Don't forget the "once saved" part...

A person who is a believer, with God’s Holy Spirit living within them, cannot continually and unrepentantly reject God’s Holiness within them without burning their conscience and departing from the truth.

But what if our desires constantly and consistently deviate from God’s clear and explicit commandments? The Bible and especially Jesus is clear: We must die to those desires. Jesus Himself gave us this example.

“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done,” He prayed.

After all, is not the symbol of our faith a cross? A cross at that time stood for death, excruciating death, from which we get the very word “ex-cruc-iating” (“cruc” means “cross”).

What does the cross stand for? Merely that Christ died and we do not have to? No, for if that were the case, why would Jesus explicitly teach otherwise?

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matt. 10:38.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matt. 16:34.

Shall I go on? I could you know…

If a person claims to be a Christian and utterly refuses to follow His clear commands (see Matt. 7:21-23 below), that person should seriously question his or her faith.

“How dare you say that? Who are you to judge?”

I did not say it. The Bible did in 2 Cor. 13:5. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

“Oh I am not disqualified! I prayed a prayer when I was a kid! I am saved by grace and faith, not by works!”

Where did we first learn about salvation and grace and faith? THE BIBLE. So, can we claim some parts of the Bible as true and other parts false? How is that consistent?

Let’s look how Paul (who wrote the most about salvation through faith and grace) how he tells us to examine and test ourselves. Did he really teach that we can pray a prayer as a kid and then live according to our desires and never feel a twinge of guilt? Never repent? (Jesus’ first sermon was, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”)

Here is the entire 2 Cor. 13 passage in the New Living Translation. Does this sound like you or I can pray a prayer and then live a life of rebellion or compromise or disobedience and still “pass the test” of true salvation?

5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you (literally “in” you); if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 6 As you test yourselves, I hope you will recognize that we have not failed the test of apostolic authority.

7 We pray to God that you will not do what is wrong by refusing our correction. I hope we won’t need to demonstrate our authority when we arrive. Do the right thing before we come—even if that makes it look like we have failed to demonstrate our authority. 8 For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. 9 We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature.

10 I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down.

Paul is saying, “Don’t make me pull over the car! Don’t make me come down there and correct you! I would rather appear weak and not have to correct you rather than be the tough guy and demonstrate that your bad behavior will force us to exercise authority. Show that you are in the faith by living to the commands of Christ. If you oppose the truth, the truth won’t conform to you (sorry Os Guinness), you will fail and show yourself as disqualified from the faith!”

We are saved by faith and kept saved by faith and grace, but we prove the validity of our faith by our works, for which God saved us. If we show otherwise, we prove our faith is false. This is not sinless perfection. This is “saved to serve, not saved by serving” theology.

“Once saved always saved” hinges on one very important truth: ONCE SAVED.

If we fail the test of examination here and now or fail to examine ourselves and change, there will be a final test, and it is pass or fail. Jesus will be the examiner. Jesus said to those who practice lawlessness but still called Jesus “Lord, Lord” in Matthew 7:21-23—“I NEVER KNEW YOU.”

The cross of Christianity is not a shiny gold medallion to wear. It is a rough, splintery life to bear.

This is so hard to write because I am writing to a particular loved one whom I greatly love. I see why Paul said, “I would rather be weak than strong, but if you force me I will say some strong things.” And He had apostolic authority. He had the truth. He wrote the majority of the New Testament. 

If you reject what Paul said, you reject the Bible. Without the Bible, how can you pick and choose what is right and what is wrong? You reject the martyred lives who laid their lives down in response to the cross, without which we would not have the Bible at all. You make God in your own sinful image, no longer a Father who loves through disciplining us for our own good and His own glory. 

We submit to Christ, not only for a FREE SALVATION but also for CRUCIFIED LIVING. We follow a crucified Christ, who carried the cross and calls us to go and do likewise.

Warning to a compromised conscience

     How do we go from a compromised, weak conscience to a defiled, contaminated conscience?

     The Bible segues from 1 Corinthians 8:7 to the next digression of the conscience in Titus 1:15. Separated by at nearly decade in authorship, Paul writes these two sentences: “However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled,” and “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” 

     Even though he is writing from a different location to a different audience and in a different time, Paul is carrying forward the same thought: when people stray from what they know is right and wrong and willingly embrace wrong, they can “trick” their conscience. It no longer is just weak and vulnerable, like a computer with no virus protector or a person without a flu shot. Their conscience is open to attack.

     A mind closed asks questions but only to win arguments and satisfy himself. An open mind ask questions listens to the wisdom of the world. But an open mind without being firmly grounded in the faith in God and a firm grasp of morality can be easily swayed from the truth. British author Sir Terry Pratchett said, “The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

     A closed mind which is right is better than an open mind which is open to being contaminated with error.

     Paul goes on to say that those with a defiled, contaminated conscience professes to know God with their lips but deny God in their actions and works. He uses a different word than he did to the Corinthians when he was referring to merely the ethics of a struggling conscience being defiled. In Titus, he uses a word which speaks more to the spiritual foundation, a deeper sense of defilement to the core.

     A conscience which is defiled at the roots can do no other than have defiled actions. It shuns and refuses sound doctrine (the next verse in the following chapter, Titus 2:1). With a deeper departure in the conscience needs a stronger response to turn from such defilement. A sensitive conscience responds to the word of the Lord; a struggling conscience responds to works and examples of others who are stronger in the faith; but a soiled, contaminated conscience needs a warning, a “rebuke” (Titus 1:13).

