Man did not remain very long under the government of his conscience. The first person to violate the rule of the conscience was Cain. Genesis 4 reveals that Cain was not shameful for lying and for murdering his brother, Abel. His lying to God about Abel's death was an open manifestation of his breaking of his conscience. He was arrogant and not at all ashamed about his sin. Since man violated his conscience, violence filled the earth before the time of the flood (6:11). As we saw in the previous message, before the flood there was no human government. It was only after the flood that God established a deputy authority. Man began to exercise God's authority to rule over others. That was the beginning of human government. Thus, secondly, man fell from self-government to human government.
In the first nine chapters of Genesis we see three kinds of government: the divine government, the government of the conscience, or self-government, and human government. All Bible students agree that these governments constitute three of God's dispensations, three of the ways in which God deals with the human race. The first dispensation was that of God's divine government, and the second was that of the government of man's own conscience. When man fell from the rule of his conscience, he came under the third dispensation, that of the human government.
I would like to say a word to the young people. We thank God that we are His creatures. As human beings, we are under Him and He is the real government above us. We also have a conscience that He has provided for us. This is a good thing. Moreover, we have many deputy authorities: the parents at home, the principals and teachers in the schools, and the government. All of these are the deputy authorities of God. By these three kinds of government the human race has been preserved. Although mankind has not been saved, it has been preserved by these three kinds of government. Humanly speaking, we all must have a fear of God, we all must listen to our conscience, and we all must respect God's deputy authority. We must respect our parents, the school administrators, and the government. God uses all the deputy authorities to maintain the human race so that He might fulfill His purpose. Never rebel against God, against the human conscience, or against human government.
God's salvation moves in a direction opposite to that of man's fall. Man fell firstly from God's presence to man's conscience; secondly, from man's conscience to human government; and eventually from human government to rebellion under Satan's instigation. In God's salvation we are firstly saved from rebellion to human government and from human government to the conscience. Eventually we are saved from conscience to God's presence in our spirit.