Our Faith Is On Collision Course With A Defiled Conscience Series

Introduction

• Luke 17 ends with Jesus telling his disciples what signs to look for as the end times approach. Let me let you in on a secret: this world isn't going to last forever. And so, as Jesus is concluding His comments to His disciples, He makes this statement in Luke 18:8 (NKJV) 8 ... when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" In other words, when the end is near, will He find faith on the earth.

• That can mean only one thing to me: as the end times approach Christian men and women's faith is going to come under attack so much so that the church is going to look like the world, and you are not going to be able to tell a Christian man or woman from someone who does not possess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

• So, the warning to us is simple: guard your faith. And if you and I are going to be good guardians of our faith, we need to be prepared; we need to know those things that are going to come against our faith and attack it.

• And so far, we have seen that the world and toxic relationships are on a collision course with our faith. Today, we are going to see the third thing that attacks our faith, and it is a defiled conscience.

• Our warning about the conscience's impact on our faith is found in 1

Timothy 1:18-19. And I want to share it with you so, please stand as we read God's Word.

Scripture

1 Timothy 1:18-19 (NKJV)

18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

Background Information

In this Scripture, Paul is giving instructions to Timothy, the young man Paul took under his wing during his second missionary journey and mentored in the faith. Let me tell you something, if you have been a Christian a while, you ought to be mentoring a young Christian.

Well as Paul is mentoring Timothy, Paul tells Timothy there is a relationship between your faith and a good conscience. He tied them together in verse 19: Having faith and a good conscience. Paul says have anything less than a good conscience and you will shipwreck your faith.

And I know it is true because I have seen it play out in people's lives. Someone whose conscience is bothering them, they don't want to be around other Christians, they certainly don't want to be in the church house or pick up their Bible and read it. And so, what happens, according to Paul is that they shipwreck their faith.

First, I want to tell you a little about the workings of your conscience and then I want to share with you some of the warning signs that some changes may be needed in your life so that your conscience works in sync with the Holy Spirit. So, let's get started.

Point #1

In the life of a Christian, God's Holy Spirit works with our conscience to evaluate our thoughts, actions, and desires so that we do what is right and avoid what is wrong.

In the life of a person who does not know Christ, the Holy Spirit's guidance is absent and so something else is g uidin g the decisions made.

This message is for the Christian but let me make this point for those who never gave their life to Christ. If you are not a Christian the Holy Spirit is not guiding your conscience. That means the world, your flesh and the devil are guiding your decisions. The outcome cannot & will not be good; the Bible tells us this about a conscience not driven by the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV)

9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV)

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

For the unbeliever, your answer to having a god conscience come with first giving your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot have a good conscience apart from the Spirit of God, so salvation must be your first step.

For those who already Christian, sometimes that communication between the Holy Spirit and your conscience gets clogged up and it needs to be cleaned out. And I want to share with you three things that you should be looking for as indicators that the communication between the Holy Spirit and your conscience is not flowing properly.

The First Clog

If I get to a place where my decision process is so bogged down that I