A Good Conscience | Romans 2:15
Notes
Transcript
Martin Luther heroic statement at the Diet of Worms when called upon to recant his teaching. “Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by evident reason, I cannot recant, for my conscience is held captive by the word of God, and to act against conscience is neither right nor safe.”
Our Conscience is a Gift From God
Our Conscience is a Gift From God
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
A. W. Tozer notes that the conscience is "the secret presence of Christ in the world." Thomas Aquinas said the conscience is the God-given inner voice that either accuses or excuses us in terms of what we do. John Calvin spoke of the “divine sense” that God puts into every person, and part of that divine sense is the conscience.
Our Conscience is a Unreliable Guide Because of Sin
Our Conscience is a Unreliable Guide Because of Sin
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
R C Sproul recounts the story of Xaviera Hollander wrote a bestselling book with a strange title: The Happy Hooker. Hollander, a prostitute herself, sought to silence the people who believe that no prostitute in America could find joy in what she was doing. In her book, Hollander celebrates the joy that she experienced in her profession, saying that she never felt guilty about what she was doing. To be sure, Hollander said, the first time she involved herself in prostitution, she felt pangs of guilt. But over time, she got to the point where her feelings of guilt dissipated.
However, there was one important exception to this. When Hollander heard the ringing of church bells, her conscience would flare up. She was reminded that what she was doing was under the condemnation of Almighty God. Even this hardened professional prostitute could not totally destroy the conscience that God had placed within her.
Our Conscience Must be Redeemed by Christ
Our Conscience Must be Redeemed by Christ
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Our Conscience Must Be Directed by the Word of God
Our Conscience Must Be Directed by the Word of God
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
To Violate Our Conscience is a Sin and Creates a Seared Conscience
To Violate Our Conscience is a Sin and Creates a Seared Conscience
through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion,
A seared conscience no longer accuses us of our sin. Like a wound that is cauterized, our consciences can become unfeeling to pain.