices in life that honor God and honor His Word. ( Deut 30:19 ). God can cleanse you from a guilty conscience, deliver you from a weak conscience, and can restore a pure conscience. There is power in the blood of Jesus to affect your conscience. Some teach that your conscience is the voice of your spirit, your inner man and that it is a safe guide. The Holy Spirit in you will lead and guide you into all truth-(John 14:16-17, John 16:13 )This is serious stuff, don’t compromise, don’t be indifferent, don’t be lazy, and don’t give the devil a foothold in your life. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. Eph 4:30, James 4:7. Remember the devil can’t make you do anything without your consent and cooperation. Don’t say what Flip Wilson said, “The devil made me do it.” The only powers that Satan has are lies and deceptions. John 8:44 (KJV) –… because there is no truth in him. (Satan) When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. You can choose to believe a lie or believe the truth. We need a revival of truth that leads to reformation in our culture. The foundation of life needs truth and a good and clear conscience. Let us be lovers of the truth! In closing here are some quotes:
“As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person of property, liberty of consciencnd of the press, it will be worth defending.”Andrew Jackson
“Conscience is the root of all true courage; if a man would be brave let him obey his conscience.”James Freeman Clarke
“There is no worse sin than one against his conscience.” Tim Holman
“The best tranquilizer is a clear conscience.” Benjamin Franklin
“It is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other.” – Martin Luther
In Christ’s love,
Brent and Linda