https://youtu.be/gNpvRUY8g6Q
In our study of Romans we are between chapters 7 and 8 in a study on the doctrine of the heart of the soul. The heart of the soul contains several compartments for processing information.
Last time we started on the compartment of the conscience. We noted that the conscience is divided into two parts: The place for the norms and standards that are developed from God's Word of Truth and the norms and standards that are developed from the old sin nature under the influence of satan's cosmic system.
The decisions a person makes are generally based on what a person believes to be right in their conscience. This is why different cultures have different standards for accepted behavior.
If your decisions are based on your doctrinal norms and standards, then your decisions are good decisions from a position of strength that is based on the absolute truth of God's Word.
This is why Christianity and western civilization that is derived from Christianity is superior to all other cultures in the devil's world. It is also why woke multiculturalism is demonic evil.
It is also why we are right and they are wrong and that should be the end of the story but it is not because of their satanic arrogance and when you bring there here here becomes like it is there and they have a right to be wrong but not here if we don't want here to be corrupted like it is there.
The conscience extrapolates from doctrine the norms and standards for life. You have to know something to have a conscience. When you know something you develop standards. Whatever you learn in the heart, the right lobe of the soul becomes a part of your norms and standards.
If your decisions are based on norms and standards from the sin nature, then your decisions are going to be bad decisions from a position of weakness.
Rom 2:14-15, This tells us that when a person has norms and standards they orient to that as the basis for determining if what they are doing is right or wrong from that set of standards.
The conscience is the compartment in the heart where your norms and standards and priorities in life are stored, Rom 9:1, 13:5; 1Cor 8:7; 2 Cor 4:2, 5:11; Tit 1:15; Heb 9:14.
All normal people have norms and standards that are located in the right lobe or heart of the mentality of the soul. From these norms and standards a person derives their individual priorities in life. Those priorities establish a scale of values.
False standards in the conscience cause spiritual weaknesses. 1 Cor 8:7, "Not all men have this knowledge (about food offered to idols), but some being accustomed to idol worship until now (when saved) eat the food as if it were sacrificed to idols, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled."
Some of the best food in Corinth had been offered to idols and after that it sold as the choicest meat in the temple market. Food is food and meat is meat. So it was just fine for a believer to eat that food after they had given God thanks for it.
But to those with a legalistic background who had a weak conscience that was programmed by false norms and standards eating food offered to idols was offensive. The one with the weak conscience had legalistic norms and standards in his conscience from his religious culture.
This was the case or the legalistic Jews who did not properly understand God's prohibition against idolatry and the protocols for Church Age believers.
So there is a conflict between those with a strong conscience and those with a weak conscience. A strong conscience has Biblical standards of "epignosis" and "sophia" from accurate understanding of Bible doctrine.
A weak conscience lives by standards acquired from its culture that may or may not be correct, or that may be distorted into a legalistic religious "spirituality." Eating is a physical issue that has nothing to do with the spiritual life.
The person with weak conscience assumes he's strong, because legalism always assumes it is strong even though legalism is really very weak because it tries to impose it's "spirituality" that is a function of overt physical activity onto others.
You must have proper vocabulary and accurate thinking to establish proper norms and standards that are based on God's Word of absolute truth. The conscience is normally built on a vocabulary that begins negatively with the words no, not, or don't.
All consciences are initially built with negative words that forbid doing something overt. So the norms and standards of the conscience of mankind is initially established from negatives but God's Word also has explanations in both positive and negative terms.
Therefore, the conscience becomes the residency of the priorities of the soul from what you believe to be true, Dan 1:8.
This tells us that the conscience is a very sensitive thing. It can be erroneous in its concepts apart from accurate Bible doctrine. If God's Word does not feed the conscience, instinct will and instinct develops legalism because it is based on relative truth with no grace orientation.
The norms and standards located in the conscience are directed toward both God and people, but they are directed primarily toward people until you become aware of the existence of God, what God has done and why He did what He did the way He did it.
Acts 24:16, "In view of this, even I myself keep practicing to maintain even a blameless conscience, both before God and before men." True strength is to develop your standards toward both God and man from the Biblical standards of doctrine.
The believer's conscience is formed from cognition of Bible doctrine. 2 Cor 4:2, "But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame (false doctrine and apostasy), not walking in craftiness, not adulterating the Word of God, but by the unveiling of doctrine (post- salvation renovation of the thinking), commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."
