¶ Understanding Conscience and Sharing Dreams
So good , mark . That's super important because there's an important theological term that helps us understand what the scriptures mean by conscience . Before I use that term , I'll give you an example of it Our conscience not being used well , which is exactly what you're alluding to .
In 2004 , barack Obama was asked what is sin and he said his quote was I've got it written here somewhere give me a minute , I'm pulling an easy being out of alignment . Oh , how embarrassing . Here's what Barack Obama said being out of alignment with my values , do you ?
see the problem there .
That's terrible . That's exactly right . But he's appealing to his conscience in that moment . But that conscience , to Mark's point , can be seared . It could be wicked . And so what does it mean ? That God's written His laws on our conscience ? It does not mean that every unbeliever has 600 plus of God's written laws written on their hearts .
What it means and here's the important theological term is that every non-believer , every single person who's ever existed , has sufficient knowledge . They have sufficient knowledge through God's common grace to attest to His glory and reject it . That's the important theological distinction in that area .
That's good , oscar . Coming from a man with no conscience , no , that was really good . Sweet dreams are made of this . Who am I to disagree ? I travel the world in the seven seas Everybody is looking for something that's the most nostalgic song of the 1980s .
I don't know what it is . You know what that didn't make me feel sick .
Is that the rhythm mix ? Why do you look so depressed ? No , it's the best . I think absolutely no . No , you're at the mix . You're at the mix . You're wrong , oscar .
You're not from our era , oscar , stop trying to be from our era , yeah , but he's like an 80s . Listen , oscar is the most well-rounded individual amongst us you have to get on that .
That's all the donuts .
Oscar is a 1980s walking billboard . Oh , I was wrong , though you were .
I was right , it is the rhythm mix . I was right too .
No , Mark was right , it was my song . The rhythm mix , no . But seriously , though , when I think 80s , I don't know why it's this song that comes to mind , the rhythm mix , it's just this particular song . It's just so like sweet dreams . No , no , we get it . That's what's popping my head .
For those who can't see , which is 10,000 of you , easy as head bobbing .
Yeah , the reason why I sang that beautiful Glory song is because that's a great question . I had a bizarre dream the other night . Can you believe ?
it . I had a dream about you the other night , stop , and I've been meaning to tell you about it . Are you serious ? You ?
go first . Okay , you paid back the money that you owed me .
But here's the thing why is it that dreams do this ? And there have been movies made where they kind of verify this , because they're doing on the screen what happens in my hand sometimes . So I had a dream . I was at a friend's house , I opened my car door and it hits their car door . I think they say dreams are based on things you're like terrified of .
Well , things you do all the time yeah .
A crazy ass . He says a dream comes through much activity . So whatever you kind of meditate through .
Yeah , but then what happens is I look at the car and they're the whole side of their cars destroyed . That is like Like as if , though , a car like ran into it and just scraped across it . That's how you see life , though . With your perfectionism , that is true , but I just barely tapped the door with mine and the next thing I look at it's- .
That's a good fear to have , though . Yeah , because there's nothing worse than doing that .
But you guys experience that right Like in your dream . It just doesn't make sense .
I don't tend to remember my dreams .
Had you know that I have the weirdest dreams . You have to remember some dreams tomorrow .
Occasionally something will happen .
Had you know you don't remember them .
It's not a dream to know that today is EZ's birthday .
Happy birthday .
We should do the short version of Happy Birthday .
We should do it in his native tongue Harishakata rakashi rakashi rakashi rakashi rakashi , rakashi , rakashi rakashi rakashi , oscar , are you speaking in Thai ?
It's your birthday .
Happy birthday , you're well done .
I gotta say you don't look a day over 75 .
How old are you ? Look my daddy okay , my daddy 112 , not look older than 100 . I don't know 11 . 11 ? What ?
are you ? You're 40? , 48 . That's why you're dreaming dreams .
Old man will dream dreams . That's it , that's happening .
No , it is weird . What do you remember about your ?
first day of life .
I just read somewhere where someone was saying they remember , they have memories from the womb Really .
Seriously , ez , were you the one that told me that you were potty trained at three weeks old , or something ?
Not that old .
The day after I was born . Yeah , I know you're walking like at two days .
He was disgusted by the diaper . No , I was .
I was potty trained really early and it probably was because of that . Yeah , I was very young . Yeah , I'm funny .
I was born as an extremely early age .
They tell me a year I was potty trained at the year Boy .
that's so wonderful .
Yeah , they average of six months , but that's good .
Can you imagine ? What do you want for your ?
birthday EZ . Oh man , just peace and quiet from you guys . Can we end the podcast now ? That would be the best birthday . But yeah , dreams are weird . Oscar , you had a dream about you .
I have dreams all the time the most common dream that I have because I fall asleep reading at night . So I will be in my dream and I'm finishing the chapter , making it up as I go along and imagining whatever the argument is next , whatever happens next , and then I'll wake up and I'm really confused about where I'm at in the book .
