1 TIMOTHY 4:1–5
… in latter times some will depart from the faith … having their own conscience seared with a hot iron …
(1 Tim. 4:2).
The reason people do not live by the law of God is because of sin. Sin is the disrupter of all that is good, and as Paul says, the law is good. But the law has no power to change the heart of sinful man. Only the Spirit can transform our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.
Even though sin disrupts that which is good, unbelievers do not act on every evil impulse. In some, the conscience is more intact than in others. While sin reigns in us, the conscience can still function. It can cause someone who has never been enlightened by the Spirit of Christ to live an exceptionally moral life. Such a person can be easily deceived by their own “righteousness,” thinking they do not need salvation. Because of this danger, those who live moral and upright lives must be warned about the depth of sin in their hearts, as Jesus warned the rich, young ruler.
Sin blinds us to the truth of God’s ways, and only by the proclamation of the law from the Scriptures can we be confronted by the truth that we are already held accountable to know. This is why Paul could say he would not have known what it meant to covet unless the law had revealed it to him. But even when the law is proclaimed from without, our evil desires can sear our consciences. And the more we allow those desires to gain strength, the more our consciences will grow silent. James Buchanan wrote, “The conscience becomes weaker in proportion as sin grows stronger in the soul, till the sinner may arrive at a point of degeneracy at which he is wholly given over to a reprobate mind, and so far from being condemned by his conscience, he may dare to justify his wickedness by ‘calling good evil, and evil good.’ Instead of being ashamed of his guilt, he may even ‘glory in his shame.’ ”
The more a person gives into his sin, the more the restraints of church, family, and the legal system are ignored through corruption or apathy, the more that person’s conscience will be defiled. When this happens on a societal level, it can create a shameless, sin-infested environment very much like that in the days before the flood and in Sodom when men pursued every desire of their evil hearts.
CORAM DEO
Ezra 1–2
Acts 2:1–24
Read the passages below. Will God judge both those who have not heard the law and those who have heard it? While both will be held accountable, who will be more accountable? Have you turned a deaf ear to certain commandments? If so confess it to God, ask Him to make your conscience tender that you might keep His ways.
For further study: Rom. 1:18–32, 2, 3:9–20
thursday
june