What is "an evil conscience" and a "conscience seared with hot iron"?
Believers, with Christ as our righteousness, even during those times when we have really messed things up and are feeling distant from Him because we sinned or for whatever reason, He is with us. He came to save us from those very sins and will never condemn anyone that believes. Don’t let anyone deceive you into believing differently. In Christ, our access into God’s presence - the Holy of Holies- isn’t dependent on our own ability to fast, sow seed, do right or obey the Ten Commandments. We boldly enter the Holiest through Jesus Christ and no one/nothing else. See Hebrews 10:
19 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God 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.”
God wants us to draw near to Him anytime and anywhere with a true heart that is “sprinkled from an evil conscience.” But what is this "evil conscience?"
An evil conscience is one that toils over the guilt of sin. The one with an evil conscience does not believe that Christ’s obedience has made him righteous (Romans 5:19) so his conscience is constantly in turmoil from accusations and the burden of guilt. Such still bear the guilt and condemnation for sins that Christ gave Himself to free us from (Romans 8:1.) See the TPT version of Hebrews 10:22:
"we come closer to God and approach Him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from Him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity and we have been freed from an accusing conscience and now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!"
An evil conscience is an accusing conscience: one whose owner is constantly toiling under the guilt of sins that Christ has taken away for all who believe and feels the need to do things to “get right with God” again. He does not believe that, because of Christ's shed blood, he is now clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out.
But many believe that an evil conscience/conscience seared with hot iron is a conscience that is unfeeling, dead and does not care when its owner commits murder and other heinous crimes. In reality, having an evil conscience is toiling under the guilt of sin, which is what many believers are doing today, after Christ sacrificed Himself to thoroughly cleanse our conscience. Hebrews 9:14 says of Christ:
"Yet how much more will the sacred blood of the Messiah thoroughly cleanse our consciences!"
"Conscience seared with a hot iron" is from one Greek word: "kausteriazo" and it means "whose souls are branded with the marks of sin" or "who carry about with them a perpetual consciousness of sin." The one with with an evil conscience toils under the guilt of sin that Christ has taken away from all who believe in Him; he is always anticipating some kind of punishment if he does not do something to right himself with God.
Believer, "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.”
Fighting the good fight of faith is continuing to believe that we are righteous by faith (through Christ's obedience) and not by our own efforts at obeying the law whenever Satan comes with his fiery darts of accusations to show up our mortal imperfections. It is knowing that because of the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous, we will never experience the wrath of God (Romans 5:9.) The law is not of faith. Obeying the law and doing good works in order to be righteous has no place in fighting the good fight of faith. It is being faithless.
Hebrews 9:14 says of Christ: "Yet how much more will the sacred blood of the Messiah thoroughly cleanse our consciences!" Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you confessing what you believe out loud: that to you, He is: "The Lord our Righteousness"? Then you no longer have to toil under the guilt of sin. In Him, our conscience has been perfectly cleansed from all guilt because He overpaid our sin debt.
Notice we are not cleansed in behaviour/conduct but cleansed in conscience? Only by His grace do we live right on this side of heaven. The potential to commit ANY kind of sin is still in every believer but we overcome through Christ- see 1 Corinthians 10:13-
"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."
The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that they can obey the law or that some sins are beneath them. When we see as God sees, that the arm of flesh will fail, it becomes difficult for us to look at people who are living in sin with contempt or threaten them with God's wrath if they don't stop. We would do worse if our Abba Father does not ensure that we do not get tempted beyond what we can bear. Instead, we point these beloved of God to Christ of whom it is said in Titus 2:14-
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
Notice "every kind of sin?" No sin is too big for Christ to save the sinner who believes from. Instead of pointing sinners to themselves for salvation from sins from non-existent moral pedestals, point all to Christ in whom all who believe become the righteousness of God in Him and apart from obeying the law.
When you are thoroughly cleansed in your conscience, no longer toiling over the guilt of your sin, dead to the law and no longer trying to obey the law to get right with God but believing that you are 100% righteous in God's sight because "...Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people" (Hebrews 9:28,) it will affect your behaviour to the extent that you will live a life that will glorify God through Jesus Christ. See this Romans 7:4-
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."
Only when we are freed from this evil/guilty conscience, believing that Christ is our righteousness and that in Him, we are forever presentable to God inside and outside, do we get to live in triumph over sin and death. See Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Those “you are just coming to church now that you have a problem” and “how can God bless you when you did so and so” and "go and fast first before coming for prayers so you can be close to God" preachers reinforce this evil conscience in believers, causing the flock that God so loved to toil over the guilt of their sins instead of pointing all to Christ who saves from sins. Their words condemn but Christ saves from sins. By God’s grace, don’t let anyone rob you of this blessing of drawing near to God without an evil conscience. See the MSG version of Hebrews 10:
19-21”So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our Priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is His body.
22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word.”
In Christ, we don't have to fast or sow seed first in order to to "be in the Spirit" or to make God hear us better or faster. Let's walk right up to God who loves us so with a heart “sprinkled from an evil conscience” aka "confident that we’re presentable inside and out," not because we obeyed the law, fasted or deserve this grace but because "Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our Priest before God." Only in the Beloved are we accepted.
