SPRINKLING THE CONSCIENCE Hebrews 9:14; 10:1,2,22 OR, RENDING THE VEIL OF FLESHLINESS PART 4   THE PURPOSE OF CONSCIENCE Anyhow, conscience warns us to return to a place of safety. As nerves urge you to remove your finger from danger to safety, conscience urges you to a place of righteousness. There is only one place of safety to which conscience directs you. And you will not know what that place is unless you hear God's Word. God sends ministers to relay truths, which complement our consciences' cries, to the lost world. Without these truths, conscience will do little good for us. We will see our need of being in a better position, but we will not know how to get there and what that position is. But together with these truths, the urges of the conscience that tells us to go to a place of safety are satisfied. By way of these truths we know WHERE TO GO FOR SAFETY. Everybody knows what is right and wrong. And the preaching of the goodness we should share with one another agrees perfectly with this inbred message from the conscience. Yet the conscience does not tell us where to go for safety. Your nerves inform you of severe damage in your body when you break an arm. Yet they do not supply the remedy. They shout, "Find remedy!" This is similar to the conscience. It shouts for us to go to a position where we won't do wrong any more! Education teaches us that a hospital will provide remedy for a broken arm. And likewise the ministry informs of where to find remedy for sinful failure. In Christ there is no condemnation! That is the place that Gospel preaching and teaching informs us to go for safety. Paul heard the shoutings of his conscience as he sinned. He heard God's law say that certain acts were sinful. And his conscience agreed with the law (Romans 7:16). Roma 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good. Paul did not want to sin as his conscience reprimanded his wrongfulness. And God's Word likewise condemned that sin. So when Paul did not desire to sin, He was in agreement with the law. Yet the law only told him to get right. How was this possible? The law did not answer that. IN CHRIST - THE FULLNESS Paul was in misery wondering where to find remedy for his failing flesh. He found it in Christ (Romans 8:1), as if Christ was a place you could enter. Note the vocabulary he used when he said "In" Christ. Roma 8:1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The law was a schoolmaster to bring you to Christ. You knew there had to be a place of righteous living if there was a police force scolding your wrongfulness. But you didn't know where it was. Yet it did obviously exist. And the law was teaching you to find a place of righteousness. It had to exist. Only, it did not exist until a certain time period. That period arrived when Jesus died on the cross. Your nerves teach you a lesson. If we had no nerves we would kill ourselves. Suicide would be rampant in our world, though unintentional. Conscience teaches us a lesson. Law taught Israel a lesson. "Find a place of righteousness, or you'll find a place in hell." Jesus is the answer. "In" Christ there is no condemnation, IF one does not depend upon the flesh. The problem is the flesh. Paul sought deliverance from the pest called flesh. To enter Christ you must not depend upon your own energy to overcome obstacles. You must appease conscience by putting forth good works. You need to depend upon God's divine influence to cause you to do good works. He will get you to the top! Hold onto the power of God! Hold up the blood! There is power in the blood because your faith in Jesus' death allows God's power to work for you! God is looking for the blood alone to instigate Him to work for you. Throw out all the ritual and ceremony that attempts to attract God. He looks only for the blood. Nothing else will urge Him to work for you. Abandon fleshly effort when you confront fears. You failed to overcome a thing in the past. Now you fear condemnation to return as it did the first time you failed. Yet this time you march on anyhow, for you depend now upon something greater - God's Power! Thus, we overcome by faith! Not by human energy. This causes a circumcision. The flesh that hindered is removed. Flesh is not needed since one depends upon the Spirit's abilities now. So it is cast away. Conscience sees no need to condemn, since God deals with the hardships we face. Finally the conscience has rested. Never before could it rest. Never since Eden's fall could it rest! Biblically speaking, one has now abandoned the route of "walking after the flesh" to live right and free of condemnation. Conscience has caused us to search out safety. We find it in Christ. Unless we learn about Christ, our conscience will ever condemn us. One will never find rest. Christian believer, do you trust in the Lord to take you through your fearful barriers? Or do you learn to live with them and with the condemnation that tags along behind? You are living so far below your privileges! RETURNING TO THE GARDEN OF COMPLETE UNION WITH GOD Man left God in the garden. It was then that conscience began functioning. Man knew the difference between good and evil. That kicked conscience into effect. Since we then know what is good and evil, when we commit evil, our conscience torments us. Therefore, to stop the condemnation of conscience, one must return to God. Getting back to God will bring you face to face with the cherubim veil. These fearful creatures will bar your entrance. They represent the barriers within your own flesh. The reason these creatures were sent to guard paradise, was the existence of sinful flesh which man began carrying about. Without fallen flesh, there would be no guardians of Heaven's blessings. Therefore, these creatures coincide with man's own veiling of flesh. The veil in the tabernacle and temple was embroidered