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Scripture Reading: Acts 24:16; 1 Cor. 8:7; 1 John 1:9
As we have seen previously, a human being is of three parts—spirit, soul, and body. In our body there are many members. In our soul there are three parts—the mind for knowing, the emotion for feeling, and the will for choosing. In our spirit there are also three functions—the conscience to know what is right and wrong and to justify or to condemn, the fellowship for us to commune with and contact God, and the intuition for us to sense the will of God directly. Thus, our inward being has six parts, including the mind, emotion, will, conscience, fellowship, and intuition. Of these, the conscience is at the center. This is the position of the conscience in our human being.
All our inward parts are related to the conscience. Therefore, the consciousness, the sense, of the conscience is related to these parts. If the other five inward parts are strong, right, and normal, our conscience is strong, right, and normal. But if these five parts are wrong and abnormal, the conscience is wrong and abnormal, because the condition of the conscience is related to these five parts. In order to have a proper conscience, our mind must be renewed, enlightened, and clear; our emotion must be loving toward the Lord; and our will must be pliable, soft but not weak, strong but not stubborn. Moreover, our fellowship must not be broken or frustrated, we must have a thorough and continuing fellowship, and our intuition must be transparent and keen. Then we will have a proper conscience, and we will know the consciousness of our conscience.
The purpose of these messages is not only for you to know and understand these things, but also to help you to help others. We all have to know how to help others. In the next few months some new converts may be brought in, and we will have to care for them. We should help them to know all these matters. This is not mere knowledge; this is an understanding of our being, of ourselves. If we have a typewriter or a camera, we have to know how to use it. Even until today I do not know how to use a portable radio or a camera. Today I may learn, but by tomorrow I will forget because I do not practice using these things. If I learn in a fast way, I will forget in a fast way. In the same way, we need an understanding of how to operate our “spiritual machine” to contact the Lord. We need to practice and be impressed with these matters. Those who often drive can do it very easily. In the same way, I do not boast, but it is as if I can speak about our inward parts in my sleep, because I am practiced in these matters.
As we have also seen, there are three kinds of government: the divine government, the government of the conscience, and the human government. God is a God of order, a God of law in the positive sense. God is not lawless; He is lawful. With Him there is a government. Whether or not one recognizes that there is a God, he is still under the government of God, either directly through his conscience or indirectly through some human authority. We have no right to be free. The United States is called a free land, but we cannot be as free as we imagine. For example, we do not have the freedom to drive as we like. When I came to this country, I discovered that the best discipline for people is to come here and drive; their careless character will be adjusted. Recently a brother drove me to get a vaccination, and when we came out of the hospital, there was a ticket on his car for parking in the wrong place. We have to learn the lesson to be ruled. This is a free land, yet how many regulations there are! We need this. I have traveled in many countries, and I would say that the United States has the best order. The regulations, rules, and laws are some of the reasons I like this country.
We must realize that this universe is neither yours nor mine; it is God’s, and God has His regulations. Whether or not we recognize Him, we are under His government. Whether unconsciously or unwillingly, we are under either the divine government, the conscience, or human government. In the garden of Eden before man was fallen, he was under the divine government in the presence of God. There was no need for anyone other than God to rule, reign, and govern. Man was governed by God Himself. Bible students call this the first dispensation, the dispensation of innocence. However, man fell from the presence of God, so he lost the divine government of God. Still, God is sovereign, so at that time the function of the conscience developed. The conscience functions for God to govern us. This was the second government, in the second dispensation, the dispensation of the conscience. God’s way in this dispensation was to have the conscience govern man.
At that time people were under the control, the government, of the conscience. However, the human race had a second step of the fall. By this, we fell from the conscience into the government under the human hand. This is the reason that we have human government. If we did not have Washington, D.C., city hall, the law court, and the police station, what kind of country would this be? The fallen race is under the human government. Praise the Lord, the salvation of God came to bring us back from human government to the conscience, and if we enjoy more and more of God’s salvation, then we are brought back even to God Himself through the conscience.
