Your Conscience

Why did God tell Adam and  Eve not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? What did he want them to open their eyes to? What did he NOT want their eyes opened to?What are your eyes open to?

Before Adam and Eve ate from this tree they were innocent, they had no conscience. God told them they could freely eat from any tree but not to eat from this one tree. God knew that if they ate from that tree their conscience would come alive and they would not need Him anymore. He wanted to be their source for right and wrong. He wanted them to have a father/son/daughter relationship with Him...not to be independent of Him, not to trust their own conscience, not to trust their own knowledge of good and evil. When they ate from the tree their eyes were opened. God didn’t want their eyes opened by the tree of conscience (tree of law). He wanted their eyes to be opened by the tree of life (Jesus Christ). When your eyes are opened to Christ they are being opened by how much you are loved by Him, how much He cares for you. But when your eyes are opened to the wrong tree it is your conscience that tells you what is right or wrong and not God. Your conscience allows many things that God would not allow. Conscience is not a safe guide unless you are born again then your conscience becomes good, cleansed and purged by the blood of Jesus. So the moment Adam and Eve had a conscience God came into the garden. Where were Adam and Eve? They were hiding from him because they were afraid. There was an expectation of trouble, of  judgment, of punishment. They were afraid of God in the wrong sense. Before they walked with God but now they are afraid of Him, hiding themselves in fig leaves.  Like Adam and Eve man today is hiding from God. Our modern day fig leaves are the pursuit of wealth, the pursuit of pleasure, and the pursuit of fame. Once we are 80-90 years old we realize that we have been pursuing sand castles at the beach. That’s all they are. While busy pursuing these things you miss the things that really matter in life. You miss the real wealth of your children growing up, spending time with them. You always thought that they would be there at that age but they grow up so fast. Don’t miss “living.” Don’t just exist.  Dead fish float. Living fish swim and they swim against the current. Don’t let people dictate to you what you ought to be. Live life being dictated by the Holy Spirit. No man is an island.  The attitude “ I don’t need God. I can decide what is good and what is evil” is very dangerous as the knowledge of good will kill you as fast as the knowledge of evil. The moment Adam and Eve partook of that tree they died spiritually.

So what we need to remember is that FAITH makes you conscious of God’s love. Conscience makes you conscious of SELF and your sins. If you are a believer your judgment is BEHIND you, not in front of you. Your judgment is at the cross. The enemy is trying to implant a thought into your mind that God is angry with you. This is a LIE! God can never be angry with the true believer as ALL of his wrath was exhausted on the body of Christ. The devil impersonates God. Every time you do something wrong he comes to you and says “now God’s wrath is coming.” So now you are fearful of God’s judgment and hide from Him. This is dangerous as it can do untold harm to your body, your mind, your emotions, your marriage and your relationships.

One of the biggest challenges against the gospel of grace is the argument for sanctification. In other words, many theologians will argue that we are not under the law for justification (righteousness) but for sanctification (holiness). They call the Ten Commandments the moral law and say we must use it as our guide. As a Christian you believe one of two things...the judgment is in front of you or it is behind you. If you believe it is behind you then you depend on the Holy Spirit to direct your path. If you believe it is in front of you then you are depending on the law (yourself) to guide you. The way you think about this is SO IMPORTANT as it is the foundation for EVERY decision you will ever make in your life.

What’s wrong with trying to keep the moral law (the Ten Commandments) for holiness (sanctification) as a guide for life? Is this what God wants? Without this guide can we be holy? Romans 6:14  says “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” This is a verse we should all have memorized and tucked away in our hearts as we need a daily reminder that we under grace and not law. This message of grace was given directly to the Apostle Paul from Heaven.

Why was the law given? The law was given to a certain group of people for a certain period of time. These people were the Jews and it was for 1,500 years...from Moses to Christ. God himself will not directly be involved in the law. God gave the law through a mediator (Moses) and through the hands of angels. It was never given to the gentiles yet the church is still under it. God gave the law because the Jews asked for it, not because that was His desire. Boasting in their self righteousness they wanted a set of laws they could keep as they trusted in their own abilities more than they trusted God. In other words, man was proud and did not know himself. God didn’t give it to man to justify himself but to show him up. The law is like a mirror and shows man what he really is. When you have a blemish on your face and look in the mirror the mirror didn’t produce the blemish but it manifested the blemish that was already there. But the mirror cannot wash the blemish away. The mirror is inflexibly true. So is the law. If it bends at all so that you can keep it it is no longer the law. In the book of James it says that when you break one commandment you break them all (like a pearl necklace on a string...one pearl comes off they all fall off). So God gave man the Ten Commandments because HE KNEW MAN. He knew that man would not see his need for a savior. Man was unwilling to admit how bad he is. Man is using the law to try to find some goodness in himself. Instead of finding their goodness in God they were searching for it in themselves. Jesus is our goodness! HE IS OUR IDENTITY! There is NO GOODNESS in us apart from Christ!  All of the beauty is in HIM! THIS Is the truth that man has been rebelling against since the Garden of Eden.

God’s heart is not in the law; while Israel was into law God’s heart was into promises. He promised David, he promised Solomon...he kept on promising. Promise and grace go together. When Abraham brought Hagar into his house this is a mini portrait of bringing the law into his house. Because he didn’t trust God to fulfill his promise he brought the law in. He slept with her and produced a son named Ishmael. In Galatians it says that Ishmael was a “son of the law.” But this never stopped God from giving grace to Abraham. God does not want to deal with you and I based on the law because he knows that it is impossible for us to keep it.

