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Guilt, the Unwanted Pollutant By Jay Wegter The spiritual truths
of God’s holy Word are often paradoxical to our natural reasoning. For example, Jesus declared that it is only
the man who is willing to lose his life for Christ’s sake who
will save it. The subject of the
human conscience is also contains a truth that is a paradox. In eternity, every person’s conscience will
either be a source of everlasting bliss or a place of unending
agony. That indeed is the irony, that
the same God-given faculty should produce such contrasting states of
existence. Depending upon one’s eternal
destiny, one’s conscience will be either the source of his joy or misery. This author recently
read a bumper sticker that said, “Blast guilt!” In actuality, the epithet lodged against guilt was an
unrepeatable vulgarity. I wondered
aloud, “What sort of grudge did this motorist bear against his own guilt?” Few
would contest the fact that a guilty conscience can ruin an otherwise pleasant
experience. Apparently the motorist
viewed guilt as an irritant that interfered with his happiness. Perhaps he viewed guilt as a cultural
vestige left over from the Victorian era or maybe an unfortunate remnant of
childhood training. At any rate, his
message was clear, if he could eradicate all the guilt in his life, his freedom
would soar to new heights. Like
most moderns, the motorist chose not to define himself by God’s revelation in
the Holy Scriptures. Instead, he
fancied a form of liberty that issued from self-determination. For him, cutting the moorings of divine law
would set free the vessel of self. According to Romans 1,
what the motorist chose to suppress was the knowledge of God as his Creator. God as the fashioner of man, planted within
him a region of moral sensibility, the conscience -- a thriving testament to
God’s moral government. The desire to
eradicate the conscience is a tacit wish to escape God’s jurisdiction. Conscience is a divinely created restraint
upon evil. Those who kick at the
restraint demonstrate a spirit of moral anarchy. When
the promptings of conscience are viewed merely as an annoyance, efforts will be
made to silence them entirely. The
motorist failed to consider the origin of his soul’s constitution. Every blow struck at his conscience is a hammer
blow against his true identity. Efforts
to muffle the conscience are destructive because they reveal a desire to tear
ourselves loose from God. Only our omniscient Creator knows how far we
have fallen from the original perfect image of God. The human conscience is a ubiquitous manifestation of God’s image
stamped upon man. God’s moral mark
rests upon Adam’s race. Humans cannot
sin away that mark. They cannot by
rebellion tear free from it nor alter their created purpose. The
conscience, though muffled by moral rebellion is an abiding internal witness to
the righteousness of the Creator. It
also bears witness to man’s responsibility to reflect his Creator’s
righteousness. The God of the universe
who created the conscience is Lawgiver, Judge and Redeemer. All creation is under His jurisdiction. This is His universe. His laws are not arbitrary mores, but
precise safeguards of love to God and neighbor. God rules the universe, thus it is a moral universe. Moral laws of cause and effect, sowing and
reaping, reflect His moral government.
Humans are moral agents accountable to God. Conscience
therefore, is a most precious gift.
When it is issuing warnings or is troubled, its speaking is of utmost
significance. It is a daily reminder
that God is moral governor over His creatures.
Every time the conscience holds court, it is a tiny harbinger of the
ultimate court appearance yet to come. Conscience
is a blessed reminder of unseen moral realities that are prosecuted by the Holy
One. Conscience attests to the fixity
of God’s laws. God’s commands shall
last as long as He does. His laws are forever settled in heaven. They are inexorable. They abide forever, enforced by Him who is
omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. No
greater self-deception exists than to imagine that the requirements of God’s
laws can be reduced, removed or unrequited.
Sinners
may dream of a land where the Ten Commandments are not enforced, but no such
territory exists. God’s holy character
is immutable. There does not exist now,
nor shall there ever exist a corner of the universe where God’s laws have been
“dumbed-down” for impenitent sinners.
Conscience tells men that this is so.
Conscience reminds men
how unlike God they are. It ought to
drive men to cry for mercy as they consider how impossible it will be for them
to dwell in the presence God’s burning purity.
Conscience
should move men to esteem divine forgiveness as the greatest of all
blessings. For God to bring about a
change in a man so that he becomes a partaker of divine holiness is a gift of
infinite value. To be made like God
morally is the joy of heaven. To
realize the restored image of God so as to live out one’s created purpose is
unfathomable wealth. All of these
measureless blessings pertain to the conscience. The
motorist regarded the motions of his conscience to be intrusions that spoiled
his favorite pastimes. But the
Scriptures set forth the conscience as a most necessary barometer of one’s
relationship to God’s moral rule. Scripture
not only educates and sensitizes the conscience, it also reveals how a man
treats his conscience. Does the man
listen to it, respect it, heed it? Or,
does he sin against it, bribe it, defile it, and sear it? An
unfeeling, cauterized conscience that has been lied to and silenced shall one
day begin an unending declamation.
