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Scripture Reading: Acts 23:1; 24:16; 1 Tim. 1:5, 19; Heb. 9:14; 10:22; 2 Cor. 1:12; Rom. 9:1
In the previous chapters we saw the dealing with the flesh and with the self. In order to learn the way of life, that is, in order to grow in life, we need to also deal with our conscience. The New Testament contains a number of passages concerning the conscience. Acts 23:1 says, “Paul, looking intently at the Sanhedrin, said, Men, brothers, I have conducted myself in all good conscience before God until this day.” In 24:16 Paul said, “Because of this I also exercise myself to always have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” First Timothy 1:5 says, “The end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and out of a good conscience and out of unfeigned faith,” and verse 19 says, “Holding faith and a good conscience, concerning which some, thrusting these away, have become shipwrecked regarding the faith.” Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” In chapter 10, verse 22 says, “Let us come forward to the Holy of Holies with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” Second Corinthians 1:12 says, “Our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.” Lastly, Romans 9:1 says, “I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit.”
After reading the above passages, we can be clear about the importance of the conscience. The apostle Paul said that his conscience bore witness for him in the Holy Spirit, and he had the testimony of his conscience concerning his manner of life. He always exercised to have a conscience without offense not only before God but also toward men. Moreover, we must have a purged and pure conscience, a conscience without offense, accusation, or condemnation, so that we may have the peace and assurance to serve the Lord. Paul also tells us that in order to come near to God to contact Him, we must have a heart sprinkled from an evil, wicked, or defiled conscience. If we have a pure conscience without offense or accusation, we are at peace, and we have the assurance of faith, the boldness, to contact God and serve the Lord. By all this we can see how vital the conscience is regarding the relationship between us and God.
In the past few chapters we saw that in order to grow in the Lord as life, we must deal with our flesh and our self. Fallen man has sin in his body and the self in his soul. Sin in the body together with self in the soul comprises the flesh. To deal with the flesh and the self is to deal with the sinful body and the soul. These two dealings are very subjective, but in our experience dealing with the conscience is even deeper than dealing with the flesh and with the self, because the conscience is the main part of our human spirit. We can prove this by comparing Romans 9:1 with 8:16. The first verse says that our conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit, and the second says that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit. That the conscience bears witness in the Spirit and the Spirit bears witness with our spirit proves that the conscience must be a part of our spirit. Since the conscience is a great part of our spirit, to deal with the conscience is to deal with our spirit, which is much deeper than our soul. We may have dealt with our flesh and our self, so at this time we may not be wrong related to the flesh and the self. However, we still may have a questionable standing before God due to a problem in our conscience.
In our spirit, besides the conscience we also have another function, which is to directly sense the thought and will of God. To sense something is deeper than to see it. We may come into a room, for example, and sense a certain atmosphere even if we cannot see, smell, or touch it. In our human spirit there is a function that senses the will and mind of God directly. We call this function the intuition. Many times we have no problem with the flesh or the self, yet we still have a problem before God in our conscience because the conscience in our spirit always speaks something to us for God through the intuition of the spirit.
Sometimes we may make up our mind to do something, but in our spirit there may be the deep sense that the Lord wants us to do something else. At that time, if we insist on our own opinion, our conscience will speak something for God to show us that we are wrong. Many times we have had this experience. We have no sins, we have dealt with all things, and we are not wrong in any matter of the flesh or self, but we sense that there is a problem before God deep within us. That is the conscience speaking something for God through the intuition of the spirit.
This is deeper than dealing with the flesh and dealing with the self. It is something deeper in our spirit, which no one but we ourselves can comprehend. When we do something, others may not know what is deep within us, but in our spirit there is the intuition, which senses the will and mind of God directly, apart from our reasoning. We may try several times to do something, but we still may not have the anointing. There is something within us speaking to us that we should not do it. We may not know the reason, but we do realize deep within that there is the sense not to do it. This is the direct sense through the intuition of the spirit, and the conscience speaks for God according to that sense.
