Is Your Conscience Your Protector? – Dr. Charles Stanley

[Music] but you have a conscience it is consistent with God's Word will and wait for your life it doesn't take you all day to get a signal because that grid is up and as soon as the wrong thing hits that grid it sends off a message this is not right [Music] four decades ago we started in touch ministries to lead people worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ throughout the years we've seen God's greatness his love and his blessings in such awesome ways that we just want everyone to know him so let's open God's Word and seek Him together next on InTouch is your conscience your protector can you trust your conscience think about it for a moment can you trust your conscience when you are confronted with situations of circumstances or opportunities that appear to be questionable either morally ethically socially can you trust your conscience to guide you to make the right decision you hear people say well that your conscience be you God well it depends upon what kind of shape your conscience is in because there many people whose conscience to some degree that and others more degree dead you can sin against God to the point that your conscience doesn't say anything else to you it doesn't mean you to have no conscience but it means that you have rejected the voice of your conscience so long you can't hear it anymore and somebody's sort of defined the conscience like this the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking God gave us all a conscience and he gave us a conscience which is different from the Holy Spirit who's the third person of the Trinity who lives within every single believer but people who not believe us have a conscience so we all have a conscience and the question is cannot trust it if I abide by what I since my conscience is saying all feeling is that a wise response or is it not so I want you to turn the first Timothy and Paul is writing to young Timothy who is the pastor of the church now and Ephesus and they going through some difficult times and so he says to him beginning in the 18th verse of this first chapter I give you a time to find that first chapter first Timothy beginning in verse 18 he says this command I entrust the you Timothy my son in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you fight the good fight keeping faith and the good conscience which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith and then he mentions to the people who had given him a hard time and he says about them among these are Jimenez and Alexander whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme and so when I think about what he says their life ended in shipwreck the truth is all of us if we're honest we know some people whose life has ended in shipwreck they wrecked their lives they may still be afloat but they're a wreck and you and I know people like that who've decided that God has no place in their life they have enough money enough acceptance enough of everything they won't they don't need God and so they think somehow they'll make it they'll make it for a season but there will be a shipwreck sooner or later in their life and this is what he's wanting him of here so I want us to think about that with that in mind and then ask yourself the question and wherever you are in your Christian life can you say yes I can trust my conscience when I come to something that's questionable I can trust my conscience that send me a message and what is that message that message is a feeling of conflict and not peace but conflict uncertainty I questions doubt or maybe even fear but God gave us a conscience for our protection now whether we use it or respond to it as a protect or not as something we have to decide it's not the same as the Holy Spirit though the Holy Spirit is a part of every believer Laith and so what you have to ask yourself the question is this do I really trust my conscience do I respond to my conscience do I lean upon to my conscience now the Holy Spirit works through our conscience and if you see something here's something tempted to do something or go in a certain direction that's not of God and you're a follow of Jesus Christ you can't just plow through with no feeling the Spirit of God is going to convict you and he's going to use your conscience to remind you that doesn't fit who you are it doesn't fit what you believe and it doesn't fit your relationship of Almighty God there's a whole host of people who have no conscience the reason they don't they have one put it this way it's dead you can disobey God rebel against God over and over and over again to the loud voice watch this the loud voice of the conscience says no no no no no no that's the most dangerous place you can be when you can't hear it when it stops sounding the alarm because you have did that with disobedience and rebellion toward God so Paul is reminding Timothy of how important that is now we say that and we all agree that the conscience is a universal gift of God let's define conscience in this way conscience is our human faculty by which a person does the following things number one it distinguishes between the morally right and wrong that's what the conscience does it distinguishes between the morally right and wrong secondly it urges us to do that which we recognize to be right that's what the conscience does that only shows us what's wrong but urges us to do the right thing you can think about times in your life or something you've seen her done or whatever and when your conscience was really bothering you that's what you'd say my conscience so bothered me that it spoke loudly I could not do it a third thing it does it restrains us from doing what we recognize to be wrong and so there's this restraint we feel that that's not the place you need to go that that's not the right direction the conscience cannot only speak it can scream and the more committed you are to Jesus Christ the louder your conscience is going to be when somebody says well I did this so I didn't feel a thing and they may be bragging about their capacity when they ought to be scared to death if your conscience is so numbed if your conscience is so dead that it does not shout to you when you're heading in the wrong direction to make a wrong decision then you're in trouble it's like driving down the streets of a busy city and ignoring the red light oh I like the green light yellow light but the red light I just ignore you know that you're bound for disaster sooner or later and then of course our conscience passes judgment on Acts and executes that judgment within the soul that is it says to us that it's wrong it doesn't fit who you are it doesn't fit who you say you are it doesn't fit the Word of God that is the conscience is a powerful part of the human life and everyone has one it doesn't make a difference what language you have what your background is you have a conscience and what you do with it will either sharpen it to make it more and more sensitive that you can live a godly life where you can begin to ignore it very early