Spiritual Warfare – Don't Fall into the Conscience Trap (2)
Pastor Tan Thai · May 1, 2024
The sermon explores the role and limitations of conscience in a believer's spiritual life. The pastor clarifies that conscience is not an absolute standard of morality because it can be altered, dulled, and even completely silenced. Instead, believers must rely on Scripture and the Holy Spirit's teaching to guide their lives.
The opening section presents the thesis that spiritual warfare is an invisible yet very real conflict within a believer's life against three main enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The pastor emphasizes that the devil's strategy is to encourage believers to live according to the conscience of the old self rather than according to Scripture and the Holy Spirit's teaching. Many believers maintain external religious practices such as church attendance, giving, and worship while remaining spiritually unchanged inside.
The second section develops the argument about how conscience differs from person to person and how it changes over time through specific biblical and historical examples. The pastor contrasts the story of King Saul and David to illustrate how radically conscience can transform. Initially, Saul was gentle, humble, and forgiving, but later became cruel and killed priests out of jealousy toward David. In contrast, David's conscience remained sensitive to wrongdoing; he felt guilty even for cutting a piece of Saul's robe. This fundamental difference stems from what each person treasured most in life.
The third section analyzes two primary causes of conscience deterioration. First, when people continuously refuse to listen to their conscience and seal off the window of conscience so that Scripture's light cannot illumine their spiritual life, the conscience gradually becomes dark, callous, and eventually completely silent. The pastor illustrates this with the 1984 Avianca airline disaster when the captain disabled the warning system, leading to catastrophe. Second, when people not only ignore conscience but replace God's law with human-made laws, conscience becomes poisoned and confused between sin and morality.
The fourth section presents the solution to conscience corruption. The pastor stresses that a believer's moral standard is not conscience but Scripture and the Holy Spirit's teaching. The believer's conscience must be governed by God's Word rather than by the old self. Martin Luther stated that his conscience was captive to God's Word, meaning his conscience was completely transformed by Scripture. Moreover, Scripture promises that those who receive Jesus Christ will have their consciences cleansed by His blood.
The final section concludes that the silence or praise of conscience is not evidence of a righteous life. Only God is the Judge of all according to His standard. Believers must approach God sincerely to obtain a heart cleansed from a guilty conscience. Ultimately, because Jesus Christ died for sinners, those who believe and receive Him will no longer face condemnation.