SABAOTH WINTER 2021                                                                FORESIGHT OF THE MASTER PLANNER – The Eternal Purpose

The Sacrifices of God Are A Broken spirit: A Broken And A Contrite Heart

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The Eternal Value of A Sound Conscience

 In the series The Sacrifices of God Are A Broken spirit: A Broken And A Contrite Heart, we have looked at Conviction – Empowerment To See The Spirituality of God’s Law. Where we saw that just as insufficient power from a dead battery to the starter motor of a vehicle renders it unable to start itself; as no food can in any way provide energy for a dead man; although it is the function food to give energy: Spiritual truth cannot provide Spiritual liveliness to a mind that is dead to righteousness; as such the mind is unable to capture the essence of the truth and similarly, Spiritual truth cannot make an unregenerate will to believe.

We have also looked at Faith – Empowerment To Persuade The Mind That God’s Law And Power Is True And Real. Where we looked at the first part of the Conversion Process which follows regeneration (at point of quickening); these being Faith (Saving Faith) and Repentance working hand in hand in an indivisible process. We saw that saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God: That it is faith that propels one to take the next step past simply having knowledge of Christ and believing in the facts presented.

We then examined Repentance – Empowerment for a yielded will to turn away from sin to God. Where we saw that Repentance is an act by which we realise we have offended an Holy and righteous God; this act is characterised by a deliberate turn away from the sinful act(s) in question, begging for God’s forgiveness and turning to him and his ways

We will now have a look at The Eternal Value of A Sound Conscience in:

Conviction – Empowerment To See The Spirituality of God’s Law.

Faith – Empowerment To Persuade The Mind That God’s Law And Power Is True And Real.

Repentance – Empowerment for a yielded will to turn away from sin to God.

The Eternal Value of A Sound Conscience

Confession – Its Power to Remove The Sting of Sin

Circumcision of The Regenerated Heart.

Dead To Sin – Empowerment to overcome indwelling sin

Alive To Christ, Jesus – Empowerment to live a righteous and Godly life.

The Consecration, Quickening (or Awakening), Faith and Repentance Needed For Revival

God’s Way of Restoration & The Cleansing That Leads To Joy.

 

The Eternal Value of A Sound Conscience

Dictionary Definition of conscience

1a: the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one’s own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good e.g. She had a guilty conscience.

b: a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts guided by conscience

2: conformity to what one considers to be correct, right, or morally good : CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

3: sensitive regard for fairness or justice : SCRUPLE e.g. a wealthy man with no conscience

“A knowledge or sense of right and wrong, with a compulsion to do right; moral judgement that opposes the violation of a previously recognized ethical principle and that leads to feelings of guilt.”

The conscience is for us to discern right from wrong, to justify or to condemn. Knowledge shows what is right or wrong but our conscience is that part of us that approves of what is right and disapproves of what is contrary to it. The conscience is a part of our spirit:

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 9:1)

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Romans 8:16)

The conscience is part of the spirit

In the unregenerate man, the conscience as a part of the heart is devoid of guidance from the Spirit of God; but restricted within limits by the grace of God. But at salvation the conscience is restored to perform it’s full functions as part of the spirit of man.

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

It is possible for us to defile our conscience.

By maltreating it we can lessen its acuteness or sensitivity.

If we persist in disobeying it and if we persist in aligning our life and our thoughts with things that are condemned by the conscience, it can be influenced and then go on to be defiled.

The hot iron KILLS THE NERVES and renders the part i.e. the conscience insensitive

Our conscience is like a moral nerve for our soul. Imagine a sensitive surface with nerves and nerve endings sensitive to the slightest touch and able to feel the sensation of pain. Then you bring this hot iron and you place it on it to seal off all the nerve routes. It will surely become hard and callous; so that even if you pinch it or stick a pin into it, you will feel nothing. You have just caused the kind of hardness and callousness that renders it insensitive and sometimes dead.

It is possible for man to do this to his/her conscience and the be rendered capable of doing the most terrible things and are not aware of the fact that they are doing it any longer. THE CONSIENCE IS SEARED. This can go on until THERE IS NO MORE HUMAN FEELING.

In this end-time period we are in, a believer is expected to strictly follow in the steps of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by laying down the lower form of life that man develops through his own fleshly activities (Psuche); So as to be able to live by the Spirit and share with God in His eternal life (Zoe).