Please note, however, that our conscience is troubled not only due to the intuition from God in our spirit. If there is anything wrong with us, our conscience will speak something for God. If, for example, we do something wrong toward a brother, right away the conscience within us will speak for God to tell us we are wrong. Then our conscience demands that we do two things. First, we must confess to the Lord to ask forgiveness from Him, and second, we must go to the brother and say, “Brother, forgive me. I was wrong in that matter.” Why must we confess to the Lord and go to the brother? It is because the conscience demands that we do.
We all know from our experience that if we do not confess and ask forgiveness, something in our conscience accuses us, and we lose the rest, peace, and assurance of faith. Then we do not have the boldness to come to the Lord. There is a barrier, a separation, a wall, between us and the Lord. This hinders our prayer life very much. As long as we have an accusation in our conscience, it is impossible for us to contact the Lord to pray in a living way. We simply cannot pray, because there is something between us and the Lord, damaging our conscience and hindering us.
Our assurance of faith has very much to do with a good, pure conscience. An offense, an accusation, in our conscience is like a hole in a vessel, out of which all the water leaks. As long as our conscience has an offense, our assurance of faith will leak out because our conscience is breached. An accusation in our conscience makes it impossible to have the assurance of faith. We simply cannot make ourselves believe in the Lord.
It is not necessary to have a big problem for our conscience to be troubled. Sometimes it is the small matters that trouble our conscience. Sometimes it is just a wrong or inaccurate word. After we speak such a word, we sense that we are wrong. Then, if we do not take care of our conscience, we will have constant accusations. We will have an evil conscience. It will be not pure, so we will not be at peace, and we will lose the assurance of faith. To be sure, if there is an offense in our conscience, our assurance of faith, our peace, and our boldness will be gone. Therefore, if we are going to contact God and serve the Lord, we need to take care of our conscience.
When the conscience speaks something for God, there is a strict regulation within us. In these days we have seen that the kingdom of the heavens is the heavenly rule, but the heavenly rule has much to do with the conscience. If we lose the rule of our conscience, we do not know what the heavenly rule is, because without the conscience we cannot know whether we are right or wrong. It is the conscience that regulates within us to always tell us what is right and what is wrong. Without the conscience we do not have this kind of sense.
We need to see how our conscience came to have its present position. According to the Scriptures, the spirit of man became deadened in the fall of man. After man committed sin, sin deadened and damaged the human spirit. However, after the fall the function of the conscience in the human spirit became more active than it was before the fall. On the one hand, the human spirit was deadened, and sin damaged its functions of fellowship with God and intuition from God, and on the other hand, the function of the conscience in the human spirit became more active and positive. This is because in the fall man took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and this knowledge of good and evil caused the function of the conscience to become more developed.
After the creation and before the fall, man in his original condition was sinless. In other words, man did not know the difference between good and evil. Good and evil were like a foreign language to him. If we could have asked Adam, “What is good, and what is evil?” Adam might have said, “I do not know what you mean. I did not know there are such words as good and evil.” When man was sinless, he had no knowledge of good and evil. This was truly wonderful. When we have the knowledge of good and evil, it is so easy to do evil. If we never knew what stealing is, we would probably never steal. Once we have the knowledge of stealing, we may do it. In a sense, the knowledge of good and evil is evil in itself. It is better not to have this knowledge. After the fall man received the knowledge of good and evil, so the function of his conscience was much developed.
At the time when man was sinless, he was directly under the divine government, the government of God. After the fall, however, man came under the government of the conscience. Then, after a certain period of time, man had a further fall in that he would not take care of his conscience. At that time, after the flood, God told Noah to set up a human government; man needed to be governed by other men. To be governed by God directly is the divine government, to be governed by our conscience is self-government, and to be governed by others is human government.
Today all the worldly people are under the human government. After we are saved, however, we come under another government, but we should not quickly say that we are under God’s government. Many brothers and sisters are at least fifty percent under human government. As a Christian, a young man in school is not altogether without human government. He still needs the school authorities to govern him, but as such, he is a defeated Christian. A normal, sound, fundamental Christian should no longer need human government. After we are saved, if we are normal, we are governed by our conscience. Therefore, we must deal with our conscience. If we are not governed by our conscience, we are to some degree under the government of man. After being saved, many young people still need human government. Even many older believers still need human government. This is because they are not strong in their conscience. If they were strong in their conscience, the conscience would rule and govern them. There should be no need for others to govern them.