with figures of cherubim. It reminded us of the barrier. It stopped the way to the holiest. Only once a year could a man enter. And that, only after a lifetime of dedication in training - training that involved ceremonial cleansing and washing. Training that involved the blood of a sinless lamb. Only with that blood could the high priest enter the glorious presence of God, and sprinkle the mercy seat with atoning blood. Jesus went past the veil with His own blood. And likewise must we take that same blood if we want to pass the veil. The spirit in us wants to get back to God. It craves God. The spirit's desire alone is not sufficient. We have flesh that is weak. It cannot fulfil the desire of the spirit to be back in touch with God. It can't fight the giants nor free itself of fear of those giants. There's no condemnation to those in the garden, for they have no sin to be condemned by their consciences. And in Christ, there is likewise no condemnation. We will not be free of condemnation until we hold up faith in the blood. This alone will remove the veil. Jordan will rend. The cherubim need not bar one who leans upon God's energy in daily dilemmas and fears in life. Such people are already feeding from the life of God! They have eaten of the tree of Life! They have that element that has been diseased by the knowledge of good and evil circumcised! With sin in man's flesh, man was barred from the garden. Yet when sin is circumcised along with its host, flesh, we need no longer be barred. This circumcision is not experienced by all believers. Too many believers live in fear. Too many believers fail to walk after the Spirit. They continue to depend upon their fleshly abilities, and continue to be condemned. And it is often due to lack of understanding. Thus they are their worst enemies, banning the,selves from this liberating circumcision of the heart! The cherubim continue to shout, "No entry" to them. Their consciences have not been circumcised, or purged from dead works. Dead works are efforts we use to appease our consciences which fail to do relieve them. Dead works are acts of the tainted flesh which simply fall short of accomplishing anything of spiritual benefit. RED SEA, YES - JORDAN, NOT YET Many have crossed the Red Sea and experienced the pillar of cloud, as Paul writes of in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2. 1Cor 10:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; That corresponds to water and Spirit baptism in this New Testament age. But how many have traversed the wilderness miles? How many have approached their personal Jordan River of fleshly veiling? How many have rent that swelling barrier of flesh? Not many. Anybody can get saved. That's easy and very common. But it has not been so common to see believers rend their Jordans. Many backslide before they reach that point, due to incomprehension of the further truths necesary after being saved. They do not know enough about the blood. They do not realize they are not meant to tackle the flesh with their own abilities. So they approach Jordan and look on in bewilderment. "How do I rend this flesh? How do I enter my rest in Christ? How do I obtain all the promises that are in this higher place?" Much teaching concerning the finishing of our journeys is necessary today. We all know how to get saved. We know Jesus as the Author of our salvation. What about His title as "Finisher" of our faith? Not many realize that Jesus must also strengthen us to WALK after we are saved. We are saved by faith. That's commonly understood. But what about "walking by faith," or "living by faith?" Most people think they must fend for themselves when it comes to fleshly battles. And when "living by faith" is mentioned, it is misunderstood as a life of believing God to, for example, supply our food supernaturally. They think materialistically and do not consider the daily living by faith in commmon circumstance. They feel there is no need to live by faith until we have no food on our tables! They do not truly understand what it really is to live by faith. Living by faith is defined as living a life that is freed from fleshly failures. And living by faith is a life of victory by way of repeatedly calling upon God for strength. And it is, after that, believing that God will move in and take control to free you from whatever binds you down. We are meant to go to God for the deliverance from fleshly battles. We cannot be delivered from flesh, itself. But we can be delivered from the battles of the flesh - only if we call on God for help, though. This is how we "believe" our way to victory. This is how we overcome our weaknesses. Moses and the Jews came to the Red Sea. Joshua and the Jews came to Jordan. Both times the barriers were breached by God's power, not their own. Moses said, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Too many people can't stand still because they have never learned to wait on God to see the miracle after they pray. Their flesh is too fidgety. In fact many don't know they're supposed to call on God and wait for deliverance. There's too much unbelief. It's hard to stand still and wait for God when we have taken things into hand so many times, ourselves. We are not accustomed to letting another do the work. This is what is meant when Isaiah wrote, "They that WAIT upon the Lord shall renew their strength..." After you submit to God by putting the battle into His hands, you then feel the energizing of His Spirit. It takes FAITH for you to do that. And you can then move on to resisting the devil. First submit. Then resist. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7 Without submission to God we are bait for the devil. Then we read, after this verse, "Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh unto you." James 4:8 Go on in to victory! More Bible Study Lessons