All right, Romans 2, 13 through
15. I'll read it carefully. You listen
or follow along. When we come to conscience, pay
special attention. For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. That is, the perfect doers. 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. Now that's kind of a tongue twister,
isn't it? The Gentiles have not the law, due by nature to the
things contained in the law, and having not the law, are a
law unto themselves. Now watch this. Which show the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile excusing, accusing,
or excusing one another. And look at it again. who show
the work of the law written in their heart, their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts, and we have three things
in this verse, we have the work of the law written in their heart,
we have their conscience that is a witness to that, and we
have their thoughts that operate off of the reflections or the
knowledge or the work of the conscience. So, today our first
study is the nature and the function of the conscience of man as it
answers unto God. Now allow me, if you will, a
few introductory general remarks as we enter into our subject
proper. I'd like to say some things about
the conscience that I feel are preparatory and introductory
unto our study. Number one, I'd like for you
to notice that there is little or no preaching today upon the
subject of the conscience, even though it is a very important
part of the scripture. Now in former days, that is in
the days of the Puritans and our Calvinistic forefathers,
there was much preaching upon the subject of the conscience.
It was very common in those days to hear how the conscience functioned
in matters of life and religion because the scriptures make frequent
references to conscience and to its work. Now secondly, let
me submit to you that conscience is a leading faculty in man. Let's remember that point, that
conscience is a leading faculty in man. Now we hear and concentrate
upon the will or the heart or the affections or the soul, but
let me submit to you that conscience is one of the leading faculties
in the human family. One of the most vital faculties
that God has endowed man with is that one that answerate to
conscience. Let me say something else, that
conscience is one of the most indispensable of all of the faculties
of man. And when we have considered it
very thoroughly from the scripture, I believe you will see how it
works under the command of Almighty God in both sinners and saints. We see the evidence of its work.
And we see that it functions in both sin and salvation as
it relates to the human family. And we see that the reins of
conscience are in the hands of the Almighty God, so that it
gives him, as it were, a direct line in the affairs of men by
the use of conscience. That God takes the reins of conscience
and uses them in directing the affairs of men and women. And
He takes the reins of conscience and uses them in drawing us to
conversion in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps more than any
other way, God sovereignly governs the world by the reins of conscience
that He holds to each and every individual. For conscience, let
me say it again, is a direct line from God unto the sinner
himself. And even though the conscience
is defiled, and it is corrupt, even though it is under the power,
the corruption, and the depravity of sin, yet it is not completely
dead, and it has not completely ceased its work and its function
in the human family, if it ever did. The world would turn into
a public stew and destroy itself and all civility. Now again let
me say that conscience is a major key to human behavior. If you
would understand why people act like they do. If you would understand,
especially in the area of religion, why they act like they do, then
we must understand the state of conscience. In fact, I think
we could say that the conscience is the state of the person. In
whatsoever state the conscience is, the person is in that state. For example, if the conscience
is tender, the person will be more likely to see the wrong
of their sin and will experience greater, deeper convictions in
guilt for the things that they commit that are against Almighty
God. If, on the other hand, the conscience
is seared and is hard, there will be less conviction and less
sense of sin, as we read about even in the Scripture. During
our study we're going to learn something else, I trust, and
that is that much that passes off for Christianity, Christian
conviction, Holy Spirit conviction in religion today, is nothing
more than conscious manipulation by preachers of our age and generation. That a lot of what people call
Holy Spirit conviction, or the conviction of the Lord, is nothing
more than conscious manipulation. Now let me say this, that a depraved
conscience, and we have one, is ready-made for all manner
of false religion. The depraved, fallen conscience
of man is ready-made for the false prophets, and the cults,
and the false teachers that have come among us. And religious
works are often nothing more than a salve for a tormented,
or a guilty, or a convicting conscience. Conscience, therefore,
in people is so important when it comes to the area of religion. Conscience urges everyone to
be religious to some degree. Conscience urges everyone that
we are not what we ought to be and that we have fallen short
of what God requires of us, a defiled conscience draws them aside into
some false way of religion. While conscience tells us that
there is a God and that he ought to be worshipped, still the defilements
of conscience make it possible to turn it aside, and like a
trained seal to train it in some kind of religion, that is not
the truth of Christianity. Now finally, in our study I make
this promise that we will be guided by the scripture and by
the scripture alone. We will consider what it is that
the Bible has to say about this faculty of the conscience and
matters that pertain unto it. And let me say that scripture
speaks frequently on the subject of the conscience, as I will
show you in just a moment. We're not going to ask Dr. Joyce
Brothers to explain to us today our human behavior or the action
of conscience. We're going to go directly to
the scripture And let the word of the Lord speak unto us today
on this matter. Now here are some of the subjects
that I think we might cover during the series in the weeks that
are to come. Number one today, from Romans
2, 14 and 15, we will consider the nature and the function of
the conscious. And I'm not saying that they
will be in this exact order, but Secondly, from Titus 1 in
verse 15, we will consider the defiled conscience, even the
mind and conscience is defiled. And then in 1 Timothy 4 and 2,
we will consider the seared conscience, for their conscience is seared.