so only you know where your conscience is but it was given to us for our protection and so how does it work and I'll give you several words up here that you can just jot down first of all it judges a man's soul always passing judgment and conduct and behavior in other words three things are affected attitude conduct and behavior second it's like a spiritual radar watch this it sends out signals to us that something close by is not right and there been times when I think all of us could say we had feelings we didn't know why but but a sensitivity that that be careful today watch out today watch out of what do you well you didn't know what it was it was your conscience through the work of the Holy Spirit sending you a signal ahead of time and I can think of a few times there were dramatic in my own life when I would pray in the morning and I'd feel this uncertainty about something do you know what it was it's like the Lord said be careful today and sure enough something would come along and it would be like the Lord said see I told you watch this and so you have a conscience for your protection if you listen to it it acts like it looks like a grid system God has and so when it's something hits that system and stops there it means that your conscience is saying don't go there that's not what you need to get that's not a part that's not who you are and it doesn't fit who you are as a follower of Jesus it convicts protest accuses when wrong is done when you violate your conscience for example if you if you were tempted to really let somebody heaven just use profanity you would know that's not right somebody offers you a drink of something you know does not fit who you are as a follower of Jesus or somebody invites you to go somewhere that you know is not right or to look at something you know it's not right I'll listen to something that's not right your conscience is going to send you a signal watch this for your protection now watch this when Satan tempts you to move in a certain direction are you listening say men don't take the first step if you take the first step in violation of your conscience what you're doing is you're ignoring the grid he's he's the grids there and and and when what's wrong hits the grid it sends a signal you either abide by the signal or you don't you cannot violate your conscience and walk in the will of God or even enjoy the blessings of God because it's an act of pure defiance of what God wants for your life and what it does it convict's us and it protests its shouts this is not right this doesn't fit who you are and I don't know how God could have made it plainer he gives us the Holy Spirit and seals us as a child of God and he's the one living within us who speaks through our heart he's also given us a conscience we got watch this we got the conscience before we got the Holy Spirit you just think before you got saved you had a conscience you knew that certain things were not right and then you have the Holy Spirit living within you and shouting to you put through your conscience don't do that don't go that don't say that don't think that it isn't that God is keeping you from having a good time in life it's protecting you from disaster and protecting you from from going where I god knows you should not go the conscience is an awesome thing and when I think about how God has made us and he's made us that live our life holy and righteous before God and yet we choose not to do so but it's because we ignore this inner conscience given to us enabled by the Holy Spirit to identify anything and everything that's wrong now watch this sometimes you have a feeling about something and you don't know why well why well why should I hesitate about that you can't identify God doesn't promise that you and I will always understand why he's giving us a signal but remember this God is omniscient omnipotent and he's what I'm the present he's there and so when he sends you a signal about something and you ignore it then what you are saying the holy God who is always working in their behalf he always has your best interest at heart God is not going to tell you not to do something because he doesn't want you to enjoy life he's going to send a signal to us to avoid something because He loves us because he cares and you know what I I can remember parents and maybe my mother probably said this to me now you should know you can't do that why because I said so and I knew better than not to do it did I always do what she said no did I get punished when i disobeyed yes I did but I learned early in life there's some things I may not understand why my mother said no but later I realized she was right now watch this sooner or later you will find out why God didn't want you to do or say ago where he forbid you to do there go man I know it's the time but it's protection for us it's God loving us now think about this today we live in a world that's becoming more and more and more ungodly and so it is more and more and more important that we teach our children our grandchildren I'm not the final authority you not the final authority God is the final authority and that final Authority is to be found very clearly in the Word of God and that's why you should train them early in life that the Bible is the final authority and the Bible is always right always correct about every single circumstance of life a conscience is the signal to watch out whatever may be going on so the Bible mentions the different types of conscience for example I'll just mention these to you if when the Bible talks about a good conscience and for example in this 19th verse keeping faith and a good conscience so there's a good conscience and then the scripture talks about in first renting chef's date of struggling conscience and probably all of us have struggled at some time the other about our conscience of what we were feeling or real facing of what we were tempted with struggling conscience and in Titus the first Shep's and the 15th verse he talks about a soil the conscience you do something that you know is not right and when you do that you soil your conscience it's like getting it dirty does that mean God won't forgive you know he will forgive you but I can tell you this as long as that soil is there you're not going to have in the peace so there's the soil of conscience and then worst of all and first Timothy chapter 4 in verse 2 he speaks of of a seared conscience the best way to describe let's take a piece of wax paper and take a hot iron and just set it on the wax paper and it disappears when a conscience becomes seared it doesn't speak any longer it's dead you can do anything you want to get by with it no this is why we see people who are living such an immoral life and they say well what's wrong with that let me tell you something they have seared their conscience by disobeying God over and over and over and over and over again till there's no voice conscience is seared it's dead now to go back to the first chapter of Romans for example and that's where Paul gets this is where he deals with it right up front with