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
don't know what to think anymore; I don't know which way to go; I don't know what is right; I need to check the communication between the Holy
Spirit and my conscience.
1 Corinthians 14:33 (NKJV)
33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace.
Let me make this clear, God does not do things in our life to confuse us. In fact, if you stay in prayer, if you stay in the Bible studying God's Word, if you stay in fellowship with other Christians, there will be no confusion.
Confusion comes in when other things are seeping into our decision process.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
How does that happen? I get distracted. I need to set my eyes on the things of God. Am I not to seek the kingdom of God first and above all else? Jesus in Hebrews set His eyes on the cross for me; I need to set my eyes on Him.
If you are operating in confusion today, it is because you got distracted and other things got in. Isn't that what happened with Covid 19 and the church, the church got distracted and the church suffered? Well, the same thing happens to us as individuals- the devil the flesh and the world get in and confuse us and we suffer; our faith suffers.
The answer is to take every thought captive. Clean that junk out so that you can hear what the Spirit has to say.
The Second Clog
If my conscience is receiving messages such as God don't love me; God cannot use me; God won't forgive me then the communication between the Holy Spirit and my conscience is clo ed.
Let me tell you that the Holy Spirit does not send messages to your conscious that you are worthless because that is simply not true. If you were worthless, Jesus would not have left heaven and come to earth and get on a cross for you.
Romans 8:1 (NKJV)
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
John 6:37 (NKJV)
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
I want to make sure that you understand the difference between condemnation and conviction. Condemnation comes from the devil and the forces of hell; conviction comes from the Holy Spirit.
Condemnation draws you downward. Its message is hopelessness, darkness, isolation. Its message is that you cannot get away from your past. With condemnation, you are helpless because you don't know what to do.
Conviction, on the other hand, is from the Holy Spirit. Its message will lift you up. There is hope; there is light; there is a future in your walk with God. With conviction, you are enabled because you know exactly what you are to do. 7 John 1:9 (NKJV)
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful andjust to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Today, if you are feeling condemned in your heart than that is not from the Holy Spirit.
The Third Clog
If your conscience is receiving messages that something or someone wants to control you than that is not the Holy Spirit because He wants to guide you not control you.
John 16:13 (NKJV)
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
Psalm 73:24 (NKJV)
24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory
The Devil wants to take away your freedoms. He would love for you to be in bondage. The world wants to control you. The world's thinking is if it can get you in debt over your head, it got you. Alcohol, Drugs, pornographic wants to control you. Even your very flesh wants to control you.
God does not control us. In His guidance He may teach us: He may warn of danger; He may encourage us, and He may correct us. But we still have the choice to heed His guidance to our conscience.
Today, if you feel like something got control over you, that you have no freedom then I got to tell you it is not God. God set you free.
Galatians 5:1 (NKJV)
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Application
• We need to be gatekeepers of our conscience. Let in the Holy Spirit and His guidance to our conscience. Keep out the influences of the devil, this world, and our flesh.