Fourthly, from Hebrews 9, 14, 10 and 22, we will consider the
justified conscience that rests in the blood and the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the greatest problems
in the churches today, from 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10, we will
consider the weak conscience and how it operates. And then
we might consider, from Romans 13, the civil conscience, you
must be obedient also for our conscience sake. And finally,
we may look at the place of a good conscience in religion. 1 Timothy
1.5, 1.19, 1 Timothy 3 and 9, 2 Timothy 1 and verse 3. In all these places, Paul talks
about the place of a good conscience in our relationship and our worship
unto God. Now, to emphasize the importance
that the place of conscience holds in the sacred Scripture,
let us now count the times that the very Word and thing appears
in the Word of God, all of them in our New Testament. Now, the
Word appears at least 29 times in our New Testament. And, with the exception of John
8 and 9, and the mention by 1 Peter, all of them, I believe, if I'm
mistaken or not, are by Paul. It was a favorite subject of
the great apostle. And here they are, if you want
to keep record and count. One time, it appears in the Gospel
of John, chapter 8 and verse 9. Being convicted by their conscience,
they went out, beginning with the eldest, under the lead. Once
or twice in the book of Acts. chapter 23 and verse 1, chapter
24 and verse 16. And then three times we have
it in Romans. Our text, 2.15, chapter 9 and
verse 1, and chapter 13 and verse 5. Seven times it is in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 8.7, 8.10, 8.12.
1 Corinthians 10, verse 25, 27,
28, and 29. And then twice in 2 Corinthians
1 and 12, chapter 4 and verse 2. Four times in 1 Timothy, 1 and
15, 1 and 19, 3 and 9, and 4 and 2. Once in 2 Timothy, chapter
1 and verse 3. Once in Titus, chapter 1 and
verse 15. Five times in Hebrews, 9 and
9, 9 and 14, 10 and 2, 10 and 22, and 13 and 18. And then three
times in 1 Peter, 1 Peter 2 and 19, 3.16 and 3.21. Now, there are the
times, unless I miss some, where the Word appears in the New Testament. Twenty-nine times it is there
and gives us, therefore, a warning that we ought to consider this
matter and what the Bible has to say about it. Notice something,
and that is, please note it, that in almost every use and
every mention, it is directly related to one's religious position
before an almighty God. Yet it has the most intimate
bearing on one's standing before God, and it forms a very important
part of the practice of of either depravity or religion, that the
conscience is involved both in sin and depravity and in conversion
and in religion. These are the two areas where
it exerts its strongest influence upon the human family, where
it holds forth in the name of God Either to excuse or to condemn,
for the work of conscience is to do both. It accuses and it
excuses. We'll see that as we move along.
