The Conscience Of Man And The Word Of God

TITLE: The Conscience of man and the Word of God (4/25/99)

I. Introduction

Have you seen the Sunglasses and seminars commercial – this fellow is supposed to be attending seminars for his work, but decides to spend time in the sun. Only problem is – He falls asleep at the beach and gets really burned…all except for where he was wearing his sunglasses …He looked like a raccoon…obviously there was no way he was going to fool anyone that he had actually attended the seminars…

This commercial reminded me of some stories I have heard over the years.

Have you heard the story of the lady who went to the butcher to by chicken. The butcher placed a chicken on the scale and announced the weight. The lady said that’s a little too small do you have another. The butcher went to the cooler and realizing he did not have another chicken, brought out the same chicken, placed it on the scale, with his thumb holding the scale down just enough to make the chicken appear heavier. This time when the butcher announced the weight the lady replied “o that will be fine”, I will take them both.

Have you heard the story of the enthusiastic but somewhat unscrupulous salesman who while waiting to see a purchasing agent of an engineering firm to submit his company’s bid for a particular job Couldn’t help but notice that a competitor’s bid was on the purchasing agent’s desk. Unfortunately, the actual figure of the competitors bid was covered by a can of juice. The temptation to see the amount quoted became too much, so the salesman lifted the can. His heart sank as he watched thousands of Bb’s pour from the bottomless can and scatter across the floor.

Or have you heard the story of the four college students who couldn’t resist the temptation to skip finals to go to a concert. Later they showed up seeking to take the final, but were asked, “why they had missed” They told the teacher that their car had had a flat tire. Much to their relief, the teacher smiled and agreed to give them the test. He placed each of the students in a separate room and handed them the tests, which had only one question—“which tire was flat?"

(The Point)

In each case the individuals were tempted to do something that they knew was wrong.

Yet they did it anyway.

(Proposition)

What brings a person to the place where they willfully do what they know is wrong?

The Title of my message today is

The Conscience of man and the Word of God

We will examine what the conscience is and how to keep it clear

Prayer

II. The conscience

The word conscience appears 31 times in the New Testament

And by definition

It is a self-awareness (faculty) that judges whether or not an act one has carried out or plans to carry out is in harmony with ones moral standards

The bible tells us that

Everyone is born with a conscience with right and wrong written upon it

Jesus said

Matthew 7:11

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

The implication is that everyone has some knowledge of good no matter how elementary it is how distorted it may be

Paul wrote that all people have a conscience

Romans 2:15

since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

However the Moral Sense all humanity carries within is marred by sin.

So, it does not work properly.

It is swayed and persuaded by desire, lust, temptation and pride

?????What brings a person to the place where they willfully do what they know is wrong?

*****What makes us go against our conscience – a conscience that we all have????

What made two teenage boys murder 15 of their classmates in Littleton Colorado last week

What make President Molosovich think its ok to murder all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo

Someone has said our conscience is like a sharp square peg in our hearts.

If we are confronted by a questionable situation, that square begins to turn, and it s corners cut into our hearts, warning us with an inward sensation against doing whatever confronts us.

If the conscience is ignored time after time, the corners of the square are gradually worn down, and it virtually becomes a circle.

When that circle turns within our hearts, there is no inner sensation of warning, and we are left without a conscience.

The Bible describes it in (I Timothy 4:2) as having our conscience seared as with a hot Iron.