Believers, we can rest in the assurance of Christ’s love for us 24/7. He says in Matthew 7-
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.”
He loves us so.
19 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God 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.”
God wants us to draw near to Him anytime and anywhere with a true heart that is “sprinkled from an evil conscience.” But what is this "evil conscience?"
An evil conscience is one that toils over the guilt of sin. The one with an evil conscience does not believe that Christ’s obedience has made him righteous (Romans 5:19) so his conscience is constantly in turmoil from accusations and the burden of guilt. Such still bear the guilt and condemnation for sins that Christ gave Himself to free us from (Romans 8:1.) See the TPT version of Hebrews 10:22:
"we come closer to God and approach Him with an open heart, fully convinced by faith that nothing will keep us at a distance from Him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity and we have been freed from an accusing conscience and now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out!"
An evil conscience is an accusing conscience: one whose owner is constantly toiling under the guilt of sins that Christ has taken away for all who believe and feels the need to do things to “get right with God” again. He does not believe that, because of Christ's shed blood, he is now clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out.
But many believe that an evil conscience/conscience seared with hot iron is a conscience that is unfeeling, dead and does not care when its owner commits murder and other heinous crimes. In reality, having an evil conscience is toiling under the guilt of sin, which is what many believers are doing today, after Christ sacrificed Himself to thoroughly cleanse our conscience. Hebrews 9:14 says of Christ:
"Yet how much more will the sacred blood of the Messiah thoroughly cleanse our consciences!"
"Conscience seared with a hot iron" is from one Greek word: "kausteriazo" and it means "whose souls are branded with the marks of sin" or "who carry about with them a perpetual consciousness of sin." The one with with an evil conscience toils under the guilt of sin that Christ has taken away from all who believe in Him; he is always anticipating some kind of punishment if he does not do something to right himself with God.
Believer, "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.”
Fighting the good fight of faith is continuing to believe that we are righteous by faith (through Christ's obedience) and not by our own efforts at obeying the law whenever Satan comes with his fiery darts of accusations to show up our mortal imperfections. It is knowing that because of the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous, we will never experience the wrath of God (Romans 5:9.) The law is not of faith. Obeying the law and doing good works in order to be righteous has no place in fighting the good fight of faith. It is being faithless.
Hebrews 9:14 says of Christ: "Yet how much more will the sacred blood of the Messiah thoroughly cleanse our consciences!" Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you confessing what you believe out loud: that to you, He is: "The Lord our Righteousness"? Then you no longer have to toil under the guilt of sin. In Him, our conscience has been perfectly cleansed from all guilt because He overpaid our sin debt.
Notice we are not cleansed in behaviour/conduct but cleansed in conscience? Only by His grace do we live right on this side of heaven. The potential to commit ANY kind of sin is still in every believer but we overcome through Christ- see 1 Corinthians 10:13-
"We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."
The potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that they can obey the law or that some sins are beneath them. When we see as God sees, that the arm of flesh will fail, it becomes difficult for us to look at people who are living in sin with contempt or threaten them with God's wrath if they don't stop. We would do worse if our Abba Father does not ensure that we do not get tempted beyond what we can bear. Instead, we point these beloved of God to Christ of whom it is said in Titus 2:14-
"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."
Notice "every kind of sin?" No sin is too big for Christ to save the sinner who believes from. Instead of pointing sinners to themselves for salvation from sins from non-existent moral pedestals, point all to Christ in whom all who believe become the righteousness of God in Him and apart from obeying the law.
When you are thoroughly cleansed in your conscience, no longer toiling over the guilt of your sin, dead to the law and no longer trying to obey the law to get right with God but believing that you are 100% righteous in God's sight because "...Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people" (Hebrews 9:28,) it will affect your behaviour to the extent that you will live a life that will glorify God through Jesus Christ. See this Romans 7:4-
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."
Only when we are freed from this evil/guilty conscience, believing that Christ is our righteousness and that in Him, we are forever presentable to God inside and outside, do we get to live in triumph over sin and death. See Romans 5:17-
"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."
Those “you are just coming to church now that you have a problem” and “how can God bless you when you did so and so” and "go and fast first before coming for prayers so you can be close to God" preachers reinforce this evil conscience in believers, causing the flock that God so loved to toil over the guilt of their sins instead of pointing all to Christ who saves from sins. Their words condemn but Christ saves from sins. By God’s grace, don’t let anyone rob you of this blessing of drawing near to God without an evil conscience. See the MSG version of Hebrews 10:
19-21”So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our Priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is His body.
22-25 So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps His word.”
In Christ, we don't have to fast or sow seed first in order to to "be in the Spirit" or to make God hear us better or faster. Let's walk right up to God who loves us so with a heart “sprinkled from an evil conscience” aka "confident that we’re presentable inside and out," not because we obeyed the law, fasted or deserve this grace but because "Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our Priest before God." Only in the Beloved are we accepted.
Believers, we can rest in the assurance of Christ’s love for us 24/7. He says in Matthew 7-
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him.”
He loves us so.
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