It will produce either guilt or it will produce peace with
God. And sometimes that peace can
be a false one and not the real and true peace of God, the blood
of Christ and great salvation. We note from our first text on
conscience that it is in relationship to the heathen that Paul makes
the application. Our text in Romans 2 is an application
to the sense of conscience in the life and the heart of the
heathen. So, the first thing we do is
we highlight our text, the second thing we do is we consider the
context around it in which it is settled by the inspiration
of the Spirit. Now, as just stated, we notice
here that the immediate subjects of the text are the heathen,
verse 14. Quinn the Gentile. Now the point
of our text is in verse 15. Show the work of the law written
in their heart, their conscience also bearing them witness, their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Now this tells us, does it not,
that there is even in the heathen a writing of the moral law of
God upon their hearts, and a conscience that bears witness to it, a conscience
that agrees with, a conscience that gives consent, a conscience
that makes judgments based upon the work of the law written in
the heart of the individual. Now let's back off a bit from
that immediate context and look at the context in a larger sense
in which Paul has given us our text for the morning. Now the
Apostle is establishing the guilt of all. This is his premise in
the context overall. He is establishing the guilt
of all, that is, of both Jew and Gentile. Paul is establishing
that both of them are guilty before the Almighty God. Now, verse 2, the judgment of
God is according to truth. Verse 6, who will render to every
man according to his deeds. Verse 11, there is no respect
of persons with God. That is, God renders to everyone
exactly according to their works and according to their deeds.
And now, notice verse 12, if you mind. And then we get at
our text by coming at it this way. For as many, verse 12, For
as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without
the law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged
by the law. Now that covers Jew and Gentile
alike, and Paul therefore has excluded none. Now there were
those with a written revealed law of God. These were the Jews. The law was published at Mount
Sinai. It was written on tables of stone.
It was read in their synagogue. It was published in their sacred
Old Testament oracle and the canon of the Scripture. They
were those that had the law in the sin, that it was published
among them, it was read by them, memorized by them, taught by
their rabbis and heralded by their prophet. But Paul said,
on the other hand, there were those that were without law. That is, they were without this
means of the revelation of the law. They were without a written
and revealed law such as the Jews had. But, Paul said, both
of them are subject to condemnation. Now he will explain to us in
our text how they that are without a law are nonetheless subject
to condemnation by the law that they never had written or published
among them. But let us not forget, sin is
the transgression of the law, and only sin can be defined in
relationship unto the law. Now the question comes, what
about those without law? in verse 12 as we read. Verse
14, the Gentiles which have not the law, having not the law,
how then were they justly condemned? Were they ignorant of God's law?
Had they never had it published among them? And yet do they stand
guilty and condemned of it nonetheless? Paul makes the point. In verse
13, that it is not the hearers, but it is the doers of the law,
it is those that keep the law, it is those that keep it exactly
as God required, that are justified. And then verse 14, that the Gentiles
do some of the things that are set forth in the law. Now, Paul
does not mean to insinuate, nor do I, that the Gentiles kept
all of the Law, or kept it in the same degree as did the Jews. They kept some of the things
that were set forth in the Law of God. They kept some of the
precepts of the Law, and they did it not because they had the
Law written down or preached to them, They did it because
of the natural inclination, by nature, as Paul calls it in this
play. Now this does not mean that they're
good. This does not mean that the Gentiles are accepted from
depravity. It does not mean that they have
a spark of divinity, or a little bit of deity in them, because
Paul talks about them having the work of the law written in
the conscience. It does not mean that they love
righteousness. It does not mean that they love
God, for remember chapter 1, and you have a picture of the
Gentiles and of their depravity. It does not mean that they're
saved, and it does not mean that they're excused from damnation
because they've not had the law to the degree of the Jew. But
it means that when they do what the law contains, such as refrain
from murder, or refrain from thievery or adultery. For some
of these things the heathens are diligent to practice and
to avoid. It means that when they do these
things, they are acting in accordance with the law of nature, the work
of the law written in their heart. Now let's look at verse 15 again.
When they do that, they show the work of the law written in
their heart, which many theologians have called natural revelation. They do by nature. They do it
innately. They do it instinctively, as
Paul calls it, by nature. For even the most pagan of people,
even the most heathen of people, upon the face of the earth, by
nature, have some convictions of what's right and wrong. And
in many cases, those convictions of right and wrong are a reflection
of the law of God. But Paul says something else
that brings us even closer to our text and to our study today,
that conscience acquiesces with the work of the law written in
the heart. That is, conscience witnesses,
conscience agrees with the work of the law that is written in
the heart of these individuals that Paul calls heathen or pagans
or Gentile. Hear it again, their conscience
also bearing witness. Bearing witness with what? Bearing
witness with the work of the law that is written in their
heart. For Paul does distinguish between
the works of the law written on the conscience. They are not
one and the same. The works of the law written
in the heart and the conscience are not one and the same. They
are distinguished by the apostle here in this very place. But
he does not drop it with that very brief statement, their conscience
also bearing them witness. He might have dropped it here
but he does not. But notice, he expands upon it
even more and says, their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or excusing
one another. Now, let's go back from thoughts
to conscience to the work of the law written in their heart.
