WILL THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE PLEASE STAND UP?
MF Blume
April 9, 2000 am
John 3:17 For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him
might be saved.
Romans 8:1-3 There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Conscience: (OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY) Consciousness of right
and wrong; moral sense.
The internal acknowledgement or recognition of the moral
quality of one’s motives and actions; the sense of right and wrong as regards
things for which one is responsible; the faculty or principle which pronounces
upon the moral quality of one’s actions or motives, approving the right
and condemning the wrong.
Opinions as to the nature, function, and authority of conscience
are widely divergent, varying from the conception of the mere exercise
of the ordinary judgement on moral questions, to that of an infallible
guide of conduct, a sort of deity within us. Popularly, the word is often
used for the whole moral nature; for its gradual individualizing and personification
in this sense
The conscience is the part of us that gives us the sense of what is right
and wrong, and makes us feel guilty or just as the result of its impressions
upon us.
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How should a true Christians' conscience make the believer feel?
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Over what will a true christian conscience cause you to feel guilty?
The Bible speaks of an EVIL CONSCIENCE.
The conscience is the part of you that gives you "convictions" as to
what is right and what is wrong.
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But an evil conscience is going to improperly convict you of things.
Let us help you to have a PURE conscience instead of an EVIL conscience
if indeed you have an evil one.
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And we will show you whether you have an evil conscience or not, also.
Preaching is one of God's ways of renewing our minds.
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True Christians (as opposed to false ones) need to experience a lot of
correction in their minds after they are saved, to have their thinking
fall in line with what the Word of God teaches about them.
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When we are saved, our minds still think the way they did when we were
lost.
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God changed us so much that without teaching from the Word, you will not
understand who you now are as a saved person without teaching from men
and women of God who are called to minister the Word to people.
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Get some good books by good Christian teachers.
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Come to church and hear teaching and preaching from the Word.
God wants us to align our understanding with how we should now think of
ourselves as people who died with Christ and were buried with Him.
There is a form of pride in the world that looks very religious and
spiritual, but it is actually antichrist.
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FALSE HUMILITY.
Colossians 2:20-23 Wherefore if ye be dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the
world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not;
Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines
of men? Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and
humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying
of the flesh.
Paul said that many people live a false humility
which looks and has a show of being wise and humble, neglecting the body
as a sort of holy act.
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But he said that such a life does not have any value,
or honour, in solving the problem of fleshly indulgence.
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Such a lifestyle is OUTWARD oriented.
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It stresses outward things.
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Count how many sermons you heard me preach about
outward things, and then count how many sermons I preached about inward
faith and spirituality.
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I want to stress what Paul stressed.
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I want to preach what the apostles preached.
This conviction that we are "nothings" and are "losers",
barely able to ever get to glory one day since we were saved is the result
of an ANTICHRIST and ANTICROSS philosophy that has poisoned the very CONSCIENCES
of many many believers.
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Paul said that this concept of acting as though we
are very pressured to not even touch, taste nor handle things, and concentrate
on OUTWARD asceticism (or convent and monastery lives of isolation from
the world) is a concept that in reality makes us people "as though living
in the world."
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Being part of the UNSAVED WORLD is being a person
who is under the pressure of sin all the time.
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Being part of the UNSAVED WORLD is being a person
who is defeated and a loser.
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Paul said salvation and the cross of Jesus actually
caused us to become DEAD WITH CHRIST FROM THE RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD.
RUDIMENTS means the LOWER things and the BASER THINGS
over which Christians have been placed in Christ.
We're supposed to be ABOVE the thoughts of being
sinners and "good-for-nothings."
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This humility that says, "Oh, Im nothing but a sinner
saved by grace," is a false humility that is antichrist and anticross.
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That is so, because the cross took everything that
was sinful and everything that was "loser" material and crucified it with
Christ.
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We are supposed to be DEAD with Christ.
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So why do we act as sinners who are not dead to the
world yet, by thinking about ourselves the way God thinks of them?
Did you know that God thinks of sinners without Christ
as being aliens and enemies to Him?
Colossians 1:21 And
you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled
James 4:4 Ye
adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is
the enemy of God.
But many believers think of themselves as God's enemy.
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They feel guilty.
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Now, let me make it clear that if we live sinfully
we are guilty and have a right to feel that way.
