In previous podcasts, we’ve looked at the conscience or the inward witness. We have seen that the conscience is the voice of your spirit. And, that the use of your conscience by the Spirit of God is the number one way that God will lead you in the everyday affairs of life. The conscience stays supple and sensitive by not overriding it. In today’s post, we take a look at the warning aspect of the inward witness.

[Tweet “There’s a negative side to the conscience, a warning side, a lack of peace side.”]

The Health of Your Conscience

• You can have peace on the inside of your heart and can and should follow that peace.
• Peace is a sign of good spiritual health.
• But, what if your conscience bothers you about something, what does that mean?
• It means you don’t have peace about it.
• Lack of a peace is a warning from the Spirit of God.
• It’s an alarm from heaven that we should clue into.

The Warning Aspect of the Witness

• Your conscience can be clear, good, pure and perfect as we have already seen.
• But there’s a negative side to the conscience, a warning side, a lack of peace side.
• Let’s look at some verses on the negative side.

1 Timothy 4:2 (KJV): 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Titus 1:15 (KJV): 15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

Hebrews 10:22 (KJV): 22 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.

• Here are three more conscience descriptors, all from the negative side.
• Your conscience can be seared, defiled, or evil.
• How does it become that way?
• By constantly overriding it.
• By ignoring the ‘lack of peace’ that you have in your heart.
• If you can sit up there and look at pornography and it doesn’t bother you, there is a problem with your conscience.
• Your conscience is seared.
• If you can sit down and drink alcohol until you get drunk and it doesn’t bother you, your conscience is seared.
• The Spirit of God is not going to lead you to get drunk, not ever.
• The Bible says ‘Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

• If you are able to partake of sin and it does not trigger your conscience, it is seared.

How Does Your Conscious Become Seared?

• By continually overriding it’s warnings.
• You override the first time, your conscious lessens in intensity.
• You override the second time, it becomes less again.
• You keep overriding it, it becomes, less and less and less until you no longer sense it; that is what seared means.
• Seared means tough and hardened like leather.
• The problem with a seared conscience is that it is of no use in helping you to determine what is right and what is wrong in situations other than sin areas.
• If you are asking God questions like,
  • Is this job the right job?
  • Is this the right purchase?
  • Is this the right spouse? etc…
  • If you are asking right and wrong type questions and you desire God’s guidance, it is important to not be trying to ascertain those things with a seared conscience.
• You want your conscience to be supple and sensitive not seared.

How Do You Un-sear It?

• I am glad you asked.
• In order to de-sear your heart and return it to a supple sensitive state, you must legalistically obey every prompting in your spirit, no matter how slight.
• The more you do that, the more sensitive you will become to it and eventually, the condition of your heart will be such that you are easy to be led.

The Accuracy of the Conscience

• There is one underlining principle in living the Spirit-led life.
• The Spirit of God will always lead in line with His Word.
• When I say always, that’s what I mean.
• The Lord will NEVER lead you in a way that causes you to be cross-wise with a Bible verse.
• Never.
• God and His Word are one.
• This goes for having dreams which you think came from the Lord.
• This includes the area of personal prophecy.
• It includes visions and visitations from angels.

Galatians 1:8 (ESV): — 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

• Why would Paul tell the Galatians that an angel could come preaching the wrong ‘Good News’ unless it was possible?

1 Timothy 4:1 (KJV) — 1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,

• The only way to arm yourself against a lie is to know the truth.
• These principles also apply to the area of the conscience.
• The voice of your spirit can only become a safe guide if has had the opportunity to feed on the Word of God.
• Without the Word, your conscience will permit you to do just about anything.
• All leading’s arising from within your heart must be in line with God’s Word.
• That’s why it is so vitally important to chew on God’s Word.
• You know what chewing on God’s Word means?
• That means reading your Bible.
• It means meditating on Bible verses.
• And, confessing and agreeing with Bible promises.
• It means living the truth.

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