Their thoughts form judgments of accusation and acquittals
based upon the witness of conscience which witnesses to the work of
the law that is written in their heart. So whether we come from
the forward work of the Law, conscience and thoughts of right
and wrong, or whether we go conversely, thoughts of right and wrong,
back to the conscience that witnesses to the work of the Law that is
written in their heart, we see an inseparable connection between
these two things that Paul has given us here. Now, let's say
that every time the Word appears in the New Testament as our translation
conscience in our English language, It is the same word in every
one of the twenty places is the word that appears in each and
every one of these places. And in our English word, it is
a compound, compounding of two words. Notice, con and science,
as it appears. in our English word. Now con
means joint or with and science meaning knowledge and so we have
this joint knowledge or knowledge with is literally the meaning
of conscience and is what conscience is. The word means a joint knowledge
or a knowing with. We could say co-knowledge for
that's how we might explain the work or the meaning of conscience. It means to know with. It means
a co-perception. It means an eyewitness, a knowledge
of a thing, and that by an eyewitness account. Now, notice that Paul's
point is to show that the reflections and the judgments, the sentences,
the activities, the reasonings of the conscience in individual
confirms the work of the law written in the heart of individual. That because of it the conscience
makes moral judgments based upon its witness of the work of the
law written in the heart of an individual. And he says this,
even in the lost heathen is this true and is this at work. Now
there's a degree of knowledge of what is right and wrong, there's
a degree of what ought to be done and what is not to be done,
with the ability at the same time to pass sentence or to acquit
based upon the witness of the conscience with the work of the
law written in the heart. Now it is important that we understand
what Paul says, he says first of the pagan Gentiles in this
play. He is not discussing, at least
not here, the conscience of a Jew or the conscience of a Christian. He is not discussing the conscience
of a Jew trained in the knowledge of the law. He is not even discussing
here a moralist and his approach unto the law, but those outside
the pale of special revelation," or the subject of Paul's writing
here in this place. Now, this is not to say that
only the heathens have a conscience. The Jews have one. Christians
have one, all have a conscience, and it works and is answerable
unto the Almighty God. Now, having said that, let us
come to discuss in our first study the function of conscience. For herein is a mighty work of
God. What's conscience supposed to
do? How is it supposed to work? What's its purpose? What's its
job? How is it to act? What is it to do? Now, it is
a vital part, let me say, of the human constitution. And when
Adam fell, of course the conscience also became a partaker of that
fall. It would be ridiculous to say
that any part of man escaped the fall in Adam. It also fell
in Adam. I believe that Adam no doubt
had a perfect conscience as he stood upright and communed with
God until the fall, but when he fell, all of him fell. He fell in totality and the conscience
is not an exception. Now the conscience is a censor
of the moral actions of men and women. Let's think of it in that
light. It is a censor of the moral actions
of all. It accuses, it excuses. But mostly, it accuses and condemns. For those that are outside of
Christ, a peaceful conscience is the exception rather than
the rule. And because the conscience basically
works upon actions already committed rather than those that are about
to be done, The general tone, therefore, is a condemning conscience. And even when it excuses, when
the conscience does excuse, it often gives a piece that is false. Because it is defiled and untrue
to God, who requires it to answer unto Him. And it can be manipulated
and it can be bribed. And oh my, how the conscience
is already made faculty to be bribed and to be manipulated
in people. Let's say it another way. Conscience
is God's vice regent. It is God's deputy in the soul. Think of it like that. God's
vice regent. God's deputy in the soul. And for this reason, both condemnation
and justification are published the strongest in the conscience
of an individual. The guilt of sin lays heavier
in the conscience of a sinner than any other faculty. It's like a worm in the mind. It's like a burning fire. If
God lights the fire, a fire in the bosom, it charges upon us
the guilt of our sin. When we have transgressed God,
it arranges us at God's bar, brings us before Him, and accuses
and convicts us of our dastardly deeds. Conversely, when we look
at it on the other side, the blood of Jesus Christ is the
one and only thing that brings sweet peace to the conscience
of one brought to Christ. The blood of goats and bullets
could never do that, Hebrews said, but the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is able to bring the conscience to a justifying
peace before God. Why? Because it is able to purge
it. It is able to purge it, as Hebrews