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If we purposely go out and commit adultery or lie
and cheat, and come to church and say Hallelujah, we are hypocrites and
have LOST our salvation.
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I do not for one moment believe that damnable doctrine
of once saved always saved.
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An evil conscience condones sin and says you are
still saved so long as you ONCE IN THE PAST gave Jesus your heart.
Colossians 1:21-23 And
you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present
you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue
in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope
of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature
which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;
Notice the word "IF."
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We will presented blameless IF we continue in the
faith.
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Thank God that He delivered some of you from that
doctrine!
But if you are endeavouring to live a holy life,
and repent when you make a mistake and admit your error, but you still
feel guilty about yourself, THEN YOU HAVE AN EVIL CONSCIENCE.
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A TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE SHOULD ONLY CONVICT YOU
IF YOU SIN AND YOU HAVE NOT YET TRULY REPENTED.
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But if you deeply repent and genuinely feel sorry
about your sin, and you still feel guilty, YOU HAVE AN EVIL CONSCIENCE.
Why did Paul say that attempts to improve oneself
are attempts of people who "live in the world" and who are not yet "dead
with Christ"?
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It is because the truth of the matter is that CHRIST
FINISHED THE WORK OF DEALING WITH SIN ON THE CROSS.
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But if we do not understand that, and we think the
work IS NOT finished, then what do you try to do with unfinished work?
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You try to finish it YOURSELVES!
Your conscience tells you you are not good enough.
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You are saved, but still no-good.
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So you automatically try to IMPROVE.
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But since in your conscience the CROSS did not finish
to job, and you are weaker than the CROSS, then what you end of doing is
trying to improve yourself but never being able to do so.
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You try to improve since your conscience drives you
batty, but at the same time you know that you are less powerful than the
cross.
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So you are in a conundrum!
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Your life is confusion!
WILL THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE PLEASE STAND UP?
Until you get a revelation of the finished work
of the cross, you will be condemned all the time.
Philippians 3:18 (For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
ENEMIES OF THE CROSS.
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Paul said that MANY are enemies of the cross.
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And he was not talking about the world that has nothing
to do with Christianity.
What is an enemy of the cross?
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The cross FINISHED the work to do with sin.
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Jesus condemned sin once and for all on the cross.
After hearing some people preach to you, you would
think Jesus came to condemn PEOPLE.
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But Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to condemn
SIN IN HIS FLESH on the cross.
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We read that in our opening texts.
Let us read Hebrews 10's various references to the
UNFINISHED WORK contrasted with the FINISHED WORK of the cross.
Hebrews 10:1 For
the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year
by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Law could never make man perfect.
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What does "perfect" mean?
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COMPLETE.
Some Christians live as though Christ's cross could
never make them perfect.
Hebrews 10:2 For
then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
If one was perfect, sacrifices would have ceased
to be offered.
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Hmmmm.....
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Notice that Christ had to die HOW MANY TIMES????
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ONCE.
Now, let us reason together.
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If one was made perfect or complete, thereby causing
any further sacrifice to cease being offered....
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And if Christ's sacrifice (the one we believe in)
was only accomplished ONCE AND FOR ALL.... He does not die over and over
again, but died ONCE...
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Then that can only mean one thing.
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HIS SACRIFICE MADE THE COMERS THEREUNTO PERFECT!!!!
You say, "I'm not perfect, just forgiven."
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WRONG!!!!
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I AM PERFECT IN JESUS CHRIST.
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I AM COMPLETE IN JESUS CHRIST.
If the sacrifices of the Law could never make the
comers thereunto perfect, and that is why the sacrifices had to be offered
continually, then the comers unto Jesus sacrifice must be PERFECT, BECAUSE
JESUS IS NOT SACRIFICED CONTINUALLY, BUT ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Verse 2 says that if the sacrifices of Law PURGED
the people and made the comers thereunto perfect, THERE SHOULD BE NO MORE
CONSCIENCE OF SINS.
READ THAT CAREFULLY ALONG WITH THIS:
2Peter 1:9 But
he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath
forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
Peter talked of the same problem people had.
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People STILL have this problem in church.
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WE WERE purged from our old sins.
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But some people forgot and worse, some never knew!!!
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But we were purged from our old sins by the blood
of Jesus.
Back to the Hebrews 10 contrasts.