That's the most common dream I have . I have it a few days a week , but the other day I had a dream that you cussed . What did you say ? I was so shocked .
The blank and blank .
But you turned around and you looked at me and then all of a sudden your face was all scruffy and you looked like a pirate and you're like , oh yeah this is how I am when no one's looking and I was like what is happening here .
It was that a reality today . It was shocking , though it was like really disturbing .
So you were serious .
Oscar .
Yeah , this is a real dream that I had about .
EZ the pirates who don't do anything .
So we bit of counsel EZ after the whole thing .
Can you imagine like if someone holds a grudge against you for the rest of your life because of a dream ?
Do you ever do that , though ? Every now and then my wife wakes up mad at me and I'm like what's going on ? She's like dream Oscar was a jerk .
I have to apologize for dream . Oscar , that's funny .
I saw a video of a guy who was outside of his apartment and his wife , I suppose , was yelling down at him and she would not let him in back inside of the apartment because of her dream and how what he had done in some of the dream it was just a dream , but nope sometimes they feel just so realistic they do no seriously .
Well , you almost get murdered by your own wife .
That's true .
It's always Rachel wants to kill me . I don't know why , because she's four foot ten mother .
She wants to kill you . Four foot ten mother .
It's always she wants and I'll get up middle of the night , run around , turn on lights , sit in a panic . It's so weird . I want to get a video of that . I do too Seriously .
I think I've seen one .
And what ? I think Rachel filmed you doing something . Oh , can we do that ? She's done . She's filmed me rapping , I think , but I don't know about my night care .
We've had enough of that .
I've seen you when we were in Israel in . Galilee . I was going to Galilee and I said you want to come to Galilee , no ?
You were talking in the sleep and screaming . No , you were being kind . Yes , I was being kind .
Because we were so exhausted ? No , you were trying to put like a cover on me or something . Yes , yeah , and your eyes had just glazed over him , really .
You've seen it , you've been with me .
It's like father like daughter . You wanted to kill me .
I didn't do it With a blanket .
Yeah , but yeah now for the record . I hate it when people say this I don't dream , everybody dreams .
You still remember it . Some people don't remember it . Yeah , how do you know that ? Because he remembers .
I mean everybody , but these heads . All right , here's a comment from I don't know who oh . Dolores , dolores , smart , ray , ezy , mark and Oscar . I have to tell you how much your podcast means to me and I feel like I know you . But I have to be honest at first . Easy's voice drove me crazy .
That's what I was talking about , amen . That's not the one you're talking about , because every other one is like this .
Excuse me , we should just end it there . So anyways , moving on from that comment Excuse me Redemption , but now I love it .
Tell us how you did it and think he's hilarious . Dolores , you're my friend , my frown . I love the banter at the beginning of each podcast , but even more the wisdom I've heard from you for has been life changing , wow , thank you . That really hits my heart . So thank you for being faithful to God and your mission .
I discovered Living Waters on Facebook , and it's changed my life . I now read the word every day , whereas before , as a Christian , I read it sporadically , along with having conviction to what I'd listen to and watch . Wow , praise the Lord .
There is an acronym for Ray Easy , mark and Oscar Remo , remo , remo .
That's what you've been working on over there Comfort , it's cool .
That was awesome . I'll make sure I'm speaking the truth . I saw the nostrils . The nostrils were flaring .
Thank you , Dolores . And Dolores is from Prince Rupert , British Columbia , Canada .
Yeah .
How about that ? A ? I like the process . Now , canadian listen to this . It's thinking , yeah , huh , well , yeah , so what are you talking about ?
Yeah , anyways , all right , friends , now this podcast is brought to you by the Jesus in Red devotional , I have to say , probably my favorite cover , and all together , just the whole yeah , the whole thing of anything we have .
Yeah , it's beautiful .
Was it your idea to do the red and red Ray ?
Yes , you mean on the cover ? Yeah , well , it was obvious , jesus in red , you wouldn't agree , yeah , but I mean it's so cool . It's like this glow , yeah , I may not have said that , but it was just obvious that it should go that way . Oh , so you might have lied , I might have lied , maybe in the publisher , I don't know .
Anyway , friends , Jesus in red devotional 365 day devotions about Jesus , His words .
It's only his words , only the words of Jesus . So , it's the entire Bible Burn no , no , no , no , no . It's where it says and he said unto him . That is left out . I love it , and it's just the words of Jesus .
Oh , that's great , but is there any Bible that does the words of Jesus in any other color ?
The red Yellow would be annoying White .
That's what an atheist would do .
I just ordered a CSB Jesus in seafoam green .
Can you imagine I wouldn't surprise me with something like that comes out . And don't forget , friends , the Living Waters mug to help quench your thirst .
Jesus in red and invisible ink .
Some people read it like that yeah .
The Living Waters mug to help quench your thirst .