said, to us more than one time. Not surprising. We read of two
possible states of the conscience that one might experience. Number
one, evil, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 20. Conscience of sin,
Hebrews 10 verses 1 through 4. That is a conscience that stands
guilty before Almighty God. A conscience that cannot approach
unto God in a peaceful way or in peace because it is evil,
because it is under the power of sin. And it has not been purged,
Hebrews 10 verses 1 through 4. And then secondly, a good conscience
is possible. Acts 23 and verse 1, 1 Timothy
1 and verse 5. And not only possible, but necessary
if our religious devotion and service to God is to be of the
proper order. We cannot serve God properly
while our consciences are guilty. And so the conscience is brought
to settle peace by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
these reflect the state and the standing of the person before
God, that is, evil or good, at peace or at war. And those two
states of the conscience are reflected in all individuals. Let me say it again. As goes
the conscience, so goes the person. If it condemns, the person has
a sense of guilt and does not stand free of guilt in the sight
of God. If conscience is purged by the
blood of Christ, it publishes that peace throughout all of
our faculty and the person can feel at peace with God because
he does not feel condemned before God because of his sin. One of the Puritans said, and
I love it, It is the conscience that applies the law to our deeds."
You know what Paul is saying here in verse 15? That it is
the conscience that applies the law to our deeds. It is conscience
that takes the law based upon the work of the law in our heart
to either accuse us or excuse us so that we either do or don't
feel guilty and condemn. Now as it does this, it acts
as a judge of our moral actions in the authority of Almighty
God. Now, here are these descriptions
of conscience that I garnered from the writings of some of
the old-timers, and I think they're helpful, truthful, and beneficial. First of all, Charles Hodge called
it, and I quote, an inward judge, an inward monitor, unquote. and something that is within
us that does that. It judges and it monitors. John
Trapp said, it's God's spy and domestic chaplain that lives
in the bosom of the individual. John Gill said, it's God's vice
regent acting in the authority and name of God. Matthew Henry
said, the conscience is the candle of the Lord. Listen to that.
Isn't that a wonderful description? He said the conscience is that
candle of the Lord that we read so much about, especially in
Proverbs. John Calvin said the conscience
is the equivalent of a thousand witnesses that are in us and
testify either for or against us. Thomas Manton called it a
deputy judge accountable to God that God has sent it forth. to
act in His name and in authority. But let's go back to what Paul
says here. It's function. Now, as God's
judge, it examines all of our deeds. Now, it is defiled, and
lets many slip, and deceives us at many times. But basically,
it's God's judge, and it examines all of our deeds, and it tells
us what is right to be done, and what is not right to be done. In fact, it acts as judge and
jury in this capacity within us. It finds us guilty of a certain
transgression of the law written in our heart, and punishes us
with guilt and conviction that often burn like a fire that nothing
can obey. It passes sentence, and the reason
that sentence is so condemning is because it is a sentence passed
in the name of God. For I like to call conscience
God's sovereign that works within us. God, or rather conscience,
is God's sovereign that works within us at His will and bidding. Now God has armed it with so
much power. You know it's power, what can
convict And what can make you feel guilty, what can condemn,
is a powerful thing indeed. And God has armed it with such
power, it can be either, as one said, our best friend or our
worst enemy. Think about that. Conscience
can be the best friend. Conscience can be the worst enemy
that we might imagine. Add to that the fact that Stephen
Charnock made, and I quote, a man has less power over his conscience
than over any other faculty, unquote. Now think about that
and consider it. See if it's not true. I believe
it is. That we have less control over
the conscience than over any other faculty. We might change
our mind about a matter. We might change its course to
go or to think another way. Or we might remove our affections
from one object and set them upon another object. He might
choose what to exercise his understanding toward. He might set his heart
upon one thing at one time and then upon another, but he has
no such ability to change the temper of his conscience. It
is like a bright mirror when hell before us reflects our iniquity
and our sin, our condemnation and our guilt. It brings that
law of God, such knowledge as we have of the law, it brings
it to bear upon our unlawful deeds and convicts us for our
trespasses of the law. Now I thought it best if I might
sum all of this up with a short catechism that I found in one
of the writings of the Puritans. A man by the name of Samuel Rutherford
drew up this Three-point Catechism, I share it with you. Question. What is the conscience? Now, that's the vital question.
