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DIFFERENT TYPES OF CONSCIENCE
(part 2 of 2) 1. WEAK - (I Corinthians 8:1-7) "knowledge puffs up" producing a weak conscience. My knowledge says there are no idols, only one God. But some were taught before Christ, don't eat food offered to idols. We know that is DUMB. But the brother who holds on to that truth, the scripture says, still has a weak conscience. If that person would eat because I told him to, he would be full of guilt and probably angry with me. If people are brought up under biblical law instead of grace, that will cause them to have a weak conscience. [It took me a long time to accept dancing in the church. Because of my upbringing, I was taught all dancing was bad; therefore I was never taught how to move my feet. Now, I want to dance before the Lord, but I feel uncoordinated. I was limited in my knowledge.] Whenever we do things out of a weak conscience, we end up with guilt and condemnation. In order to change that, we need not only knowledge, but purifying through the blood of Jesus. Hebrews 9:14 says the blood will cleanse our conscience from dead works. Example: Praying for one hour - if you don't, you feel guilty. Why? Because man's knowledge told you to do it and not the Spirit. Does that mean we don't have to pray for one hour? We should desire whatever the Spirit wants from us. (I Corinthians 8:8-13) What is our responsibility to the weak brother - DON'T OFFEND. Allow him to grow instead of causing guilt to overtake him. If you cause a brother to fall, you are held accountable. This doesn't just mean cause a person to backslide. It means "to put guilt on another." We are not to live or do anything that causes a weak brother to falter. That may mean you won't get to do everything you feel you have a right to do because we live in a free country or because you work hard and have that right. Not if another may fall. We must teach them first so their conscience can be purified. The only way that can happen is the blood of Jesus applied to their lives, and that will purify from all unrighteousness. 2. SEARED - (I Timothy 4:1-3) What are doctrines of demons - forbidding & abstaining. If your conscience is seared, Satan can cause you to do and act contrary to God's Word. Seared means branded (like animals). It dulls the senses so not to feel any longer. How do we become seared? By committing a sin over and over until our conscience won't bother us. These are people who will walk all over you without flinching at their actions. They don't care how or why they act the way they do. No one else is important except themselves. When the conscience is seared, nothing can touch it; the senses are dead. Some Christians don't repent from their misdeeds any longer because of a seared conscience. The preaching of the Word doesn't affect their spirit - they can't feel God moving within them. BEST EXAMPLE - liars! Our environment and upbringing allows us to misdirect the truth for our benefit. We call them white lies, partial truth, innuendo, smart remarks. We think it avoids confrontation or lessens responsibility. When you are not truthful to another, it can cause the other person to do wrong unconsciously. We are master liars! If you seek God on this matter, you will find how insensitive your conscience is to the Holy Spirit. Do you get pricked when you lie? Or is your conscience seared dull? LIARS - one of seven abominations (Revelation 21:8). 3. DEFILED - (Titus 1:15-16) (corrupted conscience-to be smeared with mud.) This verse says they profess to know God, but in reality they don't - it is unbelief. When we walk as Christians in unbelief of what God says, it causes our conscience to become defiled. If I question everything God says to me over and over; because of unbelief, my vision of God and who He is and what He does will be muddied and I will end up digging for guidance and missing with clarity what God wants to do in my life or this church. Now, this isn't always something we think about. Verse 16 says "by their actions they deny Christ." If your conscience is defiled, your actions, when you are in the world will not be pure. You can be good on Sunday, but the rest of the time you are a different person. But if your conscience is pure - daily, you will walk in belief and your actions will show forth the life of Christ. We have come to this place in history where God is no longer going to put up with the defiled conscience. You will be exposed. God did it with ministers and with government leaders; now He will do it with the people of God. Before the last great move of God, He will clean up the body and only those who truly have a desire with actions to follow for the Lord in purity will be used and blessed. NOT perfection! But a walk that is not defiled. Here is the goal - (Rom 9:1 KJV) "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." The Holy Spirit rules - the inner man by the Spirit will lead. And Paul says, the conscience bears witness of the things of God. 4. PURE - (I Timothy 1:18-19) Free from guilt and cleansed. If you begin to seek God in a matter and you feel guilty inside, you will not be able to pray in FAITH. Do you ever feel this way? When you stand to pray, you will feel maybe you are wasting time; or "What's the use; let's just get it over." (Acts 24:16) So daily we need to exercise our rights in Jesus by making sure we are cleansed. Remind God to show you error or sin! (I heard a man on radio say that once you are saved, you don't have to repent for sin any more because Jesus' blood continues to cleanse you from all - but what about fellowship? Communion? Intuition? I need the Lord's guidance in my life.) Ask God daily to keep your conscience: Is it weak? Is it seared? Is it defiled? Doing this will maintain that continual fellowship. Here is what happens when you get a pure conscience. Right now, because we are human, sometimes we slip and do the wrong thing - SIN. That night we lie down and search our hearts; when the Holy Spirit reveals to us our mistakes for the day, we confess them and go to sleep. With a pure conscience, when we slip, immediately we hear the Holy Spirit say "repent", OR even better - before we slip we hear the Spirit say - "Don't," and we instantly obey. That's PURITY. Not just in our hearts, but also in our very existence in all we do. Conclusion: Let's pray for God to cleanse our conscience and let us walk in the fullness of His Spirit.(1 Tim 1:5 KJV) "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:" Isn't the whole goal of Christianity LOVE? The level of love that flows through you is the level that your conscience has been purified. When we don't flow in love, we have to go back and pray for a pure conscience to lead us. HOW DO WE GET THERE? (HEB. 9:14 KJV) "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Begin with repentance. Ask God to search you and reveal to you that area that needs cleansed. - PASTOR STEVE
February 1997 Newsletter | Different Types of Conscience | Pastor's Journal February 1996 Decrease = Increase | They Went Into the Sea On Dry Ground | The Shepherd's Keeping Revised: July 23, 2009.
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