You know , I just asked Chad Chippity .
I won't read it through , but I asked it . Hey , give me a dad joke across . Stick dealing with Remo . The RE oh yeah , Did I give you one ? Yeah , it was actually set up . Stop , Seriously , Read it . The R why did the scarecrow win an award ? Because he was outstanding in his field . The E what's that ? Where's ?
the R . Why does he R in that yeah ?
Just to just wait for it . E did you hear about the cheese factory explosion ? There was nothing left but debris . M I used to play the piano by ear , but now I use my hands .
Yes , chad Chippity is a terrible humorist .
And then , o , what do you call a fish with no eyes ?
You're already , Matt Wheezy FSH , FSH , fish with their eyes . I'll move that . That's like that's actually funny .
Jokes that spell out RIMO for a light-hearted , pun-filled acrostic for the Living Waters Podcast .
I've never heard , I've never heard Dot com Fish one . You've never heard that fish one , no Fish with their eyes .
Oh , I'm so tickled on my birthday . Oh my gosh . All right friends , don't forget that it's study Bible , you guys are idiots .
You're crazy in your mind .
At Living Waters Dot com .
Oh , did I ever tell you about we're a duet Oscar . Did I ever tell you about my dream about the giant marshmallow ? That's the best one Stop .
The pillow . You woke up and the pillow was gone .
¶ Role of Conscience in Morality
That one's so old .
Yeah , it's like Noah's wife told it to him . Her name was John John of Arc . Oh , I'm so giddy Stop it All right friends .
Today we're talking about exploring the human conscience . Does your conscience bother you guys for how you treat me ?
Not with us , not at all , not at all , not even at all . It's confirming .
It's righteousness , not even a little bit .
Yeah , the conscience , boy Ray con with science .
How many times have I said that ? I've been saying it since about 1982 .
Okay , but , ray , when you say it now , has it become even a joke in your own head ?
No , I try not to laugh because I'm serious .
You try not to , but it must do something . You're like , I can't believe how much I've said this thing it does .
Oh yeah , I'm talking to someone I used to say does evolution , does it explain where the conscience came from ? It's a knowledge of right and wrong . Why would evolution do that ? Conscience means con with science , knowledge . And suddenly I see three guys mocking me and laughing and pointing their finger at me .
Oh my goodness , my wheezy factors on steroids today . Oh boy . The birthday wheeze . Seriously , man , I'm getting old . The old man wheezes , manifesting All right . So let me give us some definitions of conscience from a few different dictionaries .
So Maryam Webster says a sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct and tensions or character , together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good . I can't say that , you say that I get paste .
In Oxford language is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior . And then Cambridge Dictionary the part of you that judges how moral your own actions are and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for . What do you think , Ray Accurate ?
I just think . Yeah , I think the conscience can actually be a disservice . It can accuse you of continuing to do wrong , and an evil conscience that just never shuts up , and yet it's shut up in Christ . How much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience from evil works ? Did I botch that scripture Very badly ?
But Ray , you were talking about , yeah , the conscience from a negative perspective . That's an interesting place to start . Would this coincide with what we talked about recently on one of our podcasts about guilt and how to be free from regret and all of that ? Like you're saying that our conscience can play a part where we're tormented by it ?
And it can drive you into doing good works to try and cover your tracks , and it shouldn't really lead you to the foot of the cross . The conscience is doing his duty , Wow .
Expand on that a little bit Could prompt you to do good works . That that probably sounds very like bizarre to people like of course it should .
Yeah , when people don't understand that their criminals before our holy God and this is the basis for all religions when they don't see God as being holy and us being his criminals and seeing themselves in a court of law facing the judge , they think they can appease the judge's anger against them and satisfy the law by their own efforts .
And they're driven by what the Bible calls an evil conscience . They feel guilty so they try and cover their tracks or justify themselves . They can justify themselves because any religious or good works they offer the judge isn't good works .
They're an attempt to bribe the judge of the universe , and the Bible says the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord . The only thing that can appease a guilty conscience is the blood of Christ .
Wow , mark , what a way to put that . Huh , I mean , people would never , typically , at least the natural man fear in that direction in their mind when they're thinking , well , I'm doing good works , I'm , this is good , god is happy with me not realizing they're trying to bribe the judge of the universe .
Yeah , you know , and the conscience is a crazy thing , you can't escape it . And I've tried , I've attempted to run from my conscience at different times and seasons and areas of my life when I feel like , well , you know , there's nothing wrong with dabbling with that a little bit and we need to be careful with that .
Right , there's no softer pillow than a clear conscience . Somebody once said and if you , especially when we talk about the believer , right , we need to be careful with this . You know , kevin DeYoung , he says the conscience , it's not infallible . Right , we can have an evil conscience that doesn't turn away from sin , hebrews 10 .