What is the conscience? Answer. It is the judging part
of the soul under God. What is the conscience? It is
the judging part of the soul under God. Secondly, question. What are the lights that direct
conscience. Later in our study, I'm going
to show you that conscience operates off of the knowledge that it
possesses. And if it has false knowledge, it operates falsely.
And the way to correct conscience is to give it truth. And as it
has the knowledge of the truth, it then can act in a proper way. But later we'll have that in
our study. What are the lights that direct conscience? Answer,
the law of nature in man's heart, number one. And the light of
the word are the two candles that God has lighted to let it
see to walk. I love the way the Puritans describe
things. What are the two lights that light candles so that it
may operate? The law of nature, natural revelation,
and the word of the Lord are the two lights that God has lighted
to let it see how to walk. Question number three, what are
the proper works of conscience? What is it to do? What's its
function? What is its work? Answer, to
work upon our deeds as a witness or to apply the law to our deeds
as a judge. Let me repeat that. To work upon
our deeds as a witness or to apply the law to our deeds as
a judge. This is the proper work of the
conscience. Now, let's go back to something.
We didn't get into it much in our study of the Fall, but I
personally believe that we see the commencement of the first
guilty conscience and convicting conscience in Adam and Eve as
soon as they fell in the garden. For the conscience fell along
with all of the other faculties of Adam and it seems that as
soon as they fell we see the work of a guilty conscience.
Now Adam did not run out and say, Oh God, so glad to see you.
I've been delighting for you to come and to enter into our
presence and we enter your and have fellowship. No, the very
opposite. I was afraid. I hid myself. I sewed fig leaf
aprons together. And we see that the conscience
began its accusing work and condemning work as soon as man fell. Now I thought it was strange,
and you might or might not, that there was never an Old Testament
word developed for conscience, I don't know, that we see the
word or have the word in all of the Old Testament, the word
itself, and yet we clearly see the work of it throughout the
Old Testament. Adam fears God and he runs and
hides from Him in the third chapter of the book of Genesis. And in
Genesis 42 and 21, Joseph's brethren were ashamed and they felt guilty
about what they had done to Joseph, for conscience did smite them.
for the deed that they had done, and they kept looking for some
judgment to overtake them, and they confessed that. They kept
looking that God might take some judgment upon them for the deed
that they had done. 1 Samuel 24 and verse 5, David's
heart smote him for lifting up his hand against God's anointed
Saul in the cave. It said very clearly, David's
heart smote him. Again in 2 Samuel 24 and verse
10, David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people, the
scriptures tell us very clearly. Now this shows that conscience
usually convicts after a deed has been done or committed. That is, it condemns usually
acts already committed. It may stop us from doing certain
things as we think about what we are to do and conscience begins
to smite us, that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong, but usually
it is after the fact, it is after the deed that has already been
committed that conscience smites us and gives us 39 stripes save
one. We have heard of people, for
example, to illustrate. We have heard of people in our
society confessing crimes years after they were committed. They
were never caught, the police had no clue, they were never
suspected, and twenty years later that person walks into the police
station and says, I killed a man twenty years ago. Well, why did
you come forward now? I couldn't stand it any longer.