Both for the fall and for the deliverance, the conscience is the bridge. That is why in order to know God in a living way, we must know this conscience. It is very important. We can never be adequate or normal in the spiritual life if we neglect the conscience. This is why there are many verses in the New Testament dealing with the conscience. All the verses related to the conscience are important, strong, and serious. We need to know the conscience.
Whenever we are wrong in some way either with God, with man, or even with ourselves, our conscience condemns us. If, for example, I tell a lie to a brother, immediately there will be a condemnation in my conscience. The condemnation of the conscience must be dealt with right away; otherwise, it becomes an offense. Condemnation is right temporarily; it is normal in a negative sense. However, we should not have condemnation in our conscience all the time. If we do, it becomes an offense, a blame, or a charge in the legal sense. Therefore, whenever we have condemnation, we must deal with it by confessing and by applying the cleansing of the redeeming blood. We must say, “Lord, forgive me.” When we deal with that wrongdoing by applying the blood, the condemnation is dealt with, and it is over. If, however, we do not deal with the condemnation but rather live in it, it will become an offense and a blame within us. This will hinder, frustrate, and even damage our spiritual life.
As long as we are in the old nature walking on this earth, we are not perfect. Therefore, to have some condemnation is normal, in a negative sense. However, we should have no offense. We must have a conscience void and clear of offense. If we do not deal with condemnation right away, our conscience will be spoiled. We will not have a conscience void of offense; rather, we will have a conscience with offense. I say again, this will damage our spiritual life.
Concerning the conscience, there is a difference between sensitivity and keenness. You may say that I am splitting hairs, but sometimes we have to split hairs. If the nuclear scientists did not split something smaller than a hair, we would not have nuclear power. Keenness is right; with the conscience there should be keenness, not sensitivity. Sensitivity is abnormal, but keenness is normal. I do not want to be a sensitive person, but I would like to be a keen person. To say that a sister is sensitive is not a good description, but for a brother to be keen is a good qualification.
The consciousness of our conscience must be keen, but it may become too much so. When it becomes too much, the conscience is sensitive. To be keen is at a normal level, but to be sensitive is over the level. When we seek the Lord, deal with our conscience, and are faithful to the consciousness of our conscience, our conscience will be keen and tender. This is right; we all need a keen and tender conscience. However, we must be careful not to go too far, or our conscience will become sensitive.
The worldly people and even the Christians who do not seek the Lord and walk in spirit are careless in their feeling. Even if they tell a lie, they do not care; they have no feeling. Many times they are even happy when they lie, because they can do it successfully. After we are saved in a proper way, however, there is the consciousness in our conscience that we cannot tell lies. When we tell a lie, right away there is a sense in our conscience. Then the more we go on with the Lord, the more we have a consciousness in our conscience. Right after we are saved, we know not to tell lies, but we may still have some freedom to speak certain other things. But after we love the Lord, seek Him, and learn to walk in the spirit, the ruling, reigning, and governing in our conscience becomes stricter. Then we not only do not have the freedom to tell lies, but we also do not have the freedom to speak whatever we want to speak. We have to go along with the inner sense not to speak. If we do not go along with the inner sense and speak something against the inner sense, even if what we speak is true and is good, we will be under condemnation.
The more we walk with the Lord and follow Him in the spirit, the keener our conscience will be. This is right and good. At this point, however, there is the possibility that our conscience will become sensitive. It may seem that we have to say something, but we may have the sense to be careful, that to say something is wrong, so we do not say it. When we do not say it, however, we may still have the sense that we need to say it; to not say it is also wrong. Then we do not know what to do. If we speak, there is condemnation, and if we do not speak, there is accusation. This is beyond the proper level. This is sensitivity, and it is abnormal. When a brother or a sister stands in the meeting, we may sense that he or she has learned the lesson of dealing with the conscience but has become too sensitive. A brother may say, “I’m afraid that I am going to say something wrong, but I’m afraid that if I do not say it, I will also be wrong. I don’t know whether or not I should speak.” This kind of sensitivity bothers us very much.