Jesus warned that a day is coming when the secrets of the heart will be
revealed. On that day, the courtroom of
conscience will admit no dishonest judges or jurors. Every false witness and corrupt counselor shall be ejected. On that day, the courtroom of conscience and
the courtroom of God shall be in full agreement. For the eternally
condemned, God’s law, justice and sentence will be met with silence and an
internal confirmation that justice must be done. When God’s sentence is pronounced, no person will attempt to
utter an alibi. Every mouth will be
closed in dumbfounded silence as God unfolds His justice in each case (Rom.
3:19). Apart from the study
of God’s Word, sinful human nature tends to settle into a state of spiritual
complacency. Scripture drives home the
gravity of the situation; calling upon men to awaken from their spiritual
slumber before it is too late. There is
a dire necessity that men recognize that the spurning of conscience is
spiritual suicide. Under
the dispensation of Mosaic Law, the greatest imaginable terror was
excommunication from the covenant people of God. In the present New Covenant era, there is a greater potential
terror. Scripture refers to this dread
condition as being given over to a depraved mind (Romans 1:28). Under this judgment, the restraints of God’s
common grace are removed. The
individual who consistently abused his conscience will be permitted to follow
his sinful course with complete abandon.
Upon entering this
state, the conscience becomes so benumbed as to be nearly useless. Those who did not see fit to acknowledge God
in their thoughts will be given their wish.
But they shall lose their moral mind in the process and enter an
irrecoverable state. When the gift of
reason and intellect are joined to a seared conscience, the mind becomes so
radically altered that it becomes depraved, or “spiritually insane.” That is, it is only able to will its own
rapid destruction. It has moved beyond
the horizon of rational moral thought. In summary, the worst
thing that can happen to you is the withdrawal of God’s restraining
Spirit. When God gives a man over to a
depraved mind, He leaves the man alone, allowing him to pursue his immoral
pleasures and thoughts with abandon. The conscience that
once guarded the mind from moral fallacies is no longer able to warn or
restrain. The depraved mind has forever
lost the ability to think with any rationality about God, righteousness and
moral laws. To be given over by God to
this condition is to reside at the mouth of hell. It is a state infinitely more catastrophic than any mortal can
imagine. On
the last day, men shall discover to their horror, that the faculty silenced for
the sake of sinful expression shall rise up to its full stature and begin to
take eternal revenge against its ungrateful owner. The conscience beating one to bits in the name of God is hell
indeed. A number of the Scriptural word
pictures used to describe the agonies of hell include the torment generated by
the conscience (see Mark 9:48). When
moderns depict the God of fundamentalist Christianity as petulant, vindictive,
and retaliatory, they fail to understand just how much misery is already latent
within sin. God does not have to think
up judgments for sin. Transgression has
built into it unending pain and misery.
For sin contains in large measure its own judicial punishment. Can
men deny their created purpose and violate their consciences without expecting eternal consequences? It is an incalculable tragedy when men live
as if they possess an unconquerable soul. (Natural men express this presumption
concerning their souls by internally saying, “Thou wilt not require it,” – Ps.
10:11-13). Man was created in the image of God
and he was created for God. The
fact that man has sold out to iniquity is what makes the agonies of perdition
what they are. Every soul that has
ever existed shall forever experience God’s settled disposition towards them
(grace toward the believer and wrath toward the unbeliever). The wicked will be sent out of God’s
glorious presence, but shall be endlessly under His wrath and justice. These divine expressions of fury and
vengeance shall terminate upon the conscience.
Thus, an examination of the conscience provides a window through which
to view the crushing suffering reserved for the ungodly. By contrast, the
righteous will eternally enjoy a conscience cleansed and sanctified and rightly
adjusted to God. For them, the
conscience will resonate with joy and bliss at the sight of God’s
holiness. Men grossly
underestimate the potential the conscience possesses for lasting joy or
pain. The great irony is this, that the
conscience shall be the chief place of eternal bliss or eternal agony. An appeal to God for a
clean conscience through Jesus Christ is man’s only hope of right standing
before Him (Acts 23:1; 24:16; Heb. 9:14; 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:21). Bibliography Boston,
Thomas. Human Nature in its Fourfold State. Carlisle: The Banner
of Truth Trust, 1964. Hoekema, Anthony
A. Created
in God’s Image. Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986. Packer, J. I. I Want to be a Christian. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers,
1977. Ryle, J. C. Holiness. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979. Watson,
Thomas. A Body of Divinity.
Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust,
1980. |