Can you bear fruit under the law? Romans 7:4 says “So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” As Christians we are not trying to be dead to the law we are dead to it!  This new husband we are married to is one that was raised from the dead so that we would bring fruit to God! You cannot be under the law without being under the curse. Much of the church today believes in partial law and partial grace...a mixture of the two. The Bible does NOT teach this. To be under the law means to be under the curse when you sin. Galatians 3:10 “for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in ALL things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” The point here is that if you do not keep ALL of the commandments you are cursed. It demands complete obedience… 100% not 99%. You cannot bring God’s standard down to your level where it is manageable. The law is holy.  It is righteous. There is only one way for a believer to get under the curse again and that is to go under the law. Have you loved God with all of your heart, soul and mind? Of course not, none of us have. Under the law if you have not you are cursed. A curse means “empowered to fail.” Under grace you are “empowered to succeed.” Empowered to be sick, empowered to live in abject poverty, empowered so everything you touch falls apart .(Deuteronomy 28) That is the curse. Jesus came so that YOU and I would be FREE FROM THE CURSE! Pastors and teachers who are teaching a mixture of law and grace do not have a high regard for the law. They have an unwillingness to own how bad they are. The law will never give you holiness it will show you who you really are. The law will always stir up sin. It will not produce sin but it was designed to manifest sin. Romans 5 says the law came so that offense might abound. In other words, WE NEED JESUS. Jesus came not to abolish the law but to FULFILL IT! The law punished (cursed)  Jesus for our sins. Jesus fulfilled ALL of the requirements of the law so that you and I would be FREE from the curse and live in freedom. Jesus conquered death for us! Death is now BEHIND us! Disease is now behind us! Judgment is now behind us! As a believer you do not die...you relocate to Heaven in your brand new body! Today death has no jurisdiction over us, judgment has no jurisdiction over us...we are beyond that! The devil cannot go beyond the grave! We are risen and seated at the right hand of God in Christ! Satan only has power over unbelievers...they are looking forward to death as they are under the curse of the law. For us death death is behind us. What Jesus did on that cross was for OUR behalf. He took our place on that cross and took all of the curse of the law on His body. ALL of the punishment of broken law in your life has already been executed. The law cannot execute anymore.

How do you know you are living under law or grace? Are you worried? Are you full of anxiety and negative thoughts? Do your circumstances dictate your joy? Do you live with an expectation of good or are you always waiting for the next shoe to drop? The root cause of anxiety is a failure to TRUST all that God has PROMISED to be for us in JESUS. Living under grace brings REST. It brings JOY. It points you to Christ as opposed to yourself. My friends, you and I have the same choice as Adam and Eve did in the garden. We can choose LIFE or we can choose DEATH. We can choose to live under grace or we can choose to live under the law. We are only given a short period of time on this earth and it is OUR CHOICE how we live it. Once you accept Christ as your savior His blood washes your conscience clean. He fulfilled ALL of the requirements of the law for YOU! No more guilt! No more fear! No more self judgment and punishment! Stop beating yourself up for your shortcomings!  Stop condemning yourself for your mistakes. God is not mad at you! Christ took ALL of the curses on HIs body for YOU! He took your sickness, your anxiety, your mistakes...He took It ALL so that you could live under the BLESSINGS (grace) rather than under the curse. How does a Christian live under grace and not law? How do you walk in blessings and not curses? By the DAILY reprogramming of  your mind with truth, God’s word. How do you think your mind got polluted in the first place? BY HEARING..Faith comes by hearing. Our whole lives we have been programmed by law based religious thinking. We’ve heard it from the pulpit, from our public schools and all throughout our culture. Whatever you hear you believe. You hear a lie long enough and it becomes truth for you in your heart. We must replace the stinkin’ thinkin’ with God’s promises.

Religion vs. Grace Religion says “if I obey I’m accepted.”  Grace says “I’m accepted so I obey.” Religion says “If I’m good, God will love me”.  Grace says “I’m bad and Jesus loves bad people.” Religion says “All people are good and bad.” Grace says “All people are repentant or not.” Religion says “The focus is on what I do or don’t do.” Grace says “The focus is on what Jesus did.” Religion produces pride and despair. Grace produces humility and confidence. Religion says “I am motivated by fear.” Grace says “I am motivated by love.”

Remember this principle: Enjoy your time with Jesus. When you enjoy and have pleasure with the Lord, worshiping Him, loving Him, thinking of Him all the time supernatural fruit is produced effortlessly. There are so many testimonies of people who were healed from chronic diseases by simply reading the Word. Listening to messages on grace everyday renews and restores your mind. Proverbs 4:22 says that the word is life to all those who find it and health to all their flesh. We have been believing a LIE from the enemy! We must replace those lies with daily truth. We live in a world dictated by “self”, a world that embraces and encourages us to focus on ourselves as opposed to Christ. Every morning I start my day by listening to at least 30-60 minutes to an hour of Joseph Prince. This man has been called by God to open the eyes of His people...to  reveal Jesus to them and His great love for them. Each time I listen to Him my eyes are opened more and more to the truth of God’s love for me. What are you doing each day to reprogram your mind with truth

You are are now a NEW CREATION! You have a blood bought right to ALL of God’s goodness. God has called you to live a life of REST and not a life of stress. He doesn’t want you to go through life rushed, worried and anxious. He came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Everything you will ever need...divine health, victory in your Christian walk, success in your career and blessed family relationships have all been provided for in Christ. Grace will change the way you handle your challenges. You don’t have to struggle and strive for God’s favor and blessings to live a victorious life. Because of Jesus finished work you can live unafraid, stress free and fully confident for God’s love for you.

God Bless You,

Love, Sherry :-)

Copyright © 2018 Sherry Braswell Ministries, All rights reserved.