1. The Paradox of the Unreliable Conscience 9/28/14

2. Spiritual Truths: The Conscience & The Holy Spirit 1)The conscience and the Holy Spirit are not the same. 2)The conscience is not the voice of the Spirit – but it can and does sometimes agree with the voice of the Spirit of God. 3)The conscience of a true believer is flawed and unreliable and can itself become an instrument of evil; the Holy Spirit is God and is sinless and holy.

3. Spiritual Truths: The Conscience & The Holy Spirit 4) The main function of the conscience is to tell us right from wrong and to influence us towards what we believe to be right. 5) The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Christ and to bring glory to his name

4. Two Biblically Based Facts about the Conscience 1)The conscience is an unreliable guide. 2)Although the conscience judges our behavior it is not the ultimate righteous judge, the Lord Jesus is the ultimate righteous judge.

5. Two Errors that Result From the Unreliable Conscience 1)The conscience may conclude that you are wrong when you are in fact right. (Accusing) 2)The conscience may conclude that you are right when you are in fact wrong. (Excusing)

6. Beware of The Lie: There is no such thing as absolute truth.

7. Paradoxical Points of an Unreliable Conscience 1)Although the conscience is unreliable you must still pay careful attention to it and you must listen to its guidance. 2)Although the conscience is unreliable, you must realize that to violate your conscience is always a sin – even when the conscience is misinformed.

8. Two Truths to Inform Your Conscience 1)Since the conscience is unreliable we must diligently seek to fill our minds with the truth of God’s Word. 2)Since the conscience is so easily influenced by the information it receives we must be diligent to resist all evil and worldly influences from our mind - as well as the lies they create.