Search
I. The human spirit in the Scripture
II. The human spirit
А. Being the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit
B. Being the strategic point of the inner life
C. Being the receiving organ
III. The three parts of the spirit — the conscience, intuition, and fellowship
IV. The importance of the conscience
А. Maintaining a transparent conscience
B. Dealing with the conscience by thorough confession
V. The effect of a purified conscience
We have seen a great deal about the divine Spirit, the Spirit of God. But the Bible also speaks of another spirit — the human spirit, the spirit of man.
Even among Christians there is an inadequate understanding and appreciation of the human spirit. Many have never even heard that they have a human spirit! Both the Old Testament and the New Testament, however, have many verses concerning this matter.
Proverbs 20:27 says, "The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts." Job 32:8 tells us "there is a spirit in man." Psalm 31:5 says, "Into thy hand I commend my spirit." We should all know Zechariah 12:1 which says that the Lord "stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him." We are told to "take heed to your spirit" in Malachi 2:15. There are many other verses in the Old Testament about the spirit of man.
In the New Testament Paul often spoke of "my spirit" (Rom. 1:9; 1 Cor. 14:14; 16:18; 2 Cor. 2:13), "your spirit" (Gal. 6:18; Phil. 4:23; 1 Thes. 5:23; 2 Tim. 4:22), and "our spirit" (Rom. 8:16). First Corinthians 2:11 speaks of "the spirit of man." It is clear that the spirit mentioned in all these verses does not refer to the divine Spirit but to the human spirit, our spirit.
[Why are we emphasizing the difference between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit? It is because our greatest problem is that we do not know the indwelling Spirit or realize that the human spirit is the very dwelling place of the Holy Spirit; neither do we know that these two spirits are being mingled together as one Spirit. This is a pity! It is the mark of God's economy, and many Christians are missing this mark. It is like a house that is inaccessible because the key is missing. Only the key will open the house to us that we may enjoy everything in it. For centuries the enemy has covered the key. What is the key? It is that our human spirit is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and that our human spirit is one with the wonderful Holy Spirit.]
[The human spirit is the strategic point for the inner life. We all have to know our human spirit. It is here that we have been born again and it is here that we worship God. "God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit" (John 4:24), not in the Holy Spirit, but in our human spirit. In our reborn human spirit we worship God, we serve God, we fellowship with one another, and we grow in life. We even have the church life here.]
[Man can be likened to a radio. The Holy Spirit is like the heavenly radio waves. The spirit in man is like the radio receiver. The receiver is our spirit. God has done His part, and we have to take care of our spirit. We have to cooperate with God by preparing the proper organ to receive what He is, what He has done, and what He is going to do. There is no need for us to take care of the side of the Holy Spirit. That has been fully taken care of by God. We simply need to take care of our side, the human spirit.]
Let us go on to see something about the composition of the human spirit. [The spirit is a complete unit, composed of three parts or functions: conscience, fellowship, and intuition. The shaded area in the diagram below illustrates the parts of the spirit.]
[The conscience is found in Romans 9:1, "My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit." Comparing Romans 9:1 with Romans 8:16, the conscience is located in the human spirit. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. On the other hand, our conscience bears witness with the Holy Spirit. This proves that the conscience must be a function of our spirit.]
[It is easy to understand the conscience. We are all familiar with this. To perceive right from wrong is one function of the conscience (Psa. 51:10; 34:18). To condemn or to justify is another one of its functions (1 Cor. 5:3). It is also easy to comprehend the fellowship. The fellowship is our communion with God (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9). Within our spirit, such a function makes it possible to contact God (Eph. 6:18; Luke 1:47; 1 Cor. 6:17). In a simple word, fellowship is to touch God. But it is not very easy to understand the intuition. Intuition means to have a direct sense or knowledge (Mark 2:8). There is such a direct sense in our spirit, regardless of reason, circumstances, or background. It is a sense without reason, a sense that is not "reasonable" (1 Cor. 2:11). It is a direct sense of God and a direct knowledge from God. This function is what we call the intuition of the spirit. Thus, the spirit is known by the functions of the conscience, the fellowship, and the intuition.]