If a radio is too sensitive, it does not work. Similarly, our spirit is very delicate, like the filament in a lightbulb. If it is only a little wrong, it will not work. The conscience is more delicate than the fellowship and the intuition. It is easy to have a conscience too dull or too sensitive, but it is rather hard to keep our conscience always so keen. If we do keep it keen, it will operate like a good radio.
First Corinthians 8:7 speaks of a weak conscience. A weak conscience is similar to a sensitive conscience, but it is somewhat different. In 1 Corinthians 8 the apostle deals with the problem of eating the sacrifices offered to idols. The mature saints are grown in life, so they have the adequate knowledge and understanding of these things. They realize that for something to be offered to idols means nothing because the idols are nothing; rather, the food that is offered was created by God for us to eat. Those saints are not affected by the idols, and they have the confidence that it is right to eat. The new and young believers, however, are not grown in life, and they do not have the adequate knowledge. They have the thought that the idols are awful and that we should not have anything to do with the things associated with the idols. This is right, in a sense, but this is the conscience of the younger believers. It is a kind of weak conscience. The conscience is weak because their life is young and their knowledge is inadequate. Therefore, the apostle Paul told us that for some believers to eat the things offered to idols is right, but for others to eat the same things is wrong. If one person does it, it is right because he is strong, but if another person does it, it is wrong. The one person is grown and has adequate knowledge, so he has a strong conscience, but the other person is still young.
When I was first saved, I realized that the Lord was truly with me; I had the grace of the Lord and I loved Him. Therefore, whenever I prayed, I had to sit in a proper way, and mostly I had to kneel in a proper way. Otherwise, there was condemnation in my conscience. I can never forget the first time I saw a brother praying while sitting on a sofa. That really bothered my conscience. I said to myself, “No, you cannot pray that way. You are too loose. If the Lord were here physically, would you pray in that way? No, you would stand or prostrate yourself.” I was right, but in a childish way. As a child in the Lord, I was right. Gradually after many years, I became able to pray at any time, in any place, in any posture. I can pray with the full confidence that nothing is wrong. This is not a degradation; it is a real growth and improvement.
Many years ago my conscience was good, but it was weak. More than thirty years ago, in order to have the peace to open the Bible, study, and pray in the morning, I had to rise, wash my hands and face, and dress. Without washing I was condemned. Once I went to Shanghai to stay with some brothers. I noticed that in the morning they did not wash. They simply put on their robes and read the Bible. I said to myself, “What, are you reading the Bible? How can you pray in this way?” Again, I was right, but in a childish way. This is the weakness of the conscience. With the young believers there is always the weakness of the conscience. We must learn these things; then we will know how to help people. Otherwise, we will damage them.
If we have condemnation that we never deal with, it becomes an offense. Eventually, this offense causes a breach in our conscience. When we have a breach in our conscience, our fellowship with the Lord is broken. Then we lose our faith, our assurance is gone, and our peace disappears.
In order to deal with our conscience, we must learn all these things—the consciousness of the conscience, the condemnation of the conscience, the offense of the conscience, the keenness of the conscience, the weakness of the conscience, and the breach of the conscience—not only the terms but also the facts.
We must differentiate between the condemnation of the conscience itself and the accusation of the enemy on the conscience. Many Christians do not differentiate these two. The condemnation of the conscience is right and normal, but the accusation of the enemy on the conscience is not only abnormal but wrong. As to the condemnation of the conscience itself, we must deal with it, but as to the accusation of Satan on our conscience, we must reject it.
