“Understanding the Holy Spirit part 4”

(How to hear from the Holy Spirit part 2)

July 17, 2005.  Pastor Matt

Sometimes the Holy Spirit talks directly to us but most of the time he is more like a curb, or a bumper bar at the dodge carts. 

God gives the Christian freedom to live within His boundaries, it is a safe yard to play in, but sometimes we choose to live outside of that safe place God has for us. 

Those boundaries are the Holy Spirit.  If you ignore the Holy Spirit (ignore the fruit, your conscience, what the Word of God has to say) you have stepped outside of God’s place of protection and into a world where sin destroys lives.

This week we will see how the Holy Spirit uses our conscience to get His point across. 

We will see how He uses our conscience like a curb to guide us and protect us.

Today we are going to talk about the 3^rd way in which the Holy Spirit communicates to us…………through our conscience.

Funny definition of conscience:  Something that makes you tell your mother before your sister does. —A little boy’s definition of a conscience.^[1]    

John 16:7-8.  But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:

(KJV) …he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,

Definition:  rebuke, convince, tell (one’s) fault. ^[2]

In other words: To inform someone that something is wrong, to correct, to set straight

Romans 3:23.  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (KJV)

Definition of sin: to miss the mark. to be in error, to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, ^[3]

The Christian life (simply put) is us staying away from sin and moving towards righteousness. 

For those of you who do not believe me…

We know that…

Romans 3:10.  As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one;

To be righteous is to be upright, virtuous, able to keep the commands of God, innocent, faultless, and guiltless.

-          none of us are that

-          that is why Jesus died for us

However, When we say you can be righteous, we are talking about being a person who follows the will of God and is in a right standing with Him^[4]

-          we are talking about belief in Jesus and following His ways

-          you can be righteous in that sense

1 Peter 3:12.  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Righteous: good, doing evil: bad

1 John 3:7.  Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Doing what is right has something to do with righteousness

James 4:17.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

-          The Holy Spirit wants to direct us towards doing what is right as much as He does towards what is good

Romans 2:5.  But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Doing what is wrong has everything to do with judgment, the opposite of righteousness.  Righteousness and sin do not mix

Romans 2:13. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Obeying the Law (the Scriptures, the Law that is written on our hearts) has something to do with righteousness

To sum it up…..

Romans 8:4.  in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit communicates with us by using our conscience to keep us away from sin and push us towards righteousness. 

If we know what is wrong, we can stay away from it.  If we know what is right, we can move toward it. 

How does He do this?

We are born with a conscience

Hebrews 8:7-12.  For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

That new covenant is now.  Before, you had to be aware of the OT Laws to know the difference between right and wrong, to know the kind of Life God wanted you to live.

Romans 2:14-15.  Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

Every man is born within them the knowledge that there is a God and there is a difference between right and wrong. 

That knowledge is the conscience.  It tells you that that you should not do some things (sin) and you should do others (righteousness) even if you don’t understand it.

Parents need to teach kids to have a conscience.  Teaching children the difference between right and wrong sets them up for the realization that they need a Savior.

A kid who is never taught right from wrong is a kid who does not know right from wrong and is a kid who starts out this world at a disadvantage, with a seared conscience.  You cant blame a kid if they don’t know better.  You cant just house a kid.  You must let them “experience the world” and use it as an opportunity to teach them,  don’t let them experience the world, but as the world happens around them, use it as a teaching tool.  We can teach our kids morality, right from wrong by teaching them the truth.  When kids know the truth, they will know what is wrong with the world, if they ever come up against it but if you do not teach them anything, you are letting the world around you develop their conscience.  Think of how Bill Clinton has altered America’s view on sexual relations and inhaling marijuana.  

When we teach kids the morality of the bible, we are planting within them a desire to seek a savior.

The Holy Spirit uses our conscience (we already know what it is like)

Once we become a Christian/ have the Holy Spirit within us, His job is to

-          enhance our conscience

-          teach us how to respond to our conscience

-          give us the power to overcome those things that our conscience shows us.

What does this mean?

-          things that never used to bug you, will now be an issue in your life

Romans 12:1-2.  Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The pattern of this world= sin

(you cannot be friends with the world and God at the same time)

Renewing your mind includes the conscience

Following a renewed conscience helps us determine God’s will

The more we walk with the Lord, the more the Holy Spirit transforms our conscience in line with God’s will.

-          some of us are still pretty confused as Christians because we are still trying to cram the old garbage in with the new Truth

When you became a Christian, you had a conscience, but at the moment of your conversion, it began to change.

Think about it…

-          just because you have always believed something to be right does not make it right

Let’s look at someone who refused to be guided by the Holy Spirit and learn from his mistakes:

1 Samuel 24.  (cutting Saul’s robe) David realized what he did was wrong, and He went to make things right.

-          not that what He did was a “sin” but it was in disobedience to God’s will

-          when we step out of God’s will, the Holy Spirit is there to direct us back

2 samuel 24:10.  (counting his soldiers) Once again David disobeyed God and His conscience let him know

Psalm 106:32-43.  (God’s people rebelled and had consequences) when we rebel against the Spirit it leads us down paths that are not pleasant…to say the least

If you have disobeyed the Spirit, what do you need to do? 

Psalm 51:  repent, ask to be cleansed, have a broken heart, so his Spirit can return to you

Closing

When we ignore the conscience we are ignoring one way the Holy Spirit is trying to direct our lives. 

When we ignore our conscience, we are ignoring the whole reason why we need Jesus (because we have sin)

If you have been ignoring something God has been using your conscience to deal with, there is no way you are walking with the Spirit and being effective for the Lord.

For further reading:  1 Corinthians 8, 10.  Romans 14

*Please note that the general direction of this sermon was taken from a book titled The Wonderful Spirit Filled Life by Charles Stanley.