     The other day a potential school shooting was foiled when someone who heard something, said something to authorities. There comes a point when an intervention needs to occur.

      Jesus used this progression of first go privately, then with one or two witnesses. A defiled conscience needs an intervention. Matthew 18:16-18 says tell it to the entire church for a warning.

Consider this prayer from Psalm 141:15 (NIV)

Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.

Sin Loves A Party

   How does our conscience go from being sensitive and doing what is right to being totally seared, as seen in 1 Tim. 4:2 “In the last days, some will depart from the faith, having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”?

   How do people do things that are unconscionable? Obviously, there are mental issues, but there are also spiritual issues that should not be ignored. There is a spiritual force of evil that the Bible teaches. From Genesis to Revelation, that evil is even personified as more than a force, but conscious, thinking entities of demons and above them all, the devil.

   But let’s not give the mental or spiritual all the blame. Some of the evil that occurs happens from another source: us! We are the source of weakening and compromising our own conscience and also the consciences of others.

   The second passage that speaks of the digression of a sensitive, convicted conscience is found in 1 Cor. 8:7-13 which speaks of a struggling, compromised conscience. “9 But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? 11 And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 12 But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

   If misery loves company, sin loves a party. There is something that can lead to calling “evil” good and calling “good” evil and that is seeing it witnessed in others. The old adage of “Bad company corrupts good morals” comes straight from the Bible in 1 Cor. 15:33, translated in the ESV as “Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

   That is one of the dangers of allowing the filth that comes in over the television or video games to compromise the clear teachings of the Bible. No, it doesn’t corrupt everyone, but the weak and already compromised conscience that already struggles will see others and join in the crowd. And for some, that first sin is the day they become hooked. Proverbs 22:25 calls it a snare or a trap. See also 2 Peter 2:18-20.

   Not only can evil lead others to stumble, we who are strong believers need to be careful on what we do in front of others that could lead them to stumble. We are free to do some things but if our freedom leads others to sin, we should not participate in those things.

Today’s prayer comes from Hebrews 12:15:

Lord, help me not to fall short of Your grace.
Keep any “root of bitterness” from springing up in me
and cause trouble by my witness to others.

What leads to a convicted conscience?

 

   To have a sensitive, convicted conscience, we must listen to the Word of God.

   I can’t imagine a living in a culture that would stone someone for any crime. And yet such cultures exist today. And they existed in the Bible days. And let’s face it, it was commanded in the Old Testament. The Bible taught judgment for sin to teach the seriousness of sin.

   This story found in John 8:1-11 is not so much about a woman, but about the conviction of sin. This passage does not teach that it is sin to call sin a “sin”. We must know what defines sin for our consciences to be convicted. We also must know about mercy to drop our stones.

   The worst thing the Bible could do is to never point out sin, or else we would feel the right to stone others because we would consider ourselves sinless.

   The worst thing the Church could do is to NEVER point out sin, or else no one would feel the need to surrender to salvation.

   And the worst thing we as humans could do is to never allow God to examine us to “see if there is any wicked way in us” (Ps. 139:24). 

   Those grandstanding with support in the “Me Too” movement today should have been a little less judgmental and more “tolerant”.

   C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man states there must be a standard of right and wrong; otherwise, we will let our abased Nature or “what feels right” to be our guide. Or worse, let someone else’s abased Nature be our guide. If we let Nature or Others or Ourselves be our guide, the result will be “the abolition of humanity”.

   A sensitive, convicted conscience follows the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. A society that follows its heart as its conscience (or follows money / fame / socially acceptable standards / politically correct standards) will allow sin to go on unabated and without judgment. Until the winds change.

   The Word of God, fortunately, does not change. A sensitive, convicted conscience will also seek mercy for our own sins. And once forgiven, it is much easier to forgive others.

Our Prayer for today comes from Psalm 139:23-24

“23 ​​Search me, O God, and know my heart. ​​Try me, and know my anxieties. 24 ​​And see if there is any wicked way in me, ​​and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Don't they have a conscience?

"Whatsamatayou, don't you have a conscience?!" 

I've been thinking about this for weeks (and, no, I don't know why I've been thinking to myself in the voice of Chico Marx). 

What's wrong with people who don't know what's wrong...and what's right? Not just shootings, but everything.

The Bible talks about a conscience and even the unsaved have one. But for the next few days, spend 500 words or less (today's word count: 250) in a devotional about your conscience, your internal guide to what is right and wrong. And sorry Jiminy Cricket, your conscience should not always be your guide.

And just so you'll be knowing where we're going, here's an outline of the progression or actually digression of a conscience.

1. A sensitive, convicted conscience: John 8:9, "Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience..."

2. A struggling, compromised conscience: 1 Corinthians 8:7-13, "When YOU thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience..."

3. A soiled, contaminated conscience: Titus 1:15, "...to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled."

4. A seared, corrupt conscience: 1 Timothy 4:2, "in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits ...having their own conscience seared with a hot iron."

And finally, the cure:
5. A saved, cleansed conscience (always with faith): 1 Timothy 1:5, 1:19, 3:9, "a good conscience and sincere faith"; "having faith and a good conscience"; "holding the mystery of faith with a pure conscience".

Tune in tomorrow for a devotional on #1 and how the Word can convict and sensitize the conscience.

Our prayer for today:

Heavenly Father, as we study the Word, your Commandments, today, help us to love from a pure heart with a good and cleansed conscience and with a sincere faith. Keep us sensitive to obeying you, so that our faith will be strong and our consciences pure so that we will not sufffer shipwreck. In Jesus's Name, Amen.