Dear Partner,

Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Heb 10:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
Heb 10:16 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;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Under the old covenant, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments engraven in tablets of stone to typify the stony heart, the sin nature that every person is born with. That sin nature is passed down from generation to generation from Adam.

When a person is "born again," he receives a new nature, a righteous nature spawned from the spiritual loins of the Second Man, the Last Adam … Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:45). God has written His laws into the new nature of every born again person. We don't have to look at tables of stone to find out that it is wrong to steal, for example. The new nature within us tells us that we should not steal. It is the same with all of the Ten Commandments. These "laws" are written in our new nature.

So when a person commits adultery and then claims "I did not know it was wrong to do so," they are either lying or they are not born again. A born again person "knows" it is wrong, without having to be told so by a written code. It is already written in his heart.

The voice of the new nature is the conscience. Notice these verses of scripture where Paul discusses how we are to be led by the spirit … led by the new nature:

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature [new nature] the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

Paul was explaining to the Jews living at Rome how it is possible for these born again Gentiles to keep the righteousness of the Ten Commandments when they had never been given the Ten Commandments in the first place. Paul told them it is because they have been "born again." The new nature they have received from Christ has these laws of God written in it. The new nature is the righteousness nature of Christ, and the knowledge of the Ten Commandments come with it as "part of the package."

To illustrate, let's say that a professional thief becomes born again. Even though he has made a living all of his life by stealing, he will now find that the next time he thinks about repeating that behavior he will hear a "voice" within him saying, "Thou shalt not steal!" It is the voice of his new nature, his conscience giving him direction according to the righteousness of the new spirit within him.

It is important to notice, however, that God did not take away our power of "free choice" when we were born again. He gave us a safe guide, a righteous conscience at the moment we were born again to lead us in the major affairs of life, but He did not take away our ability to choose whether or not we would hearken to the new nature within us. This brings us to step one in our study of how to become more proficient at being led by the spirit:

NEVER VIOLATE THE VOICE OF THE NEW NATURE … THE CONSCIENCE!

Looking again at Romans 2:15, we see that the conscience of a born again person bears witness with them. When we find ourselves being tempted in any area, and our thought patterns are beginning to agree with the temptation, our conscience will examine those thoughts like a judge in court. The Ten Commandments are written upon the new nature within and it will examine every thought as to whether it is in accordance with righteousness or sin. It will then either accuse those thought patterns as being unacceptable behavior for a born again child of God, or it will excuse (permit) the thought as being in accordance with the righteous nature of a born again person. Pastor Dave often says,

WHAT MY CONSCIENCE DOES ACCUSE … I WILL NOT EXCUSE!

Most of us have not understood how important it is for us to always yield to the "inner witness," the voice of our new nature, our conscience. The inner witness is the number one way all of us are led by the spirit. Again, Paul tell us:

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

The Greek word translated "sons" in that verse is "huios" which means, "A mature son." It is to be distinguished from another commonly used word for son which is "paidion," referring to an infant or a very small child.

If we will be honest, all of us can remember times when we went ahead and did things we were later sorry for, even though our conscience was strongly accusing our actions from the beginning. We knew we weren't supposed to do it but we chose to do it anyway. We simply overrode the voice of our conscience. Did that make us no longer children of God? No! It simply demonstrated that we were still very immature, not yet of spiritual age to be trusted to follow the safe guide of the conscience placed in us by God at the new birth.

Habitually overriding the voice of the new nature, the inner witness, the conscience is one of the most dangerous things for a child of God to do. Every time we harden ourselves to our conscience, we make it a little more difficult for us to hear and/or perceive the leadership of the spirit we so desperately desire. So once more, let all of us determine that from this day forward, whatever our conscience does accuse, we will not excuse!

Thank you for your gift to GCM. Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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