We can have a seared conscience that no longer feels bad for evil 1 Timothy 4-2, . And we can have a weak conscience that feels bad for things that , well , they're not really bad 1 Corinthians 8, . And we can have a defiled conscience that loses its ability to discern right from wrong , with Titus 1-5 .
We need to be careful that , as we open up God's word , we allow God's word to dictate , to mature , to steer our conscience in the right direction , because we do come across people from time to time that just , they don't feel bad for whatever reason for doing that task anymore and maybe they've seared their conscience , they've quenched the spirit , they've pushed
him in a corner and they said , no , my way , of your way , until finally it gets this great , have your way .
Wow , so good , mark . That's super important because there's an important theological term that helps us understand what the scriptures mean by conscience . Before I use that term , I'll give you an example of it Our conscience not being used well , which is exactly what you're leading to . In 2004 , barack Obama was asked what his sin and he said his quote was .
I've got it written here somewhere Give me a minute , I'm pulling an easy being out of alignment . Oh , how embarrassing . Here's what Barack Obama said being out of alignment with my values , do you ?
see the problem there .
That's terrible .
That's exactly right . But he's appealing to his conscience in that moment . But that conscience , to Mark's point , can be seared . It could be wicked . And so what does it mean ? That God's written his laws on our conscience ? It does not mean that every unbeliever has 600 plus of God's written laws written on their hearts .
What it means and here's the important theological term is that every non-believer , every single person who's ever existed , has sufficient knowledge . They have sufficient knowledge through God's common grace to attest to his glory and reject it . That's the important theological distinction in that area .
That's good , oscar . Coming from a man with no conscience , no , that was really good . Yeah , show you how to do yourself . Oh , your conscience is spiking .
I can hear it now my conscience is my friend , that's exactly what happened .
My conscience bothered me after I decimated Oscar , but yeah , I mean Oscar .
I think that Romans 2 , 14 to 15 kind of touches on that , for when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law , these , although not having the law , are a law to themselves , who show the work of the law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witness in between themselves and their thoughts , accusing or else excusing
them so profound . You know , and Ray , you constantly bring us back to this fact that God's law is written upon the heart , that it's something that is present within every person , and we know when we do wrong , that we're doing wrong because of our conscience , with knowledge .
Yeah Kong .
There we go . Yeah , it's a career .
It's a fun thing to do , to actually say to an atheist okay , you believe in evolution . Explain to me why evolution gave us a still small voice that we don't want to listen to , that affirms the truth of each of the 10 commandments . You know why ? What did evolution do ? It wasn't just survival of the fittest , because this is an annoying thing .
The conscience , it tells you to do things , not to do things that you want to do . You should not commit adultery and even if you look with lust , you're violating that conscience and it speaks to you . Why would it do that ? I like to see the conscience as an ally that's right in the heart of the enemy .
I just love those old movies where the allies , the British and Americans together , go behind enemy lines . They're in the middle of Nazi Germany and they have to contact some ally and they don't know what he looks like , but they've got a code . And when they say the code , the ally repeats the second half of that code .
So they know they've got the right guy . And so when you bring up the law , the commandments , the conscience echoes what you're saying . The conscience bearing witness the thoughts that might mean one accuser and accuser using one another . So you've made contact with the ally that's going to work with you against the enemy .
Wow , that's so good . John Trapp , not to be confused with John Trapp or Paul Trapp or Paul .
John .
Trapp . He said , conscience is God's spy in man's overseer . God's spy oh that's good .
That's good . I was waiting for you to say Jack Trapp from Threes Company no that's Tripper . Jack Trapper .
Well , he's an argument oh no , it was Trapp , no Trapper . Here we go Back to the 80s . I'm going to coffee in the next ?
Or how about just when conscience is what hurts , when everything else feels good , oh conscience .
That's really good . Oh , that's like after I work out .
I love this by Matthew Henry . He said it is a good thing to have a heart within us smiting us for sins that seem little . It is a sign that conscience is awake and tender and will be the means of preventing greater sins . Ray , the mantra I've heard you echo time and again throughout the years is the importance of keeping a tender conscience .
What does that look like ? How do people do that ? How do we keep our conscience from getting hardened or seared ? So what does it look like ?
It's kind of shaped like an egg after it's been broken . I don't know what it looks like , but yeah , it's so important to realize that conscience is like a smoke detector and it can be annoying . You know this . I don't know if you've ever had it happen .
The smoke detector goes off and your dog decides it hurts his ears and the dog starts howling because the smoke detector is going . The dog's howling because it's hurting his ears . How's that ? Again , I can't do it , I can't justify it , but you tend to want to take the batteries out and just to make everything nice and right .
And that's what conscience is like . You're doing something , you know it's morally wrong and you want to take the batteries out , but that's to your detriment . If you take the batteries out of a smoke detector , you may have peace , but if that house catchers fire during the night , you're not going to be warned , you're not going to be alarmed .