I have discovered that in many places the young people are afraid of me. Such ones are not strong, normal Christians. If they were normal Christians, there would be no need to be afraid of this brother. Why do we Christians still need human government? Do we not have a regenerated, renewed, and enlightened conscience? We must be governed by our conscience. We must exercise to maintain a good conscience before God. Many children, however, after being genuinely saved, do many improper things, for which they are afraid of their parents. This shows that they are not normal. They are abnormal and wrong. They are saved, but they are not under the control, the government, of the conscience. To be sure, it is difficult for such ones to fellowship with the Lord in a nice way, and it is also hard for them to pray. They simply do not have the ability to pray. They do not have the assurance, the peace, to pray because there are many problems and accusations in their conscience.
With some Christians, the accusations in their conscience are many. Because of accusation after accusation, their conscience becomes absolutely dark. Then, as far as fellowship is concerned, they are finished. It is simply not possible to have fellowship with the Lord, because their conscience is offended. When the conscience is full of defilement, offense, and filthiness, it no longer functions, and when the conscience does not function, the entire spirit is out of function. Then it is impossible to have fellowship with the Lord. In order to exercise our spirit, we must exercise always to have a good conscience.
Between human government and divine government is the stepping stone of self-government through the conscience. The government of the conscience is the stepping stone to be delivered out of the human government and translated into the divine government. Therefore, we must exercise ourselves to maintain a good conscience, and the more we exercise, the better. Always keep a good conscience; then we will arrive at a condition in which we are directly governed by the Holy Spirit. After exercising our conscience for a period of time, we will come under the divine government.
Why do we need a good conscience, a conscience without offense? It is because we need to be translated into the presence of the Lord to be directly under the divine government. But as long as there is some offense, some accusation in our conscience, we are separated from the Lord, and we do not know how to be governed, directed, and ruled by the Holy Spirit. It is when we care for our conscience, always maintain a pure and good conscience without offense, and always have peace, rest, boldness, and assurance of faith in our conscience that we can be directly governed by the Holy Spirit.
If we still need our conscience to speak to us, we are wrong. A city may always have a police station, but if the police need to come into function with us, this means that we have done something wrong. We do not like to see a policeman come; that is a bad sign. We like for the police to always be jobless regarding us. That means that we are right and have nothing wrong. In the same way, as long as we need our conscience to govern us, there is a little distance between us and the Lord. If we were to have no distance from the Lord, the function of the conscience would not be necessary; the conscience would be jobless. If we are wrong in nothing and are so much in the presence of the Lord, there is nothing for the conscience to do, because we are directly under the divine government. However, not only when we do something wrong but even when we only intend to do it, we need the conscience, which then comes in to check us.
If we have never dealt with our conscience, it has many offenses and accusations, and it does not work; it is out of function in a negative way. Then, as far as fellowship is concerned, we are far from God in our experience, although in fact the Lord is still with us. There is a great distance between us and the Lord, so we must deal with our conscience. If we do not deal with our conscience, we can never come back into the presence of the Lord. It is the conscience that brings us into the presence of the Lord. This is the stepping stone, the bridge, to bring us from one kind of control to be under the divine control.
Perhaps the majority of the saints have never dealt with their conscience in an adequate way. I beg you to take this word and try to deal with your conscience. Then you will see what a problem it is. When we go to the Lord to deal with our conscience, many things will come out for us to deal with. We will need to adjust and correct many matters.
In order to grow as Christians in the spiritual life, there is no other way to take. There is no shortcut. We must deal with our flesh, deal with our self, and deal with our conscience. If we do not deal with our conscience, we can never be persons living in the presence of the Lord. Many saints are far from the Lord regarding their fellowship. They are not in the fellowship and presence of the Lord because of many problems in their conscience. What we have learned and what we always tell the young believers is that we must deal with the conscience. This is a must.