The overdevelopment in the capacity of the soul of man to the detriment of life of Jesus Christ through spirit has to be checked. The ‘old man’ has to go so that the new can come to be, which is where the Cross comes in. At rebirth (born-again), When we get saved, which is our ‘passport’ to partake of the FINISHED work of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary this processes

When it comes to purification, our faith plays out in a two-fold movement: downward, We cease to trust in our ability to improve ourselves; upward, we put our trust in Jesus for the transformation of our life. Trust is a firm reliance on the character or integrity of another; it is also a measure of the spiritual authority God puts at our disposal, which is also commensurate with the level of our spiritual maturity. Worldly maturity connotes the level of being independent of anyone; but spiritual maturity is the: LEVEL OF OUR TOTAL AND ABSOLUTE DEPENDENCE ON GOD

The soul being saved, should reflect the purity of the heart; meaning that the effect of the functions of a liberated conscience, intuition and communion with God is demonstrated by the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (that we cannot physically see) and the conviction of the reality (perceiving as real what is not revealed to the senses) of this fact being made real to us by our seeing ourselves hidden in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God.

Then, at this point of being saved and having a regenerated heart, the soul

[(Functions of Will, Intellect & Emotions now being controlled by the spirit (Functions of a liberated conscience, intuition and communion with God ) that is in turn now also under the control of the Holy Spirit] should be committed solely to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and enabled to comprehend the solid biblical and historical facts that Christianity is built on.

Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (Hebrews 13:18)

A good conscience is a conscience sanctified by the Spirit of God, and sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. We must be in all things, be willing to live honestly; not only as men, but as ministers; faithfully dispensing the word of truth, without any regard to the favour or frowns of men, as good stewards of the mysteries of God

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward. (2 Corinthians 1:12)

And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offence toward God, and toward men. (Acts 24:16)

A good conscience is where a man is not condemned or found guilty by his conscience; where he is acting in agreement with his conscience; so he gets no trouble from his conscience. This then is subject to the values he holds. If the values are underpinned by the Word of God then this ‘no condemnation’ verdict of the conscience is deemed valid.

Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. (Hebrews 13:18)

This could be taken to the extreme sometimes as in the case of a ‘Delicate Conscience’. An individual judges correctly and with careful attention concerning the acts about to be performed. Always the intention is to please God and does not want to offend him in the slightest degree.

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 9:1)

A good conscience is what bears us “witness in The Holy Ghost”. When we think our conscience may say yes; and at other times the same conscience may say No. Knowledge shows what is right or wrong but:  It is the CONSCIENCE that APPROVES WHAT IS RIGHT and DISAPPROVES what is CONTRARY TO THAT WHICH IS RIGHT; Subject to The Word of God

Our conscience is the greatest safeguard possible against mere theoretical opinion about truth or mere intellectual interest in truth. In our 21st century society that is under the firm grip of media manipulation, maintaining a clear conscience and being on guard not to be a theoretical or intellectual Christian at the expense of the wholeness of the Christian life is of paramount importance.

Next, we will be looking at

Confession .

Prayers:

 AND WE CONTINUALLY PRAY:

1. Lord, that You will give us the grace wisdom and power to recognise that the object and purpose of your instruction and charges to us is Love, which springs from a pure heart and a good and clear conscience and sincere, unfeigned faith.
2. Heavenly Father, that as we plead the blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Jesus’ name upon the conscience of each and everyone of us that our consciences may be healed and prevented from being seared by the wiles of the enemy, sin, or any other way the searing may, or may have occurred.
3. Lord, that we will be able by your grace, express faith through love, and overcome the ploy of the enemy to subject us to the passivity of conscience, which means that we could in this condition close our mind to all arguments, and statements upon which we have come to settled conclusions, and all effort to give us further truth and light is regarded as interference, and the person attempting it as ignorant, or intrusive.
4. Lord, and bind each and everyone of us to the work of the cross of Calvary where the power, the authority, the love, the forgiveness, the mercy and the grace would flow into our lives.
5. Lord, and we bind the inner man of each and every one of us to a loving relationship with the Holy Spirit. Give us the grace to know that, ‘to seek you through knowledge about you without seeking a relationship with the Holy Spirit ends up in confusion and unbalance in our perception of You.
6. Heavenly Father, for the grace to come to that point where we realise the true place of the Holy Spirit, that His entire work is to lead our souls into union with the our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, and the knowledge of you our Father in heaven whilst He Himself directs, and works in the background.
7. Heavenly Father, that You will empower us to seek to be connected to the Holy Spirit that we may be surrendered to your Revealer, that we may be totally consumed by the revelation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His life, His death, His resurrection, His position, His authority, His power, His compassion, His mind, His conscience, His desire – all that He is.
8. Give us the grace to confess our sins, forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness for you are faithful and just. By the cleansing power of the Blood of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, bring the spirit of each and every one of us into union with Christ, For he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in the Spirit. Let each and everyone’s spirit actively dominate him / her in full co-operation with the Holy Spirit.