And so that's the point of having a conscience . A seared conscience is really scary , because I remember before I was a Christian , a friend of mine came around home I've mentioned this before and showed me pornography and my conscience screamed . Who showed you it ? Kerry Bennett , my buddy . Oh , your friend . Yeah , this is Wait , a throw him under the bus .
Yeah , what's ?
his address . I don't know if you said a relative or no , no , not a relative .
He actually called me out of my house . I was newly married . He said come to the front gate , I want to show you something , what is this about ? And he showed me his sweetest pornography . And , like I said , I'm my conscience just Before after believer , that's before I was a believer .
Yeah , I made it clear at the beginning to those who listened .
Sorry , but yeah , and it screamed and I know that if you can go back and look at it a second time , that scream won't be as loud . Third time won't be as loud . Fourth time . You're enjoying it without annoying , without annoying . Of conscience .
Yeah , you know . I'm glad you brought that up , ray , and we've talked about this before , but it's always good to revisit this . Well , 1 Timothy 4 , 1-2 .
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times , some will depart from the faith , giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons Speaking lies in hypocrisy , having their own conscience seared with a hot iron and this is speaking of false teachers and stuff like that and those that give in to them .
But that searing of the conscience , especially when it comes to the issue of pornography , which is so prevalent today . In fact , I know some of you listening now and let me just say not just men , but women it has become a massive problem with women . I don't know if you guys realized this , but it's become huge .
It wasn't like this years back , but now , probably because of modern technology and the internet , it's become a big problem for women . So I know some of you right now are thinking , ah , please don't go there again . We must , because this is extremely harmful .
But the more you allow yourself to go down that road , the more your conscience is seared , the more it will become normalized , and it's like that whole analogy that was given about one of the legends .
I don't know if it's true or not , but how they used to capture wolves in Alaska dipping a knife in blood , freezing it , doing it repeatedly until this popsicle barrier of blood forms around the blade , the wolves come . They smell the frozen blood feast of a lifetime . They start licking it .
As their tongue is getting closer and closer to the blade , it's become numbed by the frozen blood that , though it's being shredded and they're still tasting blood they don't know it's their own . They end up bleeding to death . Whoa , and that's what a seared conscience is like you don't feel the damage you're doing
¶ Understanding the Conscience
and you're destroying yourself while you're doing it .
And also it's very important to realize the seared conscience isn't a killed conscience . It's like I was in Hawaii many years ago ministering someone has to do it .
And I saw a chef get a steak and he threw it into a pan and he said I'm searing the steak , and then he just turned over the other side in a matter of 10 seconds and then he got a blade and he cut that steak and the seared dark ounce exterior revealed tender meat on the inside . It wasn't cooked . And that's what happens to the conscience .
And what we can do is take the sharp blade of God's law against someone who says no , I don't know right from wrong , whatever I do , I do , and cut into that conscience and it brings life back to the conscience . So it speaks to the sinner and shows him he's guilty before God and here .
I think it's a good time for us to distinguish the difference between the conscience of a non-believer and the conscience of the believer . As mentioned before , the conscience of the non-believer has sufficient knowledge , yet we also know that the conscience of the non-believer is hostile towards the things of God .
There is conflict between God's moral laws , con was flecked , Flecked television reflect in the forehead . There is a conflict there between the desires of the heart of a non-believer and the will of the Lord .
But then what we learn in Hebrews 10 , which , by the way , is quoting Jeremiah 31 , there's this promise , there's this new thing that happens in the new covenant when you become a new believer , and that is that this is the covenant that I will make with them .
After those days , declares the Lord , I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds . And then he adds I remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more . And so , essentially , what Hebrews and what Jeremiah 31 is teaching is that God gives us , as new believers , a new heart and a new spirit .
That doesn't mean that we automatically know all of God's laws and commands , but what it does mean is that we are no longer hostile or offended by the will of the Lord , but rather we desire it , we submit to it .
And so , as our life propels forward through the sanctification process , god continues to reveal his will for us and we continue a life of perpetual repentance , submitting willfully , joyfully , to the will of the Lord . Amen .
Yeah , man , what a gift the conscience is . And then what a gift the cleansed conscience is Hebrews 10 , 19 to 22, .
Therefore , brethren , having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus , by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh , and having a high priest over the house of God , let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith .
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water . Mark , how beautiful is that A renewed conscience , washed and cleansed because of Christ .
Yeah , I was actually going to read that text after Oscar , where I've won a chord there , right . I mean , this is the beauty of a conscience . It is a gift from God . It is not something evil from God . It is actually one of the most beautiful allies that we can actually have inside of our lives . Otherwise we're left to ourself .
Because you think of how many people are scripture illiterate , who don't read the word and they rely solely upon their conscience ? Do you think of how many cults are birthed from the whimsical ways of man , through their dreams and through some sort of weird experience I've had through drug and everybody's kind of looking at easy , it's the easy start Some dreams .