The condemnation of the conscience is always based on a fact. If it is a fact that we have done something wrong, that we are wrong with God, with others, or with ourselves, our conscience will condemn us. The accusation of Satan, however, is mostly without facts. We may have done nothing wrong, and we cannot find that we are wrong in anything, yet there is a certain accusation in our conscience. It is very easy for those who seek the Lord diligently to be attacked by the enemy, to be accused by him in their conscience. Before the enemy comes in to accuse our conscience, he always sends a fog. He makes our feeling foggy with no sunshine and no clarity. Then we do not know what is right or wrong. If we ask a brother how he is, he may say, “I really do not know whether I am right or wrong. I simply don’t know.” Is he wrong? No, he cannot truly say that he is wrong. Then is he right? No, he does not think that he is right either. If we are in this condition, we must immediately realize that we are under the accusation of the enemy.
If we do not seek the Lord, we are careless and indifferent Christians, and we do not have the problem of accusation. With so many Christians who are not seeking, every day is bright; they have no problems. However, when we start to seek the Lord, and the more we try to walk in the spirit and fellowship with the Lord, we will have all these problems. Without any fact as the ground, we will have an accusation. We must realize that this kind of accusation is a lie, because it has no basis in fact. We must learn the lesson. If even we ourselves cannot point out how we are wrong, yet we still have an accusation within us, we must conclude that it is something of the enemy and not take it. We must learn to reject it; otherwise, we will be frustrated and bothered day after day, and we will be damaged. There is much danger in letting the accusation be prolonged.
With the accusation of Satan in our conscience, there is never a fact as a ground. There may have been some ground, some fact. We may have been wrong in certain things, but we confessed it and dealt with it. Still the accusation is there. We have to know that this accusation is a lie. After we apply the cleansing of the blood, the ground is gone and the fact is over. The blood solves the problem. However, Satan is subtle, still telling us that we are wrong.
I learned this lesson painfully in 1931. I confessed all my failures, and according to the fact I should have been at peace. First John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. However, even though I confessed and applied the blood, I still had the accusation. At that time I had not learned the lesson, and I did not have anyone to help me, so I confessed again. The more I confessed, the more I was accused. I may have confessed one failure more than fifty times. After confessing, I had a little peace, but after five minutes I felt wrong again, so I asked again for forgiveness. We should never repeat our confession. We must tell Satan, “No! The matter is over because the case in the law court is settled by the blood of Jesus. I do not accept this accusation. It is a lie!” Do not repeat your confession. If you confess a second time, you will have to confess the third time. After confessing many times, you will even begin to feel nervous. Satan will fool you, and he will fool around with you.
In order to seek the Lord and walk with the Lord in the spirit, we must learn all these matters, because in this spiritual walk there is an enemy. If we do not drive a car, there is no danger, but because we have to drive, we must learn about the dangers. The more we drive, the more dangers there are. I say again, if we are indifferent with the Lord, we will not have these dangers, and I do not need to say these things. However, we need to seek the Lord. We have to go on, but in our seeking, going on, and following Him, there are dangers, so we must learn about them.
If we accept the accusation of the enemy, the accusations will become attacks. The attacks of the enemy always follow the accusation, just as offense follows condemnation. If we leave the condemnation there, it becomes an offense, and if we accept the accusation of Satan on our conscience, it will become an attack. Therefore, we must learn how to reject accusations and thus not be attacked in our conscience. Here we need to know the efficacy of the blood. We must always apply the blood to our conscience. However, we should not apply it in a wrong, foolish way, saying, “Maybe I am wrong, so I apply the blood.” We must be clear with the enemy Satan. If we are not wrong, we must be bold to tell the enemy, “Satan, I am not wrong.” But if we are wrong, we should say, “Lord, I am wrong in this matter. Forgive me. I apply the blood,” and to Satan we say, “Yes, I am wrong, but I have the blood.” Then we must reject any kind of accusation.
Recently, I met a dear, lovely sister, who was under the attack of the enemy in this way. All the time she was wrong in her feeling. That was not based on truth; it was a lie, but she could not be helped. She had been under the attack of the enemy for so long that it had produced a kind of illness.