The conscience is the leading part of our spirit. [If we are wrong in the conscience, the fellowship is broken, and when the fellowship is broken, the intuition does not function. The dealing with the conscience is therefore very basic. A transparent conscience will bring us into the presence of the Lord, resulting in a living fellowship with Him. Through this living fellowship, it is easy for our spirit to sense the will of God directly — this is the function of the intuition.]
[Of all God's creatures, only human beings have a conscience. This is the part within that either accuses or excuses you (cf. Rom. 2:15). When you deal with your conscience, you are dealing with both your spirit and your heart. If your conscience has never been dealt with, you are of no use to the Lord. A radio has a little receiver, without which it will not work. The paint may be chipped, but the radio will still work as long as the receiver is good. The same is true of our conscience; it must be kept in good working order. When we first received the gospel, the Lord required that we confess our sins. Confessing our sins clears our conscience. Without repenting and confessing your sins, you could not have been saved. The Spirit of God could not have gotten into you. Once you repent and confess, the Spirit enters into you. The more thorough the confession is, the more Spirit you have within.]
[We need to go to the Lord to deal with our conscience. You may feel you have only one little, unimportant thing to confess. If you will just confess that one thing, that initial confession will be a little turn to lead you onto the highway. You may then find you need a long time to complete a thorough confession.
As soon as you attempt to deal with the Lord in this way, the phone may ring. Once you take care of that phone call, it will take some effort to get back on the highway of your confession. After you confess two more things, the phone may ring again, this time probably a wrong number. This is the subtle enemy. It is best to get away by yourself, away from the phone and everyone else, or at least take the phone off the hook. If you share a room with someone else, you may need to find another place so no one can disturb you.
Once you kneel or sit before the Lord and open up to Him, you will find you have miles of confession to make. You may need hours to confess all your shortcomings, weak points, evil doings, your sinfulness, your flesh. When you start cleaning your house, you may think you can finish in fifteen minutes. But when you get into it, you will find dirt and dust all over, in all the corners. You are like your house. In every corner of your being, in every room, on every shelf, there is dirt. Your eyes have been dirtied by the many sinful things you have looked at day after day. Your ears have been sullied by listening to gossip. Your mouth needs cleansing from the gossip you have spread.]
[After such a confession, you will not want to go back home. You will be afraid you may hear more gossip. It takes a great deal of effort to clean a badly smeared window. Once it is clean, you will try very hard not to let it get dirty again. This is the way to keep a clear entry for Christ to come into you. This entry, your purged conscience, will keep you from gossip....Once your conscience is purged, you can be poor in spirit. You will no longer feel you know so much. You will be humble and hungry for the real experience of the Lord. If you are proud, your spirit is not open to the Lord and He has no way to abide in you. Purging your conscience will issue in an open spirit.]
Furthermore, [your mind will be keen and your discernment clear. No one and nothing can deceive you. This is what the Scripture calls a sound, or sober, mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Whenever you hear a message, your mind will be sharp to grasp and confirm what is being said.
A purified conscience will also affect your emotion. Before you make a thorough confession of your failures and weak points, your emotion is just lukewarm.] If your emotion were cold, you would be going to places of entertainment rather than coming to meetings. [But once you have confessed, your lukewarm emotion will catch on fire. You will declare, "Lord Jesus, I love you! I am on fire for You!"
Your will also will be changed from being stubborn to being submissive. You will enjoy obeying (cf. Phil. 2:12). Whatever it is, big or small, you will be willing to obey.
With such a purified conscience, open spirit, pure heart, sober mind, loving emotion, and submissive will, there will be a flow of the Lord within your whole being. You will surely be abiding in Him and He in you. This is the way to have the Lord added to your being all day long. The key is the thorough confession.]
The Bible speaks a great deal about the human spirit because our spirit is the key to experiencing the divine Spirit. It is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and the organ by which we continue to receive the Spirit. Our spirit has three parts — the conscience, fellowship, and intuition. Because the conscience is the leading part of the spirit, it must be properly maintained by confession. A purified conscience helps the other parts of our inward being to function properly and keeps the Lord flowing within us.
