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#December 1, 2013
Morning Worship
Text: Psalm 89:15; Acts 24:16
Subject: Receiving Light
Title: Receiving Light Through the Conscience
Psalm 89:15, Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
Last week we talked about various ways that Christians receive light. We receive light by revelation, by faith through hearing, and by understanding. The things we talked about last week all come from the word of God.
We receive revelation while reading the word…
We receive faith by hearing the word…
We receive understanding from the study of the word…
It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives in each of those cases and it is the Holy Spirit through those things that gives us light. Some have more light than others. The Holy Spirit works more in some than in others. Jesus said in Luke 19:26, to everyone who has, more will be given.
Those who receive light are responsible to walk in the light they have. If you receive light and refuse to walk in it, how can you expect to receive more light? As a matter of fact, Jesus went on to say in Luke 19, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away…
We receive light in different ways concerning the word. But there is another way that we receive light and it comes not from hearing the written word but through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit in our spirit man. Sometimes we place so much emphasis on the written Word of God, the logos, that we neglect the spoken word of God, the rhema, spoken to our inner man.
Romans chapter 10 and verse 17, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Most times when you hear this passage preached it will be in the context of hearing the scriptures and having faith built up in us through that process. Interestingly enough, the word that is translated word in that verse is not logos referring to the written word, but instead is rhema, the spoken word of God. Faith comes by hearing God speak to you. He may do that through the word, but it also comes through that inner witness. And that inner witness is connected to the conscience.
Acts 24:16, So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
I believe this is God's Word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I appropriate it to my life today…
We need to pay close attention to our consciences.
Everyone is born with a conscience. God has established in us from the very beginning of our lives a sense of morality that tells us the difference between right and wrong. It is built into the very fabric of our being, but during the course of life something happens to the conscience. In a sense our conscience is like a computer program. When it first begins it is perfect and works in the fashion originally intended. But many times our computers become infected by outside sources and it changes the way the program tries to work. Certain files in the program, which once worked perfectly, now become corrupted, and the program that once was effective now may still operate, but not at the level it was intended to. The longer it is run in a corrupted environment, the more corrupted it becomes.
The conscience in a person, though created perfect in you to be your moral compass, operates in a corrupted environment as well. We can look at babies and see that when they cry it is because there is a need that isn’t being met. They may need to be fed, or changed, or just held. But in just a few short months that need can become a want and children can become very self centered and selfish. I remember when our girls were little and we told them not to do something or not to touch something, how long do you think it was before they were going to do exactly what they were told not to do?
Because we live in a less than perfect world our consciences become corrupted. That changes when we are born again. Now the Holy Spirit begins to change and re-establish our moral code and to tell us when we are right or wrong.
The Bible tells us some things about the condition of our consciences.
We can have…
a clear conscience
a good conscience
a weak conscience
a guilty conscience
Our consciences can…
bear witness
be seared
can be corrupted
can be cleansed
So for a believer, our consciences become more than just a built in… they become something new in us. Do you remember last week when I talked about how the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits - Romans 8:16 – that we are children of God? The interaction between our conscience and the Holy Spirit that lives in us is a continual back and forth. Romans 9:1, I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit… there is a knowing that takes place in a believer that comes through the Holy Spirit and our consciences. I’ve heard people say, “I knew I shouldn’t have done that” or “I knew that something bad was going to happen if I didn’t do this or that.” Well the question is, “if you knew, then why did you go on and do it?” the Holy Spirit was trying to tell you something in your conscience. Why didn’t you listen? It’s because we haven’t trained ourselves to listen that way.
Religion says that you can’t hear from God that way; that what is going to happen is going to happen and you can’t do a thing about it. But religion hung Jesus on a tree. Religion put apostles and prophets to death. Religion keeps people today from receiving what God wants for your life. And what God wants is to be able to have that open communication with you so that you can become so in tune with what the Spirit is saying in your conscience that in all your life you will be Spirit led. Romans 8:14, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Everybody read that out loud with me… because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Do you know that there are two people living in your body? There is a natural man – the man of the flesh – that includes your mind, your emotions, your will… and then there is the Holy Spirit who places I you God’s mind and God’s will. The easy way to live your life is to let your natural man take the lead and have his will. The right thing to do is to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you through your conscience into a life that is holy and pleasing to God – your spiritual act of worship. In 2 Corinthians 1:12, Paul wrote, Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace.