I felt so guilty. My conscience bothered me so
bad I had to get it off of my chest. I just couldn't live with
it any longer. You see, because conscience sees
and assesses all actions. And besides, if later the truth
that the conscience knows changes, It certainly may drive that conscience
to do what we have just considered. For conscience sees and assesses
all of our actions. And if I may use a very simple
illustration, conscience is a lot like a little kid sister or a
little kid brother. It sees what you do, and it'll
tattle on you. It'll tell it in spite of everything. It sees what you do, and it may
not say anything at the time, but sooner or later it's going
to tattle. It's going to tell. It is like
a wife. It never forgets a wrong done
unto it. It can remember it, and remember
it, and remember it, and remember it. And when you haven't even
got a clue to what it was, twenty-five years ago, she can tell you what
you did. Conscience is a lot like that. It never forgets a
wrong that is done or committed. But we can view conscience in
an even broader sense, I believe. First, as the Puritan Charnock
expressed it, conscience is a testimony to the existence of God. Now
I want you to get that point. Conscience is a testimony to
the existence. The fact we have a conscience,
it works like it does, is an undeniable evidence and proof
of the existence of an almighty God. Now Sharnock's premise was
this, man witnesses to a God in the operations and reflections
of conscience. Now if there were no God, there
could be no conscience as it works and as we know it. And
yet atheism is the rare or the scarce thing. Atheism is the
exception rather than the rule. As there is in conscience the
fear and the dread of punishment, how can this be without the presence
of God? If there is no God, conscience
is the most useless thing in the world. How could it be? How
could it exist if there were no conscience? There is in conscience
a law of what is good and bad, what is to be done and what is
not to be done. Secondly, the greatest fears
and troubles are from within, conscience. See, these convictions
of conscience can only rarely be shaken completely off, even
by the most godless. These are Charnock's arguments
that conscience indeed witnesses to the existence of God. I mean,
you may shake off what a friend said, But conscience will nag
you here and it will nag you there, it will stay with you,
it will be with you when you lay down to go to sleep and be
with you when you wake up again. So conscience is useless unless
there be a God that it answers to. And its work and its existence
witnesses to the being of God. And listen to this, its accusings
evidence the omnipresence of God, its fears the justice of
God, its approvals the mercy and goodness of God, yes conscious
answers to God and it proves His being. I think we can certainly
make that argument. Finally, by conscience God governs
the world. God is sovereign, he governs
the actions of all individuals. How does he do that more than
any other way, I believe, is by he holds the reins of every
man's conscience. So that he reins them in by tightening
the reins of conscience. He lets them out by laying the
reins upon the neck and letting them run to their own expressions
and own destruction. Now while God rules in the hearts
of people by His grace, grace rules in their lives by His Word
and His Spirit and His grace, He rules in those without grace
by the power of conscience, keeping up a dread and a fear of punishment
even in the worst. Now, I see this in Pharaoh, Exodus
9 and 27. For this wicked reprobate to
confess, I have sinned, the Lord is righteous, I and my people
are wicked. I see it again in Judas, a reprobate
who says, I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood. Now these men were seized by
the power of conscience and conviction. It was not grace that caused
them to cry out, I have sinned, I have sinned against the Lord
and I am unrighteous. It was the power and the accusation
of conscience. But let's go back to the point.
And that is that God is sovereign over the consciences of all so
that he rules the world by conscience. Robert Haldane. God governs the
world in this way. He rules the actions of men and
beasts by the instincts and affections which he has implanted in them. So that by conscience and by
providence God does rule even the wicked. By providence he
sends them outward judgment, hems up their way, cuts off their
expectations and by conscience does he govern them through the
mind and their thoughts. He enters from without by providence,
but by conscience he enters within to put fear and dread, to create
guilt, to terrorize them, to apply the law to their deeds.
Because you see, without guilt the world would be a public stew. And conscience keeps up that
guilt. You just eradicate all guilt out of people and they
become like the animals and devour and destroy and society completely
collapses. Let me make two closing applications
very quickly. Conscience again is not a spark
of divinity. Conscience is not a little bit
of deity in everyone. No, it is not a flame of deity. It does not bestow godhood upon
those that possess a conscience. It is defiled, faulty, and corrupt. And secondly, can you not recall
the work of conscience in you when you knew not the Lord God?
Can you not remember that it was at work even then? Be thankful
for conscience, though weakened and corrupted by sin. Be thankful. that God has conscience by which
he works among those individuals upon the earth, and be glad the
reigns are in the hand of God. And you know, our conscience
should be answerable to God only, not to some cult, not to the
preacher, not to the government. To God the conscience answereth. And every man should walk before
God with his conscience, and this is the thing that we have
liberty to do and we ought to maintain that liberty. Do not let anyone put fetters
upon conscience other than the Lord Jesus Christ.