Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5 v 10 - 11: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."1 Timothy 4 v 1 - 2: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"
It is a shock and surprise to know that we are born sinful. Our dead spirit is alienated from God by this barrier that neither He nor we can cross. In His mercy and desire to break through that barrier He gave us a conscience. Truly if there is no God there would be no need of a conscience. It certainly did not manufacture itself.
Our conscience, before salvation, is our yardstick of right and wrong, our desire to do the right thing, to have good morals and good manners. Of course, our old enemy knew all about this conscience installed in our souls and was quick to use his mind control powers on Eve.
Genesis 3 v 1 - 5: " Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
The word 'subtil' in verse 1 means sly and deceiving, and this serpent was full of the devil. He immediately sowed doubt in God's Word into Eve's mind, then added the first lie...you shall not surely die! He caused her to disobey God's commands and seal her own fate. And Adams. And all of us since.
Her conscience and Adams was seared, burnt out, permanently dysfunctional because they believed Satan over Almighty God, creator of the universe and every living thing. Satan can only create chaos, mayhem and misery. The knowledge of good and evil is our vulnerable spot.
If we never had to choose between good and evil, or worse still, the lesser of two evils, our conscience would be undisturbed. We would only know the goodness of God and His love. Why spoil a good thing? What lies in our nature that can't resist temptation? Sin. Ugly word and uglier consequences. Not a fashionable word these days, not in the repertoire of today's preachers.
And why not? Mainly because they have compromised in order to have a full church and good income. Each will have his or her own justifications for the compromise of their conscience, but they are on a slippery slope keeping the congregation eating from the forbidden tree.
The congregation are blissfully unaware that the enjoyment of Sunday entertainment does not please God. In most places He is not even present to observe those who worship Him in vain. The musicians can produce a great atmosphere that is called the presence of God, if He was truly present they would be blinded and fallen to the floor like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He cried out, Who are You Lord? And so would they!
As Timothy says they have listened to seducing spirits and followed doctrines of demons and have zero conscience because it is seared with a hot iron. And those who blindly follow and idolize their pastors are heading, with the many, down the broad way on the road to destruction.
When we meet Jesus to receive salvation through being born again, we have already encountered the Holy Spirit. He has convicted us of sin. And our sins have become a heavy burden to us, a horrible stain on our souls. And the Convictor of Sin keeps up the pressure until we cry out to God for mercy. Oh how He loves to hear that cry! He has reached out and had a response, the right response, and nothing will stop Him from following through.
The next twinge to hit our conscience is the conviction of righteousness. The desire in our hearts to be clean, pure and holy before God. We may encounter a Christian whose peace, love and joy impress us as an example of how our lives should be. We desire to be just like that. The righteousness of Jesus has awakened and we need to know how to get it.
Not long after this the Holy Spirit convicts us of the judgment to come if we choose to neglect our salvation. We start worrying about where we end up when we die. Or a Christian asks us that question. We say we are going to Heaven until the scary thought invades that what if we don't?
If we are truly walking in the light then the Holy Spirit shines that light into people we encounter. If they feel uncomfortable around us, think we are too holy Joe for their liking, its because they are resisting the Spirit of God. As the Lord said to Samuel the prophet, They do not reject you, Samuel, they reject My Lordship over them.
And that is true today. They want the rewards of salvation without the Lordship of Jesus. They want to live worldly, compromised lives that do not bug anyone around them, their faith is very low and they will sadly, and with astonishment, hear Jesus say when they are desperately knocking on Heaven's door - I never knew you.
Those four terrible, final words cancel all hope of glory. These four words compel me to hold nothing back so that none of you will ever hear them. I trust the Holy Spirit to jerk your cold conscience back to life and bring you into line with the will of God concerning you all.
This week while enjoying the wondrous events from afar of the revival still pouring forth in Kentucky, Ohio and other states in the USA, a man responded to one of my joyful posts that I must not believe the lie that Jesus is coming back. I must look inside myself and follow my Divine Light. He called himself I AM THAT I AM!
I will leave it to your imagination the kind of response he got from me. Yet he persisted until I stopped wasting time and effort on him. He said he was a Christian. How many out there are just like him with a conscience seared by a hot iron? Maybe just one will read what I wrote and feel a twinge. I hope so.
I know I irritate some people who would rather just hear about love, blessings and comfort, but the Holy Spirit has called me to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me, God!
We have a formidable enemy who tries to blot out the joy of revival like chemical clouds from a train derailment in Ohio, where the Christians are right now flocking to the fountain of life! Like he did 9 days after the Azusa Street revival that started on 9 April 1906. On 18th April 1906 the great San Francisco earthquake shook America. Just before this current revival a huge deadly earthquake hit Turkey and Syria. These are not coincidences, this is war!
So Jesus gets all the glory because I am nothing without Him. I live to see Jesus exalted as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. My conscience is clear. Let us make absolutely sure that everyone we know has an opportunity to know Jesus and be known by Him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, let us rejoice in Your presence and learn from the mistakes made in Eden. Let us be different, and choose the path less travelled, to spend time at the feet of Jesus, learning more about Him. Let us have a vibrant relationship with Him to ensure we do not fall away into heresy through following after the false doctrines abounding today. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.