Hebrews 10:3-4 But
in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins.
Because the sacrifices were CONTINUAL, every year
the people were reminded of them.
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You would think Jesus' sacrifice was no better than
those ones, because some Christians also have a remembrance of sins.
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They have conscience of sins.
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You would think it was not possible that the blood
of Jesus could take sins away by the way many believers think about themselves
after they are dead with Christ.
Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore
when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
But here we change gears.
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Jesus is foretold to say that God's will was not
to have continual sacrifices all the time.
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So instead... A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME.
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Why was it foretold that Jesus' attitude would say
"A body hast thou prepared me"?
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What was it about that Body that would make an end
of sins?
Romans 8:3 For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh:
Jesus' body, or FLESH, would be the container to
HOUSE our sins and God would CONDEMN SIN IN THAT FLESH.
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He would not condemn US, but condemn SIN.
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God had you and your sins CRUCIFIED in Jesus Body
when it was crucified.
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And He condemned SIN.
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But HE RESURRECTED YOU.
The Body of Christ was DOOMSDAY for sin.
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You would think He came to condemn YOU by the way
some Christians think.
Hebrews 10:9-10 Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
He sanctified us through the OFFERING OF THE BODY
once and for all.
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ONCE AND FOR ALL.
Hebrews 10:11-12 And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of
God;
Jesus sat down after ONE sacrifice, because HIS ONE
SACRIFICE forever took away sins.
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But you would not think so due to the concepts of
some Christians.
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THEIR EVIL CONSCIENCES MAKE THEM STILL FEEL GUILTY
WITH THE GUILT THEY FELT BEFORE THEY WERE SAVED.
WILL THE REAL CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE PLEASE STAND UP?
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Where is there someone whose conscience works upon
a PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPEL?
DO YOU FEEL GOD CORRECTING YOUR CONSCIENCE THIS MORNING?
We are dead with Christ.
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Why do we act as though we were still enemies of
God and not yet dead from the world, but alive in the world, by feeling
so guilt-ridden all the time????
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I will tell you why.
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You have an EVIL CONSCIENCE that is actually ANTICROSS
and ANTICHRIST in its thinking.
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Any conscience that makes you feel guilty about yourself
with the same guilt you felt before you were saved is a conscience that
was never educated and corrected as to WHAT DIFFERENCE THE CROSS made in
your lives.
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SInce it contradicts what the cross did for you,
by making you feel guilty over something you should never feel guilty about
any longer, THEN IT IS ANTICROSS.
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AN ENEMY OF THE CROSS.
WILL THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE PLEASE STAND UP?
When we are purged we should have no more conscience
of sins.
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BUT WHY DO PEOPLE STILL HAVE CONSCIENCE OF SINS?
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It is because they MISUNDERSTAND the cross.
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Every year under law, sin was brought up again because
their sacrifices could never wash away sins.
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But some Christians bring up sin in their consciences
all the time... ALMOST EVERY WEEK...
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And even some preachers run a "SUNDAY GO TO BEATING"
rather than a "SUNDAY GO TO MEETING".
The cross might look like a two headed hammer, able
to bang heads every Sunday, on head before and another behind, two fell
swoops.
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But that is not the message of the cross!
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The cross hammered SIN.
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The cross crucified sin.
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And yes, it crucified us, BUT ONCE AND FOR ALL...
not for ever and ever.
Hebrews 10:12-14 But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
for ever them that are sanctified.
Sinners will hear me preach about sin if they are
not saved.
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And you will be hear listening to me preach about
it.
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But don't categorize yourself as a sinner burdened
with sin if you are saved and living a holy life, not purposely sinning
to spite.
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Thank God you were set free from what these others
need to be set free from.
Notice an Old Testament prophecy quoted by Paul here.
Hebrews 10:15-17 Whereof
the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
He quoted Jeremiah 31:33-34.
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That covenant is the one we now have.
Now let's read Paul's remarks.
Hebrews 10:18 Now
where remission of these [is, there is] no more offering for sin.
When Jeremiah prophesied that God would forget our
iniquities through some new covenant, God implied that THERE IS NO MORE
OFFERING FOR SIN.
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Jeremiah said, "THEIR SINS AND INIQUITIES WILL I
REMEMBER NO MORE"/
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WHY DO WE REMEMBER THEM???
