As we have seen previously, a human being is of three parts-spirit, soul, and body. In our body there are many members. In our soul there are three parts-the mind for knowing, the emotion for feeling, and the will for choosing. In our spirit there are also three functions-the conscience to know what is right and wrong and to justify or to condemn, the fellowship for us to commune with and contact God, and the intuition for us to sense the will of God directly. Thus, our inward being has six parts, including the mind, emotion, will, conscience, fellowship, and intuition. Of these, the conscience is at the center. This is the position of the conscience in our human being.
All our inward parts are related to the conscience. Therefore, the consciousness, the sense, of the conscience is related to these parts. If the other five inward parts are strong, right, and normal, our conscience is strong, right, and normal. But if these five parts are wrong and abnormal, the conscience is wrong and abnormal, because the condition of the conscience is related to these five parts. In order to have a proper conscience, our mind must be renewed, enlightened, and clear; our emotion must be loving toward the Lord; and our will must be pliable, soft but not weak, strong but not stubborn. Moreover, our fellowship must not be broken or frustrated, we must have a thorough and continuing fellowship, and our intuition must be transparent and keen. Then we will have a proper conscience, and we will know the consciousness of our conscience.
The purpose of these messages is not only for you to know and understand these things, but also to help you to help others. We all have to know how to help others. In the next few months some new converts may be brought in, and we will have to care for them. We should help them to know all these matters. This is not mere knowledge; this is an understanding of our being, of ourselves. If we have a typewriter or a camera, we have to know how to use it. Even until today I do not know how to use a portable radio or a camera. Today I may learn, but by tomorrow I will forget because I do not practice using these things. If I learn in a fast way, I will forget in a fast way. In the same way, we need an understanding of how to operate our “spiritual machine” to contact the Lord. We need to practice and be impressed with these matters. Those who often drive can do it very easily. In the same way, I do not boast, but it is as if I can speak about our inward parts in my sleep, because I am practiced in these matters.
As we have also seen, there are three kinds of government: the divine government, the government of the conscience, and the human government. God is a God of order, a God of law in the positive sense. God is not lawless; He is lawful. With Him there is a government. Whether or not one recognizes that there is a God, he is still under the government of God, either directly through his conscience or indirectly through some human authority. We have no right to be free. The United States is called a free land, but we cannot be as free as we imagine. For example, we do not have the freedom to drive as we like. When I came to this country I discovered that the best discipline for people is to come here and drive; their careless character will be adjusted. Recently a brother drove me to get a vaccination, and when we came out of the hospital there was a ticket on his car for parking in the wrong place. We have to learn the lesson to be ruled. This is a free land, yet how many regulations there are! We need this. I have traveled in many countries, and I would say that the United States has the best order. The regulations, rules, and laws are some of the reasons I like this country.
We must realize that this universe is neither yours nor mine; it is God’s, and God has His regulations. Whether or not we recognize Him, we are under His government. Whether unconsciously or unwillingly, we are under either the divine government, the conscience, or human government. In the garden of Eden before man was fallen, he was under the divine government in the presence of God. There was no need for anyone other than God to rule, reign, and govern. Man was governed by God Himself. Bible students call this the first dispensation, the dispensation of innocence. However, man fell from the presence of God, so he lost the divine government of God. Still, God is sovereign, so at that time the function of the conscience developed. The conscience functions for God to govern us. This was the second government, in the second dispensation, the dispensation of the conscience. God’s way in this dispensation was to have the conscience govern man.
At that time people were under the control, the government, of the conscience. However, the human race had a second step of the fall. By this, we fell from the conscience into the government under the human hand. This is the reason that we have human government. If we did not have Washington, D. C., city hall, the law court, and the police station, what kind of country would this be? The fallen race is under the human government. Praise the Lord, the salvation of God came to bring us back from human government to the conscience, and if we enjoy more and more of God’s salvation, then we are brought back even to God Himself through the conscience.
Both for the fall and for the deliverance, the conscience is the bridge. That is why in order to know God in a living way, we must know this conscience. It is very important. We can never be adequate or normal in the spiritual life if we neglect the conscience. This is why there are many verses in the New Testament dealing with the conscience. All the verses related to the conscience are important, strong, and serious. We need to know the conscience.
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