What Paul is saying here is that there is legitimate overt activity that is correlated with the correct function of the spiritual life. You will build up norms and standards that are related to the spiritual life from accurate Bible doctrine, and at the same time set aside false norms and standards that are related to legalism.
The believer's conscience demands that he submit to establishment authority. Rom 13:5, "Therefore, it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath (law enforcement), but also for conscience sake."
In other words, the Christian doesn't refrain from criminal activity only because he's afraid of going to jail, but because, with a strong conscience, his norms and standards refuse to let him even consider being involved with criminal activity.
The conscience in the soul is far stronger than any fear of external punishment from law enforcement.
Conscience as a motivator is mentioned in 2 Tim 1:3, "I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience, the way my ancestors did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers, day and night."
So your conscience has something to do with your effectiveness in prayer. Paul's conscience demanded that he pray for certain people, and he did so. Paul didn't pray for people because he liked them, but for conscience sake and that is one of the strongest motivations possible.
Since the conscience is located in the right lobe of the soul, the norms and standards of the conscience are built on epignosis doctrine, not on gnosis doctrine.
The conscience is related to dealing with unjust and unfair treatment, 1Pet 2:18-19, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle masters, but also to the perverse and unreasonable ones;
v19 for this grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God, anyone endures grief when suffering unjustly."
Though originally addressed to slaves, this verse came to refer to anyone who is under the authority of someone else. Some people in authority are evil, but you are just as responsible to submit to their authority. You serve them so you do your best job as unto the Lord in spite of the grief. Col 3:23;
Such a believer has a strong conscience. The weak believer complains and rejects authority, and as a result becomes a loser because they have rejected God's system of blessing from God.
It is very important to have a conscience based on epignosis doctrine so you can handle unjust treatment in the same way that you handle fair treatment.
Military training often involves unjust and unfair treatment from authority because learning how to submit to unfair authority is a way to prepare to function under the abnormal unfair circumstances of combat.
The conscience is important in suffering for blessing according to 1Pet 3:14-16, "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed (suffering for blessing in three categories). Furthermore, do not fear their intimidation tactics and do not be troubled,
v15 but set apart the Lord Christ in your right lobes, and always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you to give an account for the confidence that is in you with grace orientation and respect (occupation with Christ).
v16 Be having a good of intrinsic value conscience, so that in the things in which you are slandered, those who malign your intrinsic good in Christ may be put to shame."
The three categories of suffering for blessing are providential preventative suffering, momentum testing, and evidence testing. The source of occupation with Christ is epignosis doctrine in the heart of the soul. You handle slander through epignosis in the heart.
If you have a strong conscience, you will leave it in the Lord's hands. Then it will go to the supreme court of heaven where God will judge it. God will put the accusers to shame without you ever trying to defend yourself or respond to them.
Apostasy in believers is related to a conscience that has been destroyed by false teaching. 1Tim 4:1-2, "But the Spirit explicitly states that in latter periods of time (between first and second advents of Jesus Christ), some believers will become apostate from doctrine, paying attention to deceitful spirits and concentrating on doctrines from demons (cosmic involvement)
v2 by means of propaganda from liars (false teachers), seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron."
False teaching sears the conscience like a branding iron sears the flesh so it destroys the conscience. This searing refers to scar tissue of the soul and involvement in satan's cosmic system.
Much of the believer's strength in life comes from having the proper norms and standards in the conscience of the heart so it is important to understand that false doctrine destroys the conscience.
The conscience is purified from dead works through the cleansing it receives from the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross according to Heb 9:14; "How much more will the blood of Christ who, through the eternal Spirit (omnipotence of the Holy Spirit), offered Himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"
There is no work we can perform for salvation; salvation is by grace alone. Therefore, our conscience must be purified from dead works. Dead works are human works, like faith plus anything for salvation. All dead works will be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
In other words, anything that you do whey you are not filled with God the Holy Spirit is dead works because the reason you are doing it is wrong. That means that Christian service that involves dead works is not Christian service at all even though many believers think it is.
God's protocol plan for His great power experiment in the Church Age demands the use of the omnipotence of the God Holy Spirit and God's Word of Truth inside of God's spiritual power system.
God's omnipotence and human power are mutually exclusive so serving God and fulfilling God's plan cannot be accomplished by human power. Human power destroys the conscience and that results in dead works. That means that legalism cannot execute the plan, purpose, or will of God in the Church Age.
Serving God requires the exclusive use of God's power. That means the filling of God the Holy Spirit and the cognition of Bible doctrine that establishes accurate doctrinal norms and standards in the conscience of the believer's heart.