Oh, but you say that you are not condemned over your
past SINS, like some are, but over yourself.
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Well, the same cross that crucified YOUR past SINS
also CRUCIFIED YOUR PAST YOU.
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"Well, all my life I've been a loser."
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BUT THE CROSS CRUCIFIED ALL THAT WAS A LOSER ABOUT
YOU AND THE BIBLE SAYS YOU ARE NOT A LOSER BUT MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!
But you feel like you cannot conquer anything?
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Did you know that some conquerors never conquer anything?
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It is because THEY DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE CONQUERORS.
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They don't have a revelation of what the cross did
to them.
THEY INCORPORATED THEIR OLD WAY OF THINKING AS PEOPLE
WHO ARE STILL PART OF THE WORLD -- THE ENEMY OF GOD -- INTO THEIR CHRISTIAN
LIVES AND STILL ERRINGLY FEEL THEY ARE ENEMIES OF GOD.
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They need their MINDS RENEWED to who they NOW ARE
in Christ.
That thinking is ANTICROSS and ANTICHRIST.
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It makes you think that the cross did NOT do what
it actually DID do.
SYMPTOMS OF AN EVIL CONSCIENCE.
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YOU FEEL DOWN ON YOURSELF.
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YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND THINK, "LOSER".
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YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF AND THINK, "WHAT A DEFEATED
EXCUSE FOR A CHRISTIAN".
All of that is the result of an evil conscience.
All us who were losers with the rest of the world,
who experienced the cross of Jesus one day, were cut off from "loserhood."
How can you have that evil conscience corrected?
Hebrews 10:22 Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
WHAT DOES A HEART SPRINKLED FROM AN EVIL CONSCIENCE
MEAN?
HOW DOES THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE BEHAVE?
Hebrews 9:14 How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God?
Sprinkled from dead works.
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Remember the TOUCH NOT, TASTE NOT and HANDLE NOT
of Colossians 2 and the falsely humbled people?
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These are the DEAD WORKS from which we must be purged.
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A life that thinks it can hardly even MOVE without
making God angry.
THE BLOOD OF JESUS PURGES YOUR CONSCIENCE.
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The mention of the BLOOD OF JESUS is reference to
the proper understanding of the WORK OF THE CROSS.
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It means that THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS FINISHED WORK
IN SMASHING SIN ONCE AND FOR ALL IS APPLIED TO YOUR CONSCIENCE AND CORRECTS
YOUR MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND REVEALS TO YOU WHAT YOU ARE NOW THAT YOU ARE
SAVED.
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All the incorrect convictions are purged away.
Not everyone's consciences are correct.
1Timothy 1:13 Who
was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained
mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Paul conscientiously persecuted the Church thinking
he did God's will.
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His conscience made him feel it was good.
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But his conscience was evil and wrong.
But read this:
Acts 23:1 And
Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived
in all good conscience before God until this day.
Acts 24:16 And
herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God, and toward men.
How could Paul stand upon the fact that his
conscience confirmed he was void of offence if a conscience can be evil
and incorrect?
Here is the answer:
2Timothy 1:3 I
thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, ...
HIS CONSCIENCE WAS PURIFIED.
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The blood of Jesus purged it.
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That did not happen as soon as he was saved.
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His sins were purged by the blood of Jesus when he
was saved.
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But his conscience was purged by the blood AFTERWARDS
through TEACHING and REVELATION FROM THE WORD OF GOD about the WORK OF
THE CROSS.
Others are described like this:
1Corinthians 8:7 Howbeit
there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the
idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their
conscience being weak is defiled.
1Corinthians 10:29 Conscience,
I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged
of another man's conscience?
The reason Paul said he would not allow his liberty
to be judged by another man's conscience was because SOME PEOPLE HAVE AN
EVIL CONSCIENCE.
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It incorrectly assesses what is evil and what is
good.
WILL THE TRUE CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE PLEASE STAND UP?
Ever worry about whether or not you committed
to unpardonable sin?
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You are sincere and want to serve God and go to Heaven,
but you worried over that?
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Well, your conscience is at least PARTLY evil.
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And you need to get a revelation of the finished
work of the cross, and of Christ's blood.
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As long as you are sincere and truly desiring to
live right, YOU CANNOT COMMIT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.