By
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
Rev. Juliet Schimpf is the Minister of |
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of
Sunday, December 7th, 2014)
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/27516/good_news_134_dec07.mp3
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Broadcast
Notes:
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HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD:
'The Power of the Conscience'
1.
A
Conscience Supplied
What is your
conscience?
God has given every one of us the universal gift of a conscience—an internal capacity to discern the difference between right and wrong. It operates according to how well it has been programmed:
The Hebrew
word for conscience is leb, usually
translated "heart" in the Old Testament. The
conscience is so much at the core of the human soul that the Hebrew mind did
not draw a distinction between conscience and the rest of the inner person.
Thus when Moses recorded that Pharaoh
"hardened his heart" (Exodus
8:15), he was saying that Pharaoh had
steeled his conscience against God's will.
When Scripture speaks of a tender heart (cf. 2
Chronicles 34:27), it refers to
a sensitive conscience.
And when David prayed, "Create in me a clean
heart, O God" (Psalm
51:10), he was seeking to have his life and
his conscience cleansed.
a.
God has given every human general revelation: everyone knows right from
wrong and that He exists (Rom.
1:18-25).
b.
If we insist on pushing past the limits our conscience gives us, we will
lose our ability to distinguish between right and wrong (Rom. 1:26-28). The
Bible calls this condition a seared conscience.
c.
God sets limits on human sin because He loves His creation.
d.
God has written His law on the hearts of even those who don't know His
official law (Rom.
2:14-15).
THE CONSCIENCE IS AN ALARM BELL!
First Samuel 24:5 states, “David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe.” However, we need only look at the first husband-and-wife team to watch the workings of the conscience and the result of two people who ignored the truth.
Adam and Eve’s consciences were programmed with only one rule: obey God. In Genesis 3, when the serpent first asked, “Has God indeed said…?” Eve’s internal alarm system went off.
2. A conscience seared
Can you trust
your conscience to make decisions?
Definition: Your conscience is your moral capacity that enables you to distinguish between what's right and what's wrong.
There are seven different words associated with the conscience in Scripture:
1. A Good Conscience (Acts 23:1)
- Although Paul had once been a murderer, God had cleansed his conscience (1 Tim. 1:12-13).
3. A Clear Conscience (2 Timothy 1:1-3)
- Someone with a clear conscience doesn't compromise his or her convictions.
- People muffle their consciences through drugs, alcohol, or other unhealthy behavior.
- If you and I participate in things that cause others to sin, we're accountable to God.
- You can ask yourself the question, If I participate in that, will that hurt my testimony?
- Dr. Stanley example: The conscience is like a window.
7. A Seared Conscience (1
Tim. 4:1-2)-- 1 Timothy 4:2 by means of the hypocrisy of
liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
Our conscience is programmed, much like a computer, by the following forces:
A. Individually: The formation of your conscience began when you were a
child, and this process continues with each choice you make. When your parents
taught you appropriate behaviors, they were programming your conscience and
helping you distinguish between right and wrong. Throughout your life, many
people have influenced the development of your conscience either positively or
negatively.
B. Corporately: Every society has a corporate conscience that
determines what is acceptable. That is why, when the leaders and citizens of a
country turn away from God’s standards, the nation will suffer shipwreck unless
they change direction. This why believers are called to stand up and be a good
influence.
C. Divinely: When God created Adam and Eve, He designed them to
obey Him. That was the value system meant to govern their behavior. When they
sinned, an internal alarm went off, and they tried to hide from Him because
they felt guilty. Everyone possesses the same warning system. According to Romans 1:19, “That which
is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”
So
how is the conscience seared?
Genesis
3:1-9New International Version (NIV)
The Fall
STEP 1:
GENESIS
2: THE CONSCIENCE PROGRAMMED BY THE WORD
OF GOD
STEP 2:
THE WORD OF
GOD QUESTIONED
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of
the wild animals the Lord God had
made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any
tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the
serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but
God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the
garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly
die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when
you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.”
STEP 3:
THE
CONSCIENCE VIOLATED
6 When the woman saw that
the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also
desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to
her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
STEP 4:
GUILT IS
TRIGGERED:7 Then the eyes of both of
them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves
together and made coverings for themselves.
Should your
conscience be your guide?
People often say, “Let your conscience be your guide,” but is that a wise thing to do?
The truth is that some people have ruined their lives by following damaged consciences. That was the case for several men in the church at Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine and leading people astray, and many “suffered shipwreck” (1 Tim. 1:18-20).
Charles Stanley: “A conscience isn’t designed to be our guide; it is a tool of the Guide.”
A
CONSCIENCE SANCTIFIED
Only a good conscience protects us. The unsettling alarm that
sounds within us when we’re contemplating a bad decision is the Lord’s way of
protecting us from foolish choices. When the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and
the conscience work together, you have a powerful protection and guidance
system.
So when can you trust your
conscience?
VI. You can trust your conscience under certain conditions. Despite the general unreliability of the conscience, if these qualities are present, you can trust its messages because it has been transformed and aligned with God’s will:
A. When Christ is your Savior and Lord
B. When the Word of God is the basis for your conduct
C. When you have a strong desire to obey the Lord
D. When you prayerfully consider your decisions
E. When your conscience instantly sounds an alarm as you consider a wrong thought or action
F. When you feel guilt immediately after being disobedient
G. When you’re compelled to repent of your sin
We must train the
conscience. The conscience responds to programming. Input
is output. David refers to this aspect of the conscience in Psalm
119:11: “Your word
have I treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Note the cause
and effect that are present. I program my heart with God’s standards—and when
the alarm system goes off, I quickly know what standard is in jeopardy and also
how to respond to the alarm.
J. Oswald Sanders said
this concerning the conscience: “Every
conscience needs instruction. Its delicate mechanism has been thrown off
balance by the fall. Just as a bullet will reach the bull’s-eye only if the two
sights are in correct alignment, so correct moral judgments are delivered only
when the conscience is correctly aligned with the Scriptures.”
Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father, We thank you, that in your divine wisdom, that you
supplied all of humanity with a conscience.
Now, we confess, Lord, that we have failed to program our conscience,
properly. As parents, we have not necessarily instructed our children, wisely.
As a society, we have perhaps not passed laws that uphold your moral standards.
And in our individual lives, we have not, daily, programmed our conscience with
the word of God.
So, we thank you that you have supplied a conscience, but we confess
that our conscience falls short of the glory of God. Some of us have a weak
conscience; some of us, a seared conscience; heaven forbid, some of us, an evil
conscience.
But, we come to you right now and ask that you would sanctify us. And
that means, including our conscience. Will you sanctify our conscience?
We come to you, for you make all things new. And, I ask that you would
cleanse each person, this day with the precious blood of your son, Jesus
Christ. God, forgive them and encourage them and lift them up out of the pit of
despair, that they can begin again, with you.
And, God, just equip us, day by day, that we would have very sensitive conscious’s
that are trustworthy and that serve as alarm bells, to protect us.
We ask all this in your strong name, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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To listen to the above
broadcast, click on the following link:
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/27516/good_news_134_dec07.mp3
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