As a True Convert for Christ I have seen in my personal experience how the Law can awaken a persons conscience even when it has been dead for many years due to sinful living. The Law is like a jolt of electricity powered by the Holy Spirit that shocks the conscience back into life, causing it to shine its light upon the sinners heart. As Oswald Chambers once said: “Conscience is the internal perception of God’s Moral Law.”
Ask somebody which one of the Ten Commandments that makes him feel guilty. Simply state, The Bible says, ‘You shall not steal.’ If you feel guilty when you hear that, why do you think that is? Could it be because you are guilty? God gave us our conscience so we would know when we break His Law; the guilt we feel when we do something wrong tells us that we need to repent.
We live in a hostile world that is at war with God and with those who represent Him. It is therefore a great consolation to the true convert of Christ to know that he has a faithful ally right in the heart of the enemy. That ally is the sinner’s conscience. The dictionary defines the conscience as the human faculty that enables one to decide between right and wrong acts or behavior, especially in regard to ones own conduct. This is what the Bible is speaking of when it says that God has given “light” to every man. The word conscience (con + science) means “with knowledge” Whenever we sin, we do so with knowledge that what were doing is wrong.
The problem is that sin is so enticing to the lost that they prefer to live in darkness rather than remain in the light of the conscience. To the lost, the conscience is a party pooper. it is so much more fun to live in sin and create a God in our mind that is alright with my sinful lifestyle. Many people snuff out the light and abandon themselves to the dark world of sin, not realizing the terrible consequences of their actions. As A. W. Tozer wrote, idolatry (making a god to suit ourselves) leads to a dulled conscience.
God’s justice stands forever against the sinner in utter severity. The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded. As responsible moral beings, we dare not so trifle with our eternal future. (The Knowledge of the Holy)
How true are his words. As long as the voice of the sinner’s conscience is silenced, he will readily embrace iniquity and will not flee from the wrath to come. We must therefore do all we can to awaken this ally so that it can do its intended work. Thank God that He has given us something to do the job it is the rousing sound of the ten cannons of His Law that stirs the sleeping conscience. Charles Spurgeon said, “The conscience of a man, when he is really quickened and awakened by the Holy Spirit, speaks the truth. It rings the great alarm bell. And if he turns over in his bed, that great alarm bell rings out again and again, The wrath to come! The wrath to come! The Wrath to come.”
Walter Chantry wrote, The absence of God’s holy Law from modern preaching is perhaps as responsible as any other factor for the evangelistic impotence of our churches and missions. Only by the light of the Law can the vermin of sin in the heart be exposed. Satan has effectively used a very clever device to silence the Law, which is needed as an instrument to bring perishing men to Christ. It is imperative that preachers of today learn how to declare the spiritual Law of God; for, until we learn how to wound consciences, we shall have no wounds to bind with gospel bandages (Today’s Modern Gospel: (Authentic or Synthetic?).
It’s been said that the conscience is the headline warning of sin, while the Law is the fine print. The spiritual nature of the Law gives the details to what the conscience already knows. When the Law is preached, the conscience affirms its truth. You can see this verified when using the Law, as the sinner’s head nods in affirmation of each Commandment.
Unfortunately, in modern evangelism, few believers address the sinner’s conscience as we should. Spurgeon said, “In many ministries, there is not enough of probing the heart and arousing the conscience by the revelation of man’s alienation from God, and by the declaration of the selfishness and the wickedness of such a state.
It was the use of God’s Law, when applied to the conscience, that was the key to great revivals of the past. Martyn Lloyd-Jones noted this fact:
The trouble with people who are not seeking for a Savior, and for salvation, is that they do not understand the nature of sin. It is the peculiar function of the Law to bring such an understanding to a man’s mind and conscience. That is why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago in the time of the Puritans, and 200 years ago in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary “Law work.”
The preaching of the Law was also the great key used by John Wesley to open the hearts of men and women to the gospel. He said,
It is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the Law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience, generally breaks the rocks in pieces. It is more especially this part of the Word of God which is quick and powerful, full of life and energy and sharper than any two-edged sword.
Consider these wise words from Charles Spurgeon:
When once God the Holy Spirit applies the Law to the conscience, secret sins are dragged to light, little sins are magnified to their true size, and things apparently harmless become exceedingly sinful. Before that dread searcher of the hearts and trier of the reins makes His entrance into the soul, it appears righteous, just, lovely, and holy; but when He reveals the hidden evils, the scene is changed. Offenses which were once styled peccadilloes, trifles, freaks of youth, follies, indulgences, little slips, etc., then appear in their true color, as breaches of the Law of God, deserving condign punishment.
Never forget that the sinner’s conscience is your ally. Rather than fight against you, it will work with you. It is independent of his sin-loving will. Sin, however, has the conscience tied hand and foot and its voice gagged. You must cut the ropes with the sharp edge of the sword of God’s Law and untie the gag. Don’t be afraid to appeal directly to the sinner’s conscience: “God gave you a conscience; you know right from wrong. Listen to the voice of your conscience. It will remind you of sins that you have committed. You will be encouraged in battle when you hear the voice of conscience coming through. It is the work of the Law written on the sinner’s heart, and it will bear witness with the Law of God (Romans 2:15).
Brother Paul
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