Eternity Daily Bible Study
(A ministry of Eternity Christian Fellowship)
Walking In The Spirit - 28
Studies in this series can also be found online at www.globalchristians.org/walkspirit/
Topic: Two Kinds of Conscience
Date: 21st August 2009
The conscience is one way that God speaks to us and God's voice is heard most clearly when the conscience is undefiled and pure. Christians who are walking in honesty, integrity and truth will 'hear & see' God:
Matthew 5:8 MKJV Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God.
John 14:21 MKJV He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him.
John 7:17 HCSB If anyone wants to do His will, he will understand whether the teaching is from God or if I am speaking on My own.
The pure in heart, those who love God, who desire to do God's will, and those who have the commandments and keep them – these are the people that God reveals Himself to. These are His flock and they hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:4,9,16,27).
On the other hand there is another darker kind of conscience. One that is demonic, seared and stubborn and which simply refuses to hear God' voice:
John 8:42-47 MKJV Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love Me, for I went forth and came from God; for I did not come of Myself, but He sent Me. (43) Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My Word. (44) You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. (45) And because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. (46) Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe Me? (47) He who is of God hears God's Words. Therefore you do not hear them because you are not of God.
John 10:25-28 HCSB "I did tell you and you don't believe," Jesus answered them. "The works that I do in My Father's name testify about Me. (26) But you don't believe because you are not My sheep. (27) My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. (28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish--ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.
There are the ones who opposed Christ, who would not listen to His teachings or even consider the evidence of His miracles. God's words bounced off them. Miracles had no impact upon them. Jesus Christ himself, in the flesh, made no impression on their consciences. They shut Him out and crucified Him!
When Jesus calls the Pharisees 'sons of the Devil' He is maintaining that they had believed a lie and were children of the lie (or rather children of the Liar – that is Satan). Their inner nature was so hard and far from the truth that they were completely in the Devil's camp. This hardness seems to have led them to completely misunderstand the Scriptures even though they 'pored over them'. Instead their defiled consciences turned godliness into a means of self-promotion:
John 5:38-47 MKJV And you do not have His Word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He has sent. (39) You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are the ones witnessing of Me, (40) and you will not come to Me that you might have life. (41) I do not receive honor from men. (42) But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. (43) I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. (44) How can you believe, you who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from God only? (45) Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. (46) For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. (47) But if you do not believe his writings, how shall you believe My Words?
So when Jesus became popular their hearts were filled with hatred, rage and anger which kept them in darkness and blinded them to the Truth:
1 John 3:10-12 HCSB This is how God's children--and the Devil's children--are made evident. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother. (11) For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, (12) unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
1 John 2:10-11 MKJV He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no offense in him. (11) But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes.
And James talks of two kinds of inner wisdom:
James 3:14-18 MKJV But if you have bitter jealousy and strife in your hearts, do not glory and lie against the truth. (15) This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (16) For where envying and strife are, there is confusion and every foul deed. (17) But the wisdom that is from above is first truly pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. (18) And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Again we see a demonic kind of wisdom and a godly kind of wisdom. Paul adds some understanding to this in his epistle to Timothy:
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,
These lying, seducing spirits of demons aim to dull, damage and even sear the conscience so that it becomes totally unresponsive to God! Paul continues and tells Timothy that one of the attack points will be ascetic 'super-spirituality' :
1 Timothy 4:3-5 MKJV 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. (4) For every creation of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving. (5) For it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer.
And the apostle Peter warns Christians of the opposite extreme – that of gross immorality and lawlessness the defiles the person and crushes the conscience so that the light of God goes out within them:
2 Peter 2:18-22 ISV By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error. (19) Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him. (20) For if, after escaping the world's corruptions through a full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled and conquered by them, then their last condition is worse than their former one. (21) It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them. (22) The proverb is true that describes what has happened to them: "A dog returns to its vomit," and "A pig that is washed goes back to wallow in the mud."
Your conscience is a spiritual battleground. You can choose obedience or disobedience. You can listen to God or you can listen to demons. You can be one of God's sheep who hear His voice or you can be stubborn and unbelieving. To this end we need to take our thoughts captive:
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 MKJV (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, (5) pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ;
Blessings,
John Edmiston ([email protected])
Pastor – Eternity Christian Fellowship
Chairman/ CEO Cybermissions
http://www.eternitychristian.com
http://www.cybermissions.org
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