If we have never dealt with our conscience, we have never grown. We may think that we have some growth, but it is only growth in doctrine and knowledge and not in the real experience of life. The real experience of the growth in life depends upon our dealing with our conscience. However, in Christianity today this matter has been neglected very much. We can go to many places of meeting and listen to hundreds of messages without hearing one message that tells us to go to the Lord to deal with our conscience.
Thirty years ago I was helped by the Holy Spirit to learn the lesson to deal with the conscience, and for all these years I have kept this lesson. Sometimes when I have written a letter to someone, I have had to tear it up four or five times. If I wrote one sentence too much, there was an accusation in my conscience, and I had to start over. Then I would be careful, but I often would need to tear up the new letter. It is very difficult to speak things rightly. When we deal with our conscience, we find out how inaccurate we are. When people have asked me to pass on a certain word to others, I have often made a mistake. Then I had to come back, confess, and ask forgiveness. Because of this I learned the lesson that whenever people ask me to pass something on to someone, I have them write it down clearly. Because I often have needed to go back to confess my mistakes, I have learned that it is better not to speak anything. It is better to be silent, because whenever we open our mouth, within five minutes we need to confess.
I have learned these lessons in a strict way. Once in a conference of co-workers, we did not have many rooms to stay in, and I was put into a room with a certain dear brother. The room was very narrow and had two beds. Since we did not have a bathroom to wash in, we had to wash in our bedroom. I tried to be very careful to not splash water on the brother, but day by day I needed to confess my mistakes. I felt that I had done something wrong. Perhaps some would say that there was no need to confess, but at that time I had learned the lesson of dealing with the conscience. If I was only a little wrong, I had no peace in my conscience.
A certain co-worker who is now with the Lord also learned this lesson of dealing with the conscience. When he went to visit anyone, he would never enter the house until he was invited in. If he were to go in without an invitation, he would not be at peace in his conscience. Then, even after being invited in, he would not sit down unless someone asked him to. Some may say that this is too legal, but in order to be normal Christians, we need to learn all these lessons. Those who say that this is too legal are too careless, and a careless Christian cannot have even a little spiritual growth. He may have some kind of growth — in knowledge, doctrine, or other matters — but it is not the real growth in life. The real growth is the growth in the spirit, and the growth in the spirit depends very much on our dealing with our conscience.
In dealing with the conscience, we can never be loose. Whenever we are loose in our conscience, there is the danger that we may commit the worst sins. Our protection and safeguard is a pure conscience. The times when we are loose with our conscience are the most dangerous times.
If we go to the Lord to deal with this matter, we will see, on the one hand, what kind of a problem it is and, on the other hand, what kind of help we will receive. Then we will sense the presence of the Lord in a fresh, sweet way as we never have before. We will experience something new. This depends very much on our dealing with the conscience. If you deal with your conscience, you will know what I mean. If, however, we have never dealt with our conscience, we have never had any real growth in the spiritual life. This is a serious matter.
We should go to the Lord and say, “Here I am, Lord. Enlighten me, expose me, and bring me into Your presence. I wish to be purged and pure in my conscience.” If we go to the Lord in this way, and if we obey the Lord to deal with our conscience, we will see what problems we have. We may need ten days and ten nights to deal with all the matters. We may have problems we have let remain for many years without dealing with them. How can we grow with a conscience full of offenses? With so many holes in our conscience, how can we have the assurance of faith? It is impossible. We need to deal with our conscience; then we will have a new start in the Christian life. We will see how much help we will receive and what kind of strength and blessing we will enjoy, including the Lord’s presence, the anointing, and much strengthening. That will be wonderful!
Try to deal with your conscience before the Lord. There is no need to reason or argue with people. Simply go to the Lord to deal with your conscience. Then you will see where you are, what kind of problems you have, and what kind of help you need. To deal with the conscience is a very serious, vital, and deep matter. We must not have any trust in ourselves. Even when dealing with the self, we may be subtle, but we can never be subtle in dealing with the conscience. If we deal with our conscience, we will be brought into the presence of the Lord in a living, prevailing way, a way that we have never had before.
