In the previous chapters we saw the dealing with the flesh and with the self. In order to learn the way of life, that is, in order to grow in life, we need to also deal with our conscience. The New Testament contains a number of passages concerning the conscience. Acts 23:1 says, “And Paul, looking intently at the Sanhedrin, said, Men, brothers, I have conducted myself in all good conscience before God until this day.” In 24:16 Paul said, “Because of this I also exercise myself to always have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” First Timothy 1:5 says, “But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith,” and verse 19 says, “Holding faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become shipwrecked regarding the faith.” Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” In chapter ten, verse 22 says, “Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Second Corinthians 1:12 says, “For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.” Lastly, Romans 9:1 says, “I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit.”
After reading the above passages, we can be clear about the importance of the conscience. The apostle Paul said that his conscience bore witness for him in the Holy Spirit, and he had the testimony of his conscience concerning his manner of life. He always exercised to have a conscience without offense not only before God but also toward men. Moreover, we must have a purged and pure conscience, a conscience without offense, accusation, or condemnation, so that we may have the peace and assurance to serve the Lord. Paul also tells us that in order to come near to God to contact Him, we must have a heart sprinkled from an evil, wicked, or defiled conscience. If we have a pure conscience without offense or accusation, we are at peace and we have the assurance of faith, the boldness, to contact God and serve the Lord. By all this we can see how vital the conscience is regarding the relationship between us and God.
In the past few chapters we saw that in order to grow in the Lord as life, we must deal with our flesh and our self. Fallen man has sin in his body and the self in his soul. Sin in the body together with self in the soul comprises the flesh. To deal with the flesh and the self is to deal with the sinful body and the soul. These two dealings are very subjective, but in our experience dealing with the conscience is even deeper than dealing with the flesh and with the self because the conscience is the main part of our human spirit. We can prove this by comparing Romans 9:1 with 8:16. The first verse says that our conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit, while the second says that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit. That the conscience bears witness in the Spirit and the Spirit bears witness with our spirit proves that the conscience must be a part of our spirit. Since the conscience is a great part of our spirit, to deal with the conscience is to deal with our spirit, which is much deeper than our soul. We may have dealt with our flesh and our self, so at this time we may not be wrong related to the flesh and the self. However, we still may have a questionable standing before God due to a problem in our conscience.
In our spirit besides the conscience we also have another function, which is to directly sense the thought and will of God. To sense something is deeper than to see it. We may come into a room, for example, and sense a certain atmosphere even if we cannot see, smell, or touch it. In our human spirit, there is a function that senses the will and mind of God directly. We call this function the intuition. Many times we have no problem with the flesh or the self, yet we still have a problem before God in our conscience because the conscience in our spirit always speaks something to us for God through the intuition of the spirit.
Sometimes we may make up our mind to do something, but in our spirit there may be the deep sense that the Lord wants us to do something else. At that time, if we insist on our own opinion, our conscience will speak something for God to show us that we are wrong. Many times we have had this experience. We have no sins, we have dealt with all things, and we are not wrong in any matter of the flesh or self, but we sense that there is a problem before God deep within us. That is the conscience speaking something for God through the intuition of the spirit.
This is deeper than dealing with the flesh and dealing with the self. It is something deeper in our spirit, which no one but we ourselves can comprehend. When we do something, others may not know what is deep within us, but in our spirit there is the intuition which senses the will and mind of God directly, apart from our reasoning. We may try several times to do something, but we still may not have the anointing. There is something within us, speaking to us that we should not do it. We may not know the reason, but we do realize deep within that there is the sense not to do it. This is the direct sense through the intuition of the spirit, and the conscience speaks for God according to that sense.
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