On the one hand, we have to learn to deal with our conscience, but when we go to deal with our conscience, we have to know how to use the “medicine.” Do not accept any kind of accusation from Satan. If you are wrong, you know that you are wrong. Then confess and apply the blood. But if you are not wrong, yet there is an accusation within you, do not accept it. Do not be humble before Satan. The enemy always tries to pull us to one end or the other. He would never leave us in a normal, proper state. When we are careless about our situation before the Lord, he pulls us to one end; he would never allow us to have a troubled feeling about ourselves. Then when the grace of the Lord comes to us, we realize we are wrong, and we deal with our situation before the Lord, Satan pulls us to the other end. We have to know the subtle ways of the enemy, and we have to be careful.
I say again, if we are wrong, we will have the condemnation in our conscience. Then we must confess our wrongdoing and apply the blood. That is good, and that is all. If, on the other hand, there is nothing wrong, but we have an accusation, we must be bold to tell the enemy that we do not accept it. Then we will be kept and delivered from his attack.
We should not give a child of seven years the knowledge of a fifteen-year-old. That is premature knowledge. It does not help, but rather it damages. A new believer may just have been saved last week and was baptized last Saturday. Although he is a dear brother, he still smokes, but at this stage his smoking does not bother him. He can still say, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!” I have seen this kind of case. Such a brother may say, “Formerly I lived in sin. Day by day I lived in the place of gambling, but now I have dropped it. Praise the Lord!” This kind of brother is still young. Do not bother him. Do not tell him, “Brother, since you praise the Lord, you should not smoke.” To do this is to give him premature knowledge. What then should we do? We have to feed him, just as a mother has to feed her children and let them grow. When the child grows to a certain age, then she can give him a certain amount of knowledge.
If a new convert is fed in the church and grows, perhaps after two months he will drop smoking. However, if we give him premature knowledge, we will damage him. This is because, on the one hand, he now knows; just as Adam and Eve took the fruit of the tree of knowledge, his eyes are now clear. On the other hand, this new one does not have the growth of life, the stage and degree of life, to follow up on the knowledge. He will know that he should not smoke, but he will not be able to give it up. In this way we damage his conscience. Before we tell him about smoking, he can praise the Lord with confidence. But now he cannot, and neither can he give up smoking. Then his conscience is condemned, there is a breach in his conscience, and he is shipwrecked. I am not guessing about this; I am speaking something that I have seen in the past.
We should never pass on premature knowledge. Rather, we should help people to grow. If a new believer grows, perhaps after only two weeks he will come and ask, “What is the matter? Whenever I smoke, I am not so happy.” Even at this point we should be careful. We should simply say, “Brother, bring this matter to the Lord. Pray more. Talk to the Lord. If after you pray, you have the peace to smoke, then just smoke. Smoke by the mercy of the Lord. But after you pray, if you feel it is the Lord’s grace that you give up this thing, then give it up by the grace of the Lord.” Perhaps after another three days, this brother will come to the meeting and give a testimony. This is the growth of life. Premature knowledge, however, damages. We should never set ourselves up as a standard, and we should be careful in the church meetings when we are giving a testimony never to set up our experience as a standard. That is wrong.
We should learn to deal with the conscience not according to premature knowledge but according to the adequate knowledge from the growth of life. If, for example, a sister stands up in a fellowship meeting and testifies how the Lord dealt with her way of dressing, she must be careful not to set up her experience as a standard, giving people the impression that all the sisters in the meeting must be like her. If we give this kind of impression, we are not ministering the adequate knowledge from the growth of life. On the other side, the other sisters should not follow the first sister simply because they heard her testimony. They should not say, “She is a spiritual sister. From this day she will never dress like she did before. Therefore, I have to follow her.” This also is wrong. The dealing with the conscience must be according to the living knowledge from the growth of life. When we grow in the Lord, we gain an amount of knowledge to realize that we must deal with the Lord about certain things. Then we deal with them. This is right.
Whenever there is the proper knowledge of the conscience that comes from the enlightenment of the spirit, the supply of grace always follows. Whenever we have the realization in our conscience to deal with certain things, we must know that there is always the supply of grace to come.
