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Can our Conscience be our Guide? No – Sincerity is not infallible – Ex. Paul Acts 23:1; "Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.“ 1 Tim. 1:15 “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.”

Can our Conscience be our Guide? Yes – 1 Tim. 1:5; But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. – 1 Tim. 1:18-19; 18 This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, 19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. – In some senses we must follow our conscience.

Our Conscience as our Guide

An Obligation to Follow our Conscience: 1 Cor 8 A Question about eating things sacrificed to idols. – Meat that had been sacrificed to idols may have been eaten by pagan priests, used in idolatrous festivals, or simply sold in the market place. – We know we can’t participate in idolatry but what about eating meat that had previously been involved in this?

1 Cor. 8 1 Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies. 4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.

1 Cor. 8 7 However not all men have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled. 9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

1 Cor For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. 12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

Rom The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

What is your conscience? An inner voice, that tells me what’s ok and what’s not ok. – Approves or disapproves what I have done. Gen. 3 – Satan: “in the day that you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”(vs. 5) – After sin: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked” (vs. 7)

What is your Conscience? Our moral compass part of being made in the image of God. – Rom. 2:14; 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

If this is true, Why do we need God’s law? Two important limitations 1.Our conscience can be defiled. – With so much sin, there are destructive forces working on the conscience of every person. – We need to make the distinction between a conscience that feels good and works good (Acts 23:1; Paul- felt good but wasn’t working right). – A warning from Titus 1:15 and 1 Tim. 4:2

Titus 1:15 “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”

1 Tim. 4:2 “by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron…”

If this is true, Why do we need God’s law? Two important limitations 2. Our conscience can only tell us what we do that is wrong. – It tells us that we need forgiveness but not how to obtain it. – The point of Rom. 2, we all stand condemned before God – Our conscience can only get us to a point of realizing our need for salvation that Comes through Christ (Heb. 9:11-14).

Heb. 9: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?