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The Conscience -They Heard
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And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. (John 8:8)
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. (John 8:9)
  At this point, their facial expressions must have changed. How do I know this? Over all the years that I have been preaching, whenever I am preaching on a particular sin, I can see the facial expressions of the guilty parties before me change. This is a great insight that God gives to His servants. (Be very careful when you are exposed by the preacher for he can read your face.) The Lord had shot the first volley across their bow, and in this, their consciences began to work.
  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. (John 8:8) Now this second writing was different from the first writing for the Spirit of God gives us a wonder of wonders. Within John 8:9 we read of one of these mysteries of God. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. (John 8:9) The scribes and Pharisees, one and ALL, HEARD the writing on the ground. Everyone (individually) HEARD this writing in their own conscience. Their conscience bore witness against them concerning their own sin.
  There are two noteworthy events in this verse: they HEARD the writing on the ground, and they were also convicted by their own conscience. This shows a far greater law written in their conscience that condemned them. The Lord Jesus did not appeal to the Law of Moses, but to the law of sin and death. Their own conscience condemned them by the power of His Word. They HEARD their own sin. God had opened their hardened conscience by the power of God and had condemned them. Consequently, by hearing and by being convicted they went out from the Lord’s presence beginning with the eldest to the youngest. This is another point by the Spirit of God, the eldest should have had the most wisdom and should have understood the Law of Moses, however, his evil heart was ready to condemn the Lord, but his conscience overrode his heart, and he was condemned before the omnipotent God. The eldest should have been the most reverent among them. The last to leave was the least this could refer to the age or to the station of the individual. One thing this confirms that ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
  Let us look at the conscience: And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. (John 8:9) This is the only place that the word ‘conscience’ is mentioned in all four gospels. It also clarifies that the conscience has an inner voice in man. This inner voice not only convicts of sins, but it is also a warning system that sounds the alarm of an upcoming sinful action. There is a law in the conscience that is not written on tables of stone. We should listen very closely to the words that the conscience speaks.
  They (HEARD) the words written on the ground within the depth of their conscience, and being convicted of their own sins went out of the Lord’s presence one by one. This also shows us that God is able to open the conscience and to speak through the conscience to every person in their lifetime. This was a tremendous miracle that they actually HEARD His writings. Does this conscience belong to us, or is this conscience a supernatural recording device that can be activated by God at any time?
  A person can have a good conscience toward God as Paul described this in Acts 23:1, And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. In the case with Paul, we see a direct connection of the Holy Spirit with the conscience of man. In the Lord’s writing on the ground we see the connection of God the Son with the very sin that He was there to remove. We have a continuous connection between God and man in the conscience. In Acts 24:16 we have an area of offence, And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. We see two vital inputs of the conscience: one is toward God, and the other is toward men. How many times did the conscience of Cain warn him of his sin? The omniscient God knew Cain’s heart and warned his conscience that sin lieth at the door.
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (Genesis 4:6) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:7)
  The conscience is directly connected to the mind of God. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1st Corinthians 2:16)
  The Scriptures also tell us that we can weaken the conscience by repeated sin, and therefore, the conscience becomes weak. But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. (1st Corinthians 8:12) We have both the testimony of our own conscience and also the witness of the conscience of others that by their testimony and by their life they have a weak conscience brought on by sin. Therefore, we are not to wound their conscience any further instead through our testimony; we are to strengthen their conscience in presenting our life before God, and before men with a good conscience and with a good testimony. Let not our actions cause a weaker brother to stumble.
  Our conscience has a testimony of its own as we read in 2nd Corinthians 1:12, For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
  In 1st Timothy we have a good conscience mentioned twice; a pure conscience mentioned only once, and a seared conscience mentioned also one time.
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and [of] a good conscience, and [of] faith unfeigned:Â (1st Timothy 1:5)
Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:Â (1st Timothy 1:19)
Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. (1st Timothy 3:9)
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;Â (1st Timothy 4:2)
  The seared conscience ties into the unbelieving conscience. Tit 1:15 Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. (Titus 1:15) We see the conscience AND the mind both being defiled by sin. It is the opposite of a good conscience before God, and the last mention of a good conscience is found in 1st Peter 3:21, The like figure whereunto [even] baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  In 1st Peter Chapter 3, we see a renewing or good conscience toward God by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is one of the elements of all things becoming new in the creation of a new born babe in Christ. There is also a purifying of the conscience. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14) The very work of the Lord Jesus on the cross brought about a capability of the Spirit of God to PURGE our conscience, this is in relationship to the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. Our conscience (in our new birth) sees the Lord Jesus as the cleansing action in His offering for sin and the regeneration of the new birth in the new creature in Christ. All things become new; thus, the renewed conscience does not react to past guilt, but instead it becomes a warning system in the path of faith. In a sense, the renewed conscience is a new tape in the recorder, or as a new disc in the computer drive. Now the conscience becomes a protective factor against sin, and to protect a good conscience toward God. This comes under the action of the Holy Spirit of God working within us through our conscience, through our minds, through our hearts, through our soul, and through our spirit. Behold, all things become new.
Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2nd Corinthians 5:17)
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)
  This newness also gives us the capability when we are reading the Word of God to HEAR His Word in our conscience. These words of God that He places into our consciences protect us in a sinful world. Whenever we are tempted, the new conscience reminds us of the sin before us by the Word of God stored within. The Word of God within our conscience becomes the mighty Word of God. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) This is all relevant to our conscience. The Word of God is intertwined with every thread of our conscience, of our mind, of our spirit, and of our heart. We must feed the conscience with the Word of God and consequently, the conscience will do its work within us, and we will have a good conscience toward God.
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© Copyright 2020, Michael Haigh
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All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)