If we are fallen under human government, still needing others to govern us at school, at home, and in our city, we are fallen to the uttermost. God’s salvation comes to deliver us from human government to self government. A genuine Christian should not need this kind of human government. If a student still needs the government of the school, he is either not saved or not saved properly and adequately. If one has been saved adequately, there is no need for this kind of human government, because he has been saved back to his conscience. From the West Coast to the East Coast everyone is afraid of getting a ticket from the police. Do we Christians need to be patrolled by the police? We should not, because we have been delivered from human government back to the conscience. There should be no need for human government to rule us, because we are under the government of the conscience.
I believe that now you can see the importance of the conscience. However, we must realize that the conscience is not the ultimate goal. The conscience is only a bridge to the ultimate goal, which is the presence of God. We need to get on the bridge and pass through to reach the other side. We cannot believe that a brother who does not have a proper conscience can be governed by the Lord directly. If we are not pure in our conscience, if our conscience is not void of offense, it is very hard to live in the presence of God. If we have an offense on our conscience, a certain kind of accusation, how can we be in the presence of God? If this is our case, we must get back into the presence of God through our conscience. To be in the presence of God we must be right in our conscience. Our conscience must be pure, good, and without offense.
If, for example, I habitually lie, there will be an offense, a certain accusation, in my conscience. With such an offense, can I be in the presence of the Lord? No, I have to pass through the conscience. The conscience has to approve. I tell you again, the conscience is the bridge. We must pass the bridge to reach the other side.
God’s salvation is to bring us back from human government to the conscience and then through the conscience into His presence. This is why the apostle Paul told us that we must have a good conscience. If we lose a good conscience, we lose the presence of God. It is through the conscience that we are brought back into the presence of God.
The function of the conscience is threefold: to know what is right and wrong, to justify or to accuse, and to govern for God. Just as the police govern people for society, the conscience within us constantly governs us for God. After the fall, God governs us through the conscience that man may know what is right and wrong. Man has such an organ to justify him or to accuse and condemn him.
The conscience has a consciousness, a feeling, or a sense. The function of the conscience depends on this consciousness. Ephesians 4:19 says, “Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness in greediness.” In Darby’s New Translation, this verse says, “Having cast off all feeling.” The unbelieving sinners cast off their feeling. Feeling here mostly refers to the feeling of the conscience.
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