It's my birthday Be nice to me Just a poll , he said . Happy is that man that can be acquitted by himself in private , by others in public and by God in both . It is hard to escape that conscience when you're by yourself . So what do we do ?
We fill it with short lived pleasures , from movies to video games to phone calls , to things that seem to be okay in and of themselves . But when that silence happens , that is a very difficult thing to escape and it becomes deafening . In fact , paul Washer tells the story .
When he was in second grade , his teacher , ms Carson , had him do an exercise where he had everybody had grabbed a crayon and a piece of paper and the teacher said I want everybody to draw me a sound , a sound . And what he did was , as he thought through it and his crayon laid there inside of his hand , he wasn't writing anything .
He took his crayon , put it on the piece of paper and he did a spike towards the top . And then , as soon as the crayon went to the very top , he spiked it all the way to the ground . And Ms Carson came up and said Paul , what is the sound that you drew ? What is the sound ? Explain to us the sound
¶ The Importance of Silence and Conscience
that you drew . And he said I drew silence , for there's nothing more deafening than silence .
I would imagine that from Paul Washer Was he five years old , Right and that's what we try to escape away from silence .
But silence , once again , is a beautiful thing because we are left to our thoughts and our imaginations and think through and to meditate and have those sale on moments on whatever we're going through . And this is why I think it is so important to just pause .
Pause when you're done going through a scripture , don't be so quick to go to verse three after verse two , just slow down . What are you taking in ?
We know , obviously in eternity that the Lord is gonna remove the ramifications of pain and the reality of pain , but the last thing I would want removed from me was some hyperbole , would be pain in this fallen world , because it's pain that keeps us from further damage and further harm . Can you imagine if the sense of pain was removed from us ?
We'd be hurting ourselves constantly .
That's what makes us that's what you're like to me .
I am a gift to you on my birthday , but it's like why you pull your hand away ? That's why , yes .
Do you realize there are senses , senses of what's on your skin , so that you respond quicker than your mind can think when you burn your fingers ?
Oh yeah , I mean nervous system . What's that ? Yeah , nervous system . Before you know what happened to you , you've already reacted .
It doesn't send a message from up the arm to the brain . Your fingers are burning . You better move your hand back . That would take too long , but it's instantaneous . It's quite amazing .
In fact , I'll let you finish right , but this is exactly what he's talking about here . Who's he ? Who's he that him right there , the guy over there , john McCurthier . He said the conscience is a built in warning system that signals us when something we have done is wrong . The conscience is to our souls what pain sensors are to our bodies .
It inflicts distress in the form of guilt whenever we violate what our hearts tell us is right .
Wow , that's good . Yeah , you know earlier one of you- .
We broke your train of thought . Have you lost it ?
Well , yeah , I think I finished just basically that it's a gift For this right . It's a gift that we have it . Some people may wish I wish I didn't have a conscience , I could do whatever I want I wanna do . Boy , that's , you're asking for destruction .
That reminds me of the story of the drunk and the dog . Remember that one ? No , oh , you should do . A dog was once watching his oh .
I remember . No , no , no , no , no . You remember yeah .
It's watching his master walk along the street . He was drunk again and he waited for him patiently , tail wagging and drunk , opened the door , went inside and collapsed on the floor . The dog snuggled up to him because it's his best friend , and during the night the dog began to bark incessantly and woke the drunk .
The drunk thought this last thing I want I mean , this state is a barking dog and he picked up a wooden chair and threw it at the dog and just collapsed back in his drunk and stupa . In the morning he woke up and saw that thieves had broken into his home and his dog was trying to warn him of the thieves .
And all that was left in the house was an old chair and a dead dog . He'd killed his best friend when he was trying to warn him . And that's what the conscience is like it's trying to warn you , it's barking and you don't throw the chair at the dog . Wow , is that original , ray ? I don't think so .
That's what I thought . That was too good .
It was too good .
That reminds me like a year ago , maybe seven , eight months ago , I don't know . Whatever that last .
You killed a dog .
Yeah , terrible , the last solar system . My son loves his telescope and he was , like you know , all excited that there was a solar , the solar eclipse sorry , the solar eclipse happening . And he was like urging me to make sure that I was gonna be on our deck to watch it with him . And so we're sitting there and he's like dad , what is a solar eclipse ?
And I said no , son .
What is that ? Took me no son , no son .
You're such a doofus .
Yes sir , that works if it's written down . It's not written down anything wood . Oh , it's funny , no son ?
Yeah , but anyway , what do we All that for that ? Yeah , he's gonna give like five minute stories with these kinds of punch lines . Punches the wood . One of you mentioned , or a couple of you may have mentioned , the fact that you know it's rivisted , I know . I did it that the conscience is not infallible . But Kevin DeYoung put it this way .