the Romans and in this first chapter he says for even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened the this professing to be wise they became fools exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the image the form of corruptible man and the birds for for the beasts crawling things therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to dishonour and to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored and owned and owned and he only goes and he says again and again but God gave them over to it what does it mean he says there comes a time if you insist on disobeying God ignoring your conscience doing what you want to do and just shutting God out God will turn you over to it and this is why people can live the life that they live and seemingly from our point of view it looks like they're having again people have said this to me we'll look at so-and-so they seem to be getting along fine mmm-hmm seemed to be you haven't looked inside their heart you don't know what they do when they delight in that night you don't have miserable they are deep down inside and oh this is a big faking front they have out there well everything is fine and I don't need that this God and Jesus and Bible and we don't need any of that totally consumed by disobedience and a conscience that's been seared tragic well let's think about it so when can you trust your conscience so I'm going to give you several statements you can trust your conscience when you have accepted the Word of God as the basis for your conduct that's the basis of my kind that means I'm gonna live by the Ten Commandments and I'm gonna live by the New Testament also you can trust your conscience when you have made a decision secondly you have our our programming your conscience with the teaching of Scripture when you come week after week after week what's happening you being programmed by the Word of God you say you programming me know the Spirit of God taking the Word of God into your heart and programming you to understand how Thanks now hey orcs and how he moves in a person's life thirdly you can trust your conscience when you have a strong desire to obey God lord I want to trust you no matter what gallon gun trust you and number four when you prayerfully consider the decisions you make you can trust your conscience when something comes up and you're not too sure what you should do you prayerfully ask the Lord to give you direction then you have a good conscience you have a sense of their conscience a conscience you can trust and then when your conscience sounds the alarm immediately when you're consuming a wrong direction in your thoughts or actions when you have a conscience that is consistent with God's Word will and way for your life it doesn't take you all day to get a signal because that grid is up and as soon as the wrong thing hits that grid it sends off a message this is not right for example you go to work tomorrow morning and somebody says I got tell you this joke it's a little dirty but you'll understand don't let it get you it down anything like that and so what do you do well let me ask you a question what would your conscience tell you to do when somebody tells you they're getting ready to tell the group whether it's you of three or four or five people I'm going to tell you a joke it's a little dirty little mm-hmm what do you do when your conscience is right immediately you don't have to question what to do say well you know what if it's God's kind of joke it doesn't fit Who I am thank you very much or you could say to them if you're brave enough you ought to be ashamed of yourself talking like that that's what she oughta say you ought to be ashamed you want to tell me what you what you're getting into tell me and telling me ahead of time that it's dirty and I'll tell you if you get strong about people who want to do that here's what'll happen next time they got a dirty joke they go into somebody else they're not going to you because you know why because you've sent them a message and I'll tell you something else before they go to sleep at night they'll wrestle what you said the fact that you turned and walked away they won't forget it now there may be a wicked as a devil but they won't forget it because all of a sudden there was conflict and them and their conscience said something to them because your life as a righteous godly life and you seek to walk in his way in his will and so all of a sudden they've hit the blank wall and their conscience and your conscience was in conflict immediately we need to be strong and stop apologizing and stop just bending our convictions to meet somebody else's we should [Applause] and then of course one way you can trust your conscience when you feel guilty immediately upon disobedience immediately in fact I can't even think about I can't even think about y'all creating a conscience that takes time in other words our conscience is is spiritually sensitive to everything going on around you and so there's no no time lapse you may ignore it at first but your conscience is there to protect you protect you from things that will destroy you or hinder you in some fashion or your loved ones whoever it might be if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior your country and it's bothering you your conscience is still alive and the Spirit of God will convict you now don't have your sin but of the fact that God loves you and is willing to forgive you and cleanse you and give you a whole new life which the Bible calls being born again and so I would say to you this morning don't even think about walking away without dealing with your relationship to God this morning and I trust you'll be wise enough to do that amen and father we thank you for the clarity of your precious word we ask you this morning there so sanctify us that is let your holiness so rule and reign in our life that there's no question in our mind whether something is right or wrong but whether it fits us or does not know whether it's the right timing for something or not followers of the Holy Spirit who lives within us who always makes everything clear for us and I pray for that somebody here this morning who's never trusted Jesus as their Savior and they wonder sometimes while they feel so bad they had probably thought about their conscience being from God I pray that you'll speak to their heart in these few moments in Jesus name Amen if you've been blessed by today's program please visit us at intouch.org e in touch leading people worldwide into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and strengthening the local church this program is sponsored by in touch ministries and is made possible by the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts

Channel: In Touch Ministries

Views: 131,240

Keywords: Charles F. Stanley, Charles Stanley, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, In Touch Ministries, Preaching, Bible teaching, Dr. Stanley, Intouch ministries, intouch

Id: Q43vT2z5PUc

Length: 27min 2sec (1622 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 21 2018