A Clear Conscience Matters
John 10:4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
John 10:5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
The Lord's sheep (that's you and I) follow him: for they know his voice. This is about hearing God's voice, or maybe we should say, how to hear His voice better.
Led by the Spirit
We've heard teachings about this over the years when hearing about being led by the Spirit. And many times we hear about what has been referred to as the inward witness, which is the witness of the Holy Spirit with our human spirit.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself [or Himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Do we have peace in our heart about going this direction or that direction, or do we have an uncomfortable feeling about it? Does the Holy Spirit bear witness with our spirit concerning the thing we're planning to do?
And the Bible says to let the peace of God rule and reign in your heart. So then, following the peace of God through the witness of the Spirit is the way we do that.
The Conscience
Most Christians stop the discussion there. We talk about the witness of the Spirit and following the peace of God. But there is another subject that is just as important and often overlooked. And that is that if our conscience is not clear before God, it becomes difficult to recognize His leading. Before we can hear God's voice clearly, we must first have a conscience that is sensitive to Him.
And although the Holy Spirit leads us by His inward witness, He also works through a conscience that is tender and responsive to God.
One minister said years ago that the conscience is the voice of the human spirit. While Scripture may not explicitly define it that way, there is certainly a close biblical connection between our spirit and our conscience.
A Law unto Themselves
Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
The conscience will either excuse us or accuse us of wrongdoing. So then, that begs the question, why do we need to get born again? Why don't we just follow our conscience? Well, the only problem with that is that a conscience can be seared.
A Seared Conscience
1 Timothy 4:1 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;
1 Timothy 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Now, does anyone in our society today have a seared conscience? Certainly. It seems to be very much in style these days to be unconcerned about doing wrong.
The Greek word translated here as "hot iron" means to mark by branding. It also means, in the medical sense, to cauterise a wound, to burn it so as to stop the bleeding, which also kills the nerves, thus stopping the pain.
A seared conscience feels no pain, no inner condemnation for wrongdoing. And that's a distinguishing mark of our society today. Unfortunately, we, as believers, can also be affected by a seared conscience.
Confidence toward God
You see, our conscience is connected to our confidence toward God, because it's our conscience that condemns our heart when we do something wrong.
1 John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
1 John 3:21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
If our heart is condemning us over something, God knows it, and we lose our confidence toward Him, which affects our prayer life, and our ability to hear His voice. It produces a layer of separation between ourselves and God.
This is why it's important to talk about the conscience when discussing the subject of hearing from God.
1 Timothy 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
You see, it's not enough to just have faith in God. We must also have a clear conscience. If not, we'll make a shipwreck of our faith somewhere along the way.
We can learn more about the conscience in Romans, chapter 1.
Holding the Truth in Unrighteousness
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Unrighteous people hold the truth of God within themselves, even in their unrighteousness. Why?
Romans 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Has God shown them about Himself? Yes. The Bible says that the heaven declares the glory of God. Every kid who has ever gazed at the night sky knows that there's a God.
All Creation Know God
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
According to this passage, that which may be known of God has been made crystal clear to every human being who ever lived. And it says that God has revealed Himself from heaven to be against all ungodliness of men. God is against sin.
And may even be that this inward knowledge of God is the basis for our conscience, the very reason we have a conscience.
You see, even unsaved people know about God, they hold the truth in unrighteousness, and when we hear the gospel, our conscience responds to it. We feel condemned, we recognize our need for a savior, and we can receive God's forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus.
The point is that if we're not in tune with our conscience, if we cannot hear our conscience, if our conscience is seared, then there's no need to try to hear from God some other way.
Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
Now, that doesn't mean we never mess up. But if we do, then we ask the Lord to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Our conscience must be purged of sin, or dead works, to serve God. The blood of Jesus will do that, not just at the time of the new birth, but whenever we need it throughout our life.
So, we need to keep our conscience purged from anything we may have allowed to sear it. If there's anything in our life that violates our conscience, it will hinder our confidence toward God, which will hinder us from hearing Him clearly.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
There is no condemnation to those who walk after the Spirit.
Yet it's possible for us to go the wrong direction. And even though we remain God's children, choosing to walk after the flesh grieves the Holy Spirit and troubles our conscience. And until we confess and forsake that sin, our confidence before God is weak, making it difficult to recognize His leading.
If we try to hear from God in that condition all we're going to hear is "Repent, stop sinning." That's why Christians who have sin in their life usually won't even read the Bible, because the Lord will put His finger on the issue. You know, the Holy Spirit can be a very uncomfortable comforter.
And so, having a pure and a clear conscience toward the Lord is the first thing we need to have if we want to hear the voice of the Lord in our life.
And yes, the witness of the Spirit and the peace of God are certainly important in following the Lord's leading, but without a clear conscience our heart will be condemned and we won't have any peace to follow after.