He said the conscience is not infallible . We can have an evil conscience that doesn't turn away from sin . We can have a seared conscience that no longer feels bad or evil . We can have a weak conscience that feels bad for things that aren't really bad . And we can have a defiled conscience that loses its ability to discern right and wrong .
I love how we broke it down there . That's good . I liked it when I said it earlier today .
Did you call it that he did yeah .
I said it also . Wait , you called me , I'm just kidding . Okay , I'm like I am getting old , it's your birthday .
You're not 47 anymore ,
¶ Understanding and Living With Conscience
but in that good though that just that breakdown of hey , here are the different things you can do to harm your conscience .
The evolution of the conscience .
Yeah , but there is an issue of freedom of conscience and I think it'd be good for us to just kind of touch on that for a brief moment . Scripture talks about that . 1 Corinthians 10 , 27 to 30 says if any of those who do not believe invites you to dinner and you desire to go eat whatever is set before you , asking no questions , for conscience's sake .
But if anyone says to you this was offered to idols , do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience's sake , for the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness . Conscience , I say not your own , but that of the other . For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience ?
But if I partake with thanks , why am I evil-smoking up for the food over which I give thanks ? And so there are matters of conscience , and scripture also speaks to how we need to be careful not to wound a weaker brother , guarding their conscience in essence . But this is in reference to the unbeliever .
Like hey , be sensitive to the fact that others can't handle certain things , and I love how Paul here brings clarification . Like , not your conscience . I mean , what does another person's opinion have to do with your conscience before the Lord ? But you need to be thinking about that other person's conscience in terms of what you do and how you live .
You know it's wonderful how scripture can release us from an accusing conscience or what's called an evil conscience . You can have someone as a new believer that says I'm a Christian , I love the Lord and I can never eat meat . That's my conscience , won't let me , it accuses me . This is wrong . And you show them .
All things are given by God , or every creature is given by God and just being received with thanksgiving , and scripture releases from an accusing conscience .
Yeah , yeah . And I've seen how God has done that with people who are bound up in their conscience , like , oh , I can't . And then you show them scripture like , hey , you have freedom to do that , but on the other hand , there's four fingers .
There are others in the context of the New Testament era , you know there was sacrifices involved and it was associated with something for them that disabled them from being able to do it with a clear conscience .
My conscience wouldn't let me wear Levi jeans .
I was just thinking of that right before he said well , that's for real .
As a new Christian and my whole non-Christian life was tied up in the uniform that surface wore . You wore what's called a penny T-shirt , thongs or leather sandals and Levi jeans from America .
It was kind of a uniform and it was all associated with sin and drugs and that and that , and I could not wear Levi jeans until I was about two years old as a Christian , and I put them on . I don't feel bad anymore . It was just weird . It's like some people they're a gifted musician before they're a Christian . They become a Christian .
They have to put their guitar down until they can handle it .
That's really good . I think it's really valuable for us to be careful not to impose our own conscience against other people . On this podcast , you know we've talked about gambling , drinking Levi jean wearing .
Eating winter schnitzel Eating winter schnitzel that was inspired by Wrangler . Oh , Wrangler , don't even get me going .
We had to wrangle it together Easy . How do you disciple in the midst of that Like ? How do you disciple in the midst of your distinguish , in the midst of your conscious , the way that God has led you , and then discipling others , but not imposing the conscience that the Lord has given you onto them .
Is that something sense ? Yeah , absolutely . I think it comes down to again looking at what God's word forbids us to do explicitly or calls us to do unquestionably , and so I think we need to leave room and focus more on is there bad fruit in this person's life ? Is it leading them away from the Lord ?
Is it taking priority over the things of God in their life ? Are they flaunting it and not caring about the consciousness of others so as to stumble them ? It's so , so key to remember that and to be patient with young believers as well , right .
Easy . You're my counselor . I'm a brand new Christian . I've got a six-inch bull ring through my nose . Would you mention it to me ? That small , or just let it ride , let's go ?
from six inches to five . Five inches , five to four , yeah .
So we do have a counselor tattooed on my chin .
I think there's something beautiful about giving God's spirit time to work on that person . Yeah right , Because I could , and it depends on , I mean , if it's something that's , let's say , they have like a pornographic tattoo in a visible place .
I'm going to speak to that probably pretty quickly , Probably , but I'm just saying I mean , you do some people have very foul kind of things that it's like , hey , you know , I think as a new believer , you should take care of that and cover it up Just change the word yeah , but you know with things that , unlike anything extreme like that , I think , man ,
there's something beautiful about a person coming to that conviction on their own . They'd say oh , my heart was convicted , I just decided to do this versus .
Because what they're going to do is take the bull ring out when you're around and put it in right , exactly . Mark , don't you agree ?
by giving people time and being patient with them .
Yeah , sanctification is a beautiful word and it happens at different intervals and at different times and at different rates for everybody . Not everybody is going to be turning into an apostle Paul overnight . We need to be careful with that .
