However, older believers have a big danger in this regard; their conscience may be too strong, and it may become cold and hard. Immature believers who seek the Lord wholeheartedly will submit to the Lord in many things because their conscience and intuition are sensitive, and they are easily moved by the Holy Spirit. Elderly believers may become cold and hard in their conscience because too much knowledge has caused their mind to be overdeveloped; consequently, the sensitivity of the intuition is lost. They do everything according to the knowledge of their mind; the Holy Spirit seemingly cannot move them. This is a fatal wound to the spiritual life. It causes the believer's life to lose its freshness; everything is old. Regardless of how much knowledge we have, we should not follow the knowledge but the intuition of the spirit (conscience). If we do not care for the condemnation of the conscience through the intuition, but use our knowledge as the standard of our conduct, then we will walk according to the flesh. Many times, according to the truth which we know, it is permissible for us to do a certain thing. Yet does not our conscience become unrestful if we go ahead and do it? If the conscience condemns a certain matter, it still does not fit into God's will even if, according to the knowledge of the mind, the matter is good. Often the knowledge which we have gained is acquired through the intelligence of the mind, and it is not the revelation of the intuition. Therefore, the leading of the conscience can be at conflict with the knowledge.

The apostle reckoned that if a believer does not care for the rebuke of the weakened conscience and instead walks according to the knowledge of the mind, his spiritual life will be grievously damaged. "For if anyone sees you who have knowledge reclining at table in an idol temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat the things sacrificed to the idols? For the one who is weak is being destroyed by your knowledge, the brother because of whom Christ died" (1 Cor. 8:10-11). This concerns believers who have knowledge and those who do not. If a believer who does not have knowledge sees one who has knowledge eating food offered to idols, then he will reason that if the other believer can eat, he also can eat. He will not care for the voice of his conscience and will eat. This causes the believer to fall. This is the meaning in these verses. A believer who does not have knowledge can only understand with his mind the knowledge that his brother possesses. If he walks according to this knowledge, ignoring his conscience, he will fall. May we always remember that we should not walk according to the knowledge that we have, even if it is only for a short period of time. All believers, regardless of their knowledge, should walk according to the intuition and the conscience of the spirit. Their knowledge may influence their conscience, but they should directly follow the conscience alone. Concerning the conduct of believers, God cares more for their obedience to His will than for their good conduct. Listening to the voice of the conscience guarantees that our consecration and obedience are true. Through the conscience, God observes whether our priority is submitting to Him or whether we have other motives.

There is another matter which a believer should pay attention to. He should be cautious not to allow his conscience to be surrounded. Many times our conscience loses its normal function because it has been encircled. Our conscience becomes cold because the consciences of those around us are cold and hard, and because their reasonings, talk, teachings, encouragement, examples, and hindrances influence us. We should be wary of teachers whose consciences are cold and hard. We should guard against any man-made conscience; the conscience made by others for us should be rejected. Our conscience should be directly responsible to God in every single matter. We should know the will of God, and we should be responsible to keep it. If we do not care for our own conscience and follow the consciences of others, we will fail.

In short, the conscience of the believer is an important faculty of the spirit. The believer should fully follow its leading. Even though it is influenced by knowledge, all of its speaking represents the highest will of God for us today. As long as we attain to the highest peak that we should attain to today, this is sufficient. We do not need to worry about all the other things. We should always keep our conscience healthy and not allow a single sin to damage its perception. Once we become cold and hard at any time, nothing will be able to move us. Then we should know that we have fallen deeply into the flesh. All of our scriptural knowledge will be kept in the mind of the flesh and not have a living power. We should always walk according to the intuition of the spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the perception of the conscience becomes keener day after day. Then even a small matter that is not right with God can be detected and repented of. Do not labor just in the mind and forget about the intuition of the conscience. The growth of our spiritual stature ensures the increase of the sensitivity of our conscience. So many believers do not possess any liveliness today because they did not care for their conscience, but only kept dead knowledge in their mind. We should be watchful every day and not fall into complacency. Do not fear being moved easily. If it is the moving of the conscience, we should fear that it is too little, not that it is too much. The conscience is God's brake. It tells us what parts are in trouble and should be repaired before proceeding. If we are willing to listen, we will avoid a great deal of tearing down work later.