Paul is saying that he has a clear conscience. He has been led by the Spirit in his life and there is no guilt in his conscience – he knows he has done the right thing in how he has conducted his life, his ministry, his relationships. He has lived in holiness and sincerity… his conscience never bothered him. Look at the end of that verse. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God’s grace. Worldly wisdom does not have anything to do with conscience, but God’s grace does. As a matter of fact, even though you are saved and have been so for 50 years, you can still ignore your conscience. 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. What do deceiving spirits teach? Lies! What is the opposite of lies? Truth – and God's Word is what? So anything taught by deceiving spirits is contrary to God's Word. In your conscience you can either receive or reject what the Spirit is speaking to you. He is trying to give light to you and you are responsible for what you are going to do with it. Romans 5:5, And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
But when people begin to ignore that love that is she abroad in them and do what the natural man wants something begins to happen. There is a searing that takes place. I started playing the guitar when I was 12 years old. After I had been practicing for a week something began to happen to my fingertips. At first they were sore and raw and they even bled – they were trying to tell me that what I was doing was not good. But I forced myself to continue and before long the blisters became calloused and the longer I played the deeper the calluses went. I’ve been playing so long now that I don’t even notice.
That is what happens when you begin to ignore the light that the Holy Spirit is trying to give you in your conscience. The first time you ignore the warning signals – don’t go there, don’t do that, slow down – or in positive sense, go pray for that person, go witness to that one… the first time your conscience may become guilty. But each successive time you ignore His prompting, the less the guilt becomes. Your conscience becomes hardened or calloused, or seared. Romans 1 beginning in verse 20, For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness…
verse 28, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…
What things are not fitting? Anything that is contrary to what God is telling you to do.
…because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God…
So you want to receive direction for your life. You pray and ask the Lord, “Should I do this or should I go a different direction? Should I invest my money with this company or another? Should I give to this cause or not? Should I drive to the post office or walk?
Do you think that it doesn’t make a difference whether you ask or not? The Lord wants you to know with a clear conscience what His will for you is in specific things in your life. He wants you to have a witness in your conscience that comes from the witness of the Holy Spirit.
A word of warning: don’t try to justify things in your life that you know are contrary to the written word by trying to get a spoken word from God that says the opposite. God will never contradict His word. But He does want to shine light in your life.
This was never more evident to me than last summer when we were looking for a car to purchase. We thought we had it all figured out, but nothing felt right. Finally, when we took time to pray about what car to buy, should it be new or used, how much should we offer with our trade in… here is what happened. First, the Lord showed us that the car we were looking at was good for us. We found a program car, we offered what the Lord told me to offer. But here is what happened. And I believe that it was because we were walking in the light we had received from Him in this matter. The car that we were supposed to get – a program car with 4,500 miles, didn’t come through… but a brand new car with the same equipment for the same price did.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly 2 years ago when I had the accident on the ladder while trimming trees in the corner lot, I my conscience was telling me no, don’t go up the ladder the way it is set up, but move to the other side. I knew I shouldn’t but I was in a hurry so I did what I wanted to do and not what my Spirit influenced conscience was saying. And you know the rest of that story.
Titus 2:11-12, 11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…
Can you have the witness of the Holy Spirit in your conscience today? Many in the church say, “NO!”
Psalm 89:15, Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.
Acts 24:16, So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
One more thing. Do you believe that God wants the best for you? If so then how will He reveal His best to you?
John 10:10, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
The enemy will steal from you, and try to kill you, and destroy you by getting you to ignore your conscience. He doesn’t want you walk in new light. He wants to keep you in darkness.
But Jesus came to reveal light to you. John 1:1-3, 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Today are you walking in the light with a clear conscience, a good conscience, or is your conscience seared or guilty?
The Holy Spirit is here today to give you light through your conscience. You are responsible to walk in the light that you have.