In Acts 24 , the apostle Paul , he says I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense towards God and men , and that often comes through a sanctification period over several years where you understand the fact that people are people .
Pastor Steve Mays , he once said when he became a Christian he went to light up a joint and there was another guy that was there and he said oh no , no , you're a Christian , we don't do that anymore . And he goes ooh , what do you mean ? We don't smoke weed anymore .
And he gave it up , right , but he said that was really hard for him and that's one of those things where he said well , we can deal with that fairly quickly , we're not talking about medicinal purposes and things of that nature . But John Calvin ? He said the torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul .
You cannot get away from it , and it's good to allow one's conscience to run its course inside of somebody's life who wants to walk with God .
No , that's good , I love this . In 2nd Timothy , corinthians , 1 , 12 , for our boasting , is this the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity , not with fleshly wisdom , but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you . I love how that's connected with the conscience and then the simplicity of it .
I mean he uses the word simplicity in there in the world , in simplicity and in godly sincerity , not with fleshly wisdom . I love how how so uncomplicated living in Christ really is when we apply it in the way that we should . You know , hey , we're just , we're going to walk in simplicity .
And scripture talks about Satan like deceiving us right , drawing us away from the simplicity that is in Christ . And it's Christ Himself that is that simplicity . He is the heart of the gospel , you know . And having sincerity , I love that word sincerity . It carries with it the idea of being sun tested , being without wax .
Right Back then they would sell pottery the shyster dealers at least . Sometimes it was cracked and they would fill it in with this sort of clay inside the cracks and they would glaze it and you couldn't tell . But if you held it up to the sun it would test it and show you , you'd see the dark , the dark fillings .
And so we want to be without fake substance . We want to be real and genuine and not walk according to fleshly wisdom .
So let me ask you this , because we're actually running out of time , right it's if somebody feels like you know our senses that their conscience is seared a bit , that they're not as sensitive as they once were , how do they get out of that ?
Go ahead . I would love . I mean I think I've shared . When I first got saved , it took me about a year to really start plugging myself into a church .
There was a lot of conflict in my first year of being saved in my heart , and ultimately , what God was doing is that he was working on my conscience , and so what I would say is this is that your conscience as a new believer , or as a believer period , is a gift from God , because you are now His workmanship and what he is doing is trying to conform you
into the image of His Son , to be more like Christ , and so my invitation to you is to give yourself over to God's workmanship , like somebody who's shaping clay . You brought this analogy up just a second ago . Sometimes that clay needs to be torn down before it's built back up to game .
Sometimes it really needs to take a lot of force to be shaped , but by the time it's done , it starts by like this rock , this ball of nothingness , and by the time it's done , the potter makes it some beautiful vase or whatever it is that he's trying to create .
That is what God is doing with your life , and what you want to do is hand yourself over to that process and know that he ultimately is making you to be more like His .
Son , and I would say also it's kind of funny to use this dermatological illustration , but when someone has a chronic itch that they continue to scratch , like the one Marcus yeah , marcus , a walking itch the only way to get to a place where that itch will stop is to stop scratching it . It's going to drive you crazy at first .
It's so difficult , so hard Tell my dog that . But it's the flip side , right ? Because we think well , you know , if you're feeling something , you're sensitive to it . But no , in this regard , the less you scratch that itch , the more the urge is going to go away . And I would like in that to retenderizing your conscience . You know to where you know .
Yeah , so all right . And then I love this quote by Oswald Chambers to close us out . He says conscience is that faculty in me which attaches itself to the highest that I know and tells me what the highest I know demands that I do . It is the eye of the soul which looks out either toward God or toward what it regards as the highest authority .
If I am in the habit of steadily facing toward God , my conscience will always introduce God's perfect law and indicate what I should do . The point is , will I obey . I have to make an effort to keep my conscience so sensitive that I walk without offense .
I should be living in such perfect sympathy with God's Son that in every circumstance , the spirit of my mind is renewed . The one thing that keeps a conscience sensitive to him is the habit of being open to God on the inside . When there is any debate , quit . There is no debate possible . When conscience speaks . It's good , it's so good .
Well , friends , there you have it . Pray for my co-hosts who constantly destroy my life , that they'll have a sensitive conscience . And don't forget the Jesus in red devotional , the Living Waters mug and the evidence study Bible , all livingwaterscom . And please continue to give us those ratings , those comments , those ray comforts hitting his microphone with his cup .
Moments I did not , oh yeah .
The fall proof iPad , but somehow , someway , he's going to figure a way out to make it fall . And don't forget , friends , podcast of Living Doctorscom . Podcast of Living Waterscom , with your thoughts , comments and all that other good stuff , keep the ratings going .
We're still , yeah , one of the top podcasts in the world five star rating , thousands of reviews and millions of downloads because of you , our friends . Thank you so much and thank you for joining us . Friends , we'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast , the Ultimate Cure for a Seared Conscience and Insomnia .