THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSCIENCE
Of all God’s creatures, only human beings have a conscience. This is the part within that either accuses or excuses you (cf. Rom. 2:15). When you deal with your conscience, you are dealing with both your spirit and your heart. If your conscience has never been dealt with, you are of no use to the Lord. A radio has a little receiver, without which it will not work. The paint may be chipped, but the radio will still work as long as the receiver is good. The same is true of our conscience; it must be kept in good working order. When we first received the gospel, the Lord required that we confess our sins. Confessing our sins clears our conscience. Without repenting and confessing your sins, you could not have been saved. The Spirit of God could not have gotten into you. Once you repent and confess, the Spirit enters into you. The more thorough the confession is, the more Spirit you have within.
PURIFYING THE CONSCIENCE
The Spirit, then, comes into our being through our cleansed conscience. Without this cleansing, He cannot enter. Hebrews 9:14 says that the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Do not think that serving the living God means doing something for Him. In the Bible to serve Him means to contact Him, to receive Him, to have Him infused into us. The proper service or worship of God is that we give Him an opening so that He can infuse Himself into our being. This kind of serving requires a purified, or purged, conscience. The blood of Christ purges our conscience that we may serve, not the doctrinal God, but the living God.
In Matthew 5:3 the Lord says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Without a purified conscience, your spirit cannot be poor. Then in verse 8 He says, “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Even more, a pure heart requires a purged conscience.
CONFESSION
We need to go to the Lord to deal with our conscience. You may feel you have only one little, unimportant thing to confess. If you will just confess that one thing, that initial confession will be a little turn to lead you onto the highway. You may then find you need a long time to complete a thorough confession.
As soon as you attempt to deal with the Lord in this way, the phone may ring. Once you take care of that phone call, it will take some effort to get back on the highway of your confession. After you confess two more things, the phone may ring again, this time probably a wrong number. This is the subtle enemy. It is best to get away by yourself, away from the phone and everyone else, or at least take the phone off the hook. If you share a room with someone else, you may need to find another place so no one can disturb you.
Once you kneel or sit before the Lord and open up to Him, you will find you have miles of confession to make. You may need hours to confess all your shortcomings, weak points, evil doings, your sinfulness, your flesh. When you start cleaning your house, you may think you can finish in fifteen minutes. But when you get into it, you will find dirt and dust all over, in all the corners. You are like your house. In every corner of your being, in every room, on every shelf, there is dirt. Your eyes have been dirtied by the many sinful things you have looked at day after day. Your ears have been sullied by listening to gossip. Your mouth needs cleansing from the gossip you have spread.
THE EFFECT OF A PURIFIED CONSCIENCE
After such a confession, you will not want to go back home. You will be afraid you may hear more gossip. It takes a great deal of effort to clean a badly smeared window. Once it is clean, you will try very hard not to let it get dirty again. This is the way to keep a clear entry for Christ to come into you. This entry, your purged conscience, will keep you from gossip.
(Life Messages, Vol. 1 (#1-41), Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
