Conscience, condemnation and guilt

 BY Argie Simonis

In last Sunday's message I spoke about our justification by grace, about the works of the Law versus the works of faith and I explained their difference.

Today I will talk about our conscience, how condemnation and guilt affect it, the searing of conscience, but also the cleansing of the conscience from evil works.

Here, of course, the spirit of relegion ranks first in this problem.

I quote the definition of consciousness:

"Consciousness is the mental capacity of an organism which allows it, in extension of its senses, to know and understand itself, its environment, the happenings around it and within it and to have a possible sense of 'place' and his importance in the world as well as the impact of his actions."

~ Source: Wikipedia

---------------------------

In the letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul writes:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;" Rom. 1:18

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has showed it to them." Rom. 1:19

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" Rom. 1:20

Paul's purpose in these three verses was to explain why the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation that he spoke of in verse 16. The problem was that then, as now, most people believed that the way for someone to come to God was through guilt and the fear of hell. People doubted that Paul's good news of God's love would be enough to cause repentance.

Therefore, Paul began to demonstrate that every person already has an instinctive knowledge of God's wrath against their sin.

~~ We don't need to prove God's wrath. God has already done it. You don't have to be a Christian to know that murder, lying and stealing for example are wrong. ~~

In Rom. 1:18-20, Paul shows us that God has revealed Ηimself to ALL mankind. In the Old Testament we also see that God revealed Himself to ALL through nature:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." Ps. 19:1

"Day to day utters speech, and night to night shows knowledge." Ps. 19:2

"There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard." Ps. 19:3

The apostle Paul describes to us that there is an intuition, a revelation of God within each person. This instinctive knowledge given to all of us is called consciousness and he explains it below:

"For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law to themselves:" Rom. 2:14

"Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)" Rom. 2:15

-----------------------

Now look at what we read in the letter to the Hebrews:

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Heb. 9:14

The most common interpretation of this verse is that it is talking about those acts of sin that cause guilt. But this can also be applied to the religious notion that the better we perform at doing good, the more we are loved and accepted by God.

This is NOT the true. Without being born again in the spirit we cannot have a relationship with God. This is what the Lord said to Nicodemus:

"Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3

In other words, if we put all our trust in our good works, we fall into the trap of DEAD works.

Notice what it says that it is our conscience that must be cleansed of these dead works. Conscience is a part of us that justifies or accuses us. 

We read this in Rom. 2:15, where Paul describes the guilt our conscience produces when we do something wrong or the self-righteousness our conscience produces when we do the right thing.

We need to be cleansed from both of these functions of the conscience, which the Scriptures call an evil conscience:

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. 10:22

How can we achieve this?

We do this by focusing our attention on God through prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers. We come before the Lord according to what we are already in Christ and not with self-righteousness, that is, with what we achieve with our own strength.

~~ The absolute confidence and assurance in our hearts must be based on what Jesus has done for us and not on what we have done for Him. ~~

We can be as close to God as we want, because it is not Him who is separated from us, but we seperate from Him, and this is something that comes from our guilty consciences.

Notice also that there is no mention of confession of sin or atonement for sin in this passage from Hebrews that I read. Atonement for sin has already been delt with by Jesus with His sacrifice on the cross. We have been sanctified and perfected once and for all:

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Heb. 10:10

"For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Heb. 10:14

There is no more need for a sin offering:

"Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." Heb. 10:18

~~ The only obstacle to entering God's presence is our unrenewed mind that does not understand the true magnitude of our redemption and allows an evil conscience to condemn us.~~

Here I should underline that if there is a bad conscience, this means that there is also a good conscience.

So by renewing our minds with the word of God (Rom. 12:2), the truth about who we are in Christ is revealed to us. We need to shake off the condemnation that the devil puts upon us when we fall into sin, even from the condemnation that comes from our own heart, because that is how many of us were taught in the legalistic environment we grew up.

~~ By true repentance in our heart, we cleanse our consciences of dead works so that we can serve the living God.~~ 

And the Lord promises:

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1John 1:8

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9

-------------------------

Cleansing our conscience from evil works is the Biblical way we should practice to get rid of condemnation and guilt. But there is a reason God allows our conscience to condemn us. And I will give you an example:

The rapist, the pedophile and the murderer, they SHOULD be convicted by their conscience and feel condemnation and guilt for what they do. But some reach the point of searing their conscience. See what Paul writes to Timothy:

"Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" 1Tim. 4:1

"Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;" 1Tim. 4:2

Apostasy is a sign of the end times. Paul warns us not to be deceived:

"For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now lets will let, until he be taken out of the way." 2Thes. 2:7

Although the origin of false teaching is from these demonic spirits, it is PEOPLE that the devil uses to spread these teachings. These people are hypocrites, who have seared their consciences and speak under the inspiration of demons.

The searing of the conscience is not done overnight. It is a long process carried out in stages.

The same way they used to make candles in the old times by dipping a wick into melted wax, the same way our hearts get hardened every time we sin. 

Those who fall into sin and unrepentant continue to do the same, their hearts slowly harden, they lose their sensitivity to hearing the voice of God and when this hardness reaches the highest point something very bad happens:

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;" Rom. 1:28

~~ Do you know what this reprobate mind is? It is this situation that comes when someone has seared his conscience to such an extent, that he does evil and he does not give a dime about it! 

That's when God hands him over to a reprobate mind, meaning that He withholds the conviction of the Holy Spirit and leaves this man completely to his own devices. There is nothing worse than being left to your own devices by God. That's a road of no return! ~~

That is why it is very important, especially in the wicked times we live in, to examine everything under the light of the Scriptures with the fear of God, so that we are not carried away by every wind of deception and intimidation.

---------------------------

Here comes the good news:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1

So those of us who have accepted Christ, as new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17) we continue to be IN CHRIST even when we sin. That is why we should not let any condemnation affect us. And as John mentions in his letter:

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1John 1:8

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1John 1:9

So whenever we fall into some transgression, we don't try to hide from God's presence like Adam did because he was ashamed, but what do we do?

"We come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain MERCY, and find GRACE to help in time of need." Heb. 4:16

This is the good news of our Christ. Amen!