Weekly Sermon

The Human Conscience (Part 2)

Your conscience can only be trusted when it is trained and informed by the Word of God—otherwise, even strong convictions can be completely wrong.

Related Scripture

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

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.

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

So we’re talking about human conscience—say human conscience. Do you have a conscience? I hope so.

Now, where is your conscience located? What part of your constitution is it in? You have your body—that’s what connects you to this three-dimensional world through your five senses. You have your soul—that is your thinking, your emotions, and your will. And then you have your spirit—your intuition, your conscience, and your volition.

So the human conscience is part of your spirit.

Now we mentioned before that the conscience can be educated. That is very important. Because you can only trust your convictions if your convictions are taught, informed, and trained by the Word of God. Otherwise, your convictions could be totally wrong.

For example, a person can do something very serious—even something like taking life—and have no problem in their conscience. Why? Because that conscience has been trained that way. That is how powerful this is.

Even in churches today, some things that Scripture clearly calls sin are no longer called sin—they are called mistakes or errors. Why? Because people do not want to offend. And so the conscience is taught differently, and convictions become different.

That is why it is very important that we renew our minds by the Word of God.

Now let’s establish this further, because there are problems of conscience. As an individual, you can have multiple convictions at the same time. That is why sometimes there is a war inside you.

You ask: “Is this right or wrong? Should I do this or not?” That conflict inside—that is real. There is a war raging within.

And what do you do? You ask other people. But often their answers are not sufficient. So you go back inside—you begin to search within, looking for internal conviction.

But many times, people will just return the question to you: “What do you think?” And you wonder—why did I even ask?

The reality is, they themselves are also dealing with the same conflict.

Some people explain this as having two selves, but in truth, it is your soul and your spirit interacting. Your soul has emotions; your spirit has conscience. And both can have expressions of will.

That is why even in Scripture you see that tension—“not my will, but Yours be done.”

So there is this internal conflict. Paul speaks about this in Romans chapter 7—that every individual experiences this inner struggle.

And sometimes we say, “It’s just opinion.” No—it is not just opinion. It is often because we are not well-informed.

As long as you do not renew your mind properly, you will remain conflicted. But there should come a point in your life where your convictions become deep, stable, and rooted.

Now another issue is this: there is an order within us. There are virtues—goodness, truth, beauty—that we naturally affirm.

For example, you give something to someone in need. But then someone else questions you—“Why did you give that?” And suddenly, your internal peace is disturbed.

So now there is not only an internal voice—there are also external voices influencing your conscience.

And this is where the problem becomes even more complex.