More Than Medicine
More Than Medicine
DWDP : Gen 3 - 11 The Value of a Sensitive Conscience
Have you ever wondered how a single choice can forever alter your relationship with God? Genesis 3:11 captures the pivotal moment when Adam and Eve first experienced the voice of a guilty conscience, transforming their innocent communion with God into fear and separation.
Dr. Robert Jackson (Dr. Papa) takes us deep into the garden of Eden, exploring that jarring transition when our first parents moved from walking freely with their Creator to hiding among the trees. What exactly happens in the human heart when guilt first awakens? The emergence of this "third voice"—not God's, not Satan's, but the internal voice of conscience—fundamentally changed humanity's relationship with the divine.
This devotional journey doesn't just recount ancient history; it speaks directly to our modern struggle with spiritual sensitivity. Dr. Papa shares a haunting patient story of a man who listened to gospel messages daily for over 40 years yet reached a point where he could no longer respond to Christ, even when he desperately wanted to. "Holy Spirit doesn't shout, he only whispers," Dr. Papa reminds us, highlighting the danger of repeatedly ignoring those gentle promptings until our conscience becomes "seared as with a hot iron."
Whether you're battling small compromises that threaten to dull your spiritual senses or wondering if you've wandered too far to return, this message offers both warning and hope. The same conscience that convicts can lead us back to restoration—but only if we respond while His voice can still be heard. Listen to discover how maintaining a sensitive conscience might be your most valuable spiritual asset today.
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Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, Dr Robert Jackson.
Speaker 2:Papa, can you tell me a story? Do you really want me to tell you a story? Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Well, you go, get your brother and your sisters and I will tell you a story. Welcome to Devotions with Dr Papa. Grab your Bibles, gather around and let us look into the written Word, which reveals to us the living Word which is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:Today we're at Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 11, and we're going to talk about the value of a sensitive conscience. Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 11,. And God said who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? Who told you that you were naked? Now had transitioned from innocence to guilt. They had transitioned from naked to fig leaf coverings, from walking with God to hiding from God, from God, from fellowship with God to fearing God. What in the world had happened? What had transpired in Eden? Well, you know the answer Sin had entered into the garden and now there was a third voice speaking to them, not just the voice of God and not just the voice of Lucifer.
Speaker 2:It was the voice of their guilty conscience, and their guilty conscience was now whispering to them. And that voice told them they were naked, exposed, vulnerable, corrupted and guilty. And that voice of their conscience led them to form fig leaf coverings and to hide from God, their former friend. Have you ever tried to ponder what that first moment was like for them, when their guilty conscience first spoke condemnation into their hearts? Well, first they realized the intimate communication with their creator was suddenly cut off and they felt hollow and empty inside. And they felt hollow and empty inside. There was a strong weight of guilt bearing down on their shoulders that made them suddenly fearful and, no doubt, anxious. They suddenly realized it was inappropriate to stand unclothed outside in one another's presence, and they felt what was it? What was it? Shame? Did they just stand there and stare at one another with new eyes? Or did they quickly turn away in embarrassment, covering themselves with their hands until they could fashion fig leaf coverings? Or did they clutch one another and look around with wide-eyed fear, wondering if God could see them in their guilty nakedness? Well, I don't know. Nobody knows. But what we do know is that the voice of a guilty conscience was already speaking to them and their guilt separated them from their Creator, their former friend, the one who walked in the garden with them in the cool of the day.
Speaker 2:Now Holy Spirit speaks to you and me through our conscience, also convicting of sin in our lives. It is imperative, dear listener, that we listen to the voice of Holy Spirit confessing and repenting of our sin, immediately making things right with God and with those we offend, granting forgiveness to those who offend us. If we don't, we become desensitized to the voice of Holy Spirit. We get to where we cannot hear His voice. Our conscience becomes calloused. The Bible describes it as becoming seared as with a hot iron, if we ignore the subtle prompting of Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:The prophet Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he was so sensitive to the sin of his people that he frequently wept over their sin and rebellion, and he wept as he saw their judgment to come. Now, when my children were growing up, I didn't allow them to watch much television because it tended to desensitize them to sin by constant exposure to foul language, illicit sex and mocking of traditional Christian values. I didn't want my children to grow up with a calloused conscience. I wanted my children to be sensitive to the voice of Holy Spirit speaking to them and convicting them of their own personal sin. And, dear listener, you and I should be the same way. We should protect our hearts from constant exposure to sin, whether it's on television or the Internet or affiliating with people who are prone to sin, so that our consciences are always sensitive to sin and sensitive to the voice of Holy Spirit. I don't want my conscience to be calloused or insensitive to the voice of Holy Spirit, but then keep moving God also.
Speaker 2:He asked them. He said have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? That was not a rhetorical question. It demanded an honest answer. Now it's like when I caught my kids hiding in the closet eating a bag of chocolate chip cookies with chocolate smeared on their faces, and I asked them have you eaten the chocolate chip cookies with chocolate smeared on their faces? And I asked them have you eaten the chocolate chip cookies? I told you not to eat. And with eyes round as saucers and chocolate smeared on their faces, my children slowly and fearfully nodded in the negative. No, I couldn't help but laugh. All they lacked was a fig leaf covering to be the same as Adam and Eve.
Speaker 2:Now on to personal holiness. And when we read the Word and when we meditate on Scripture and when we sit in a worship service, holy Spirit comes to us and he asks have you eaten from the tree? He asks us have you been fully obedient to the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ? And immediately your conscience begins to remind you of things like a relationship that you need to make right. Or he reminds you that you need to be more faithful to your daily quiet time. Or Holy Spirit reminds you that you need to quit gossiping about your next door neighbor, or Holy Spirit reminds you that you need to go share the gospel with your brother-in-law. You get the picture.
Speaker 2:If you are not a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then Holy Spirit asks you a different question. The question he asks you is have you eaten from the tree in the middle of the garden which I commanded you not to eat from? And your guilty conscience answers yes. And your conscience reminds you that you've told lies, that you've cheated, that you've stolen, that you've lusted, and your guilty conscience says stolen, that you've lusted. And your guilty conscience says my heart has not been pure and my tongue has been foul and I've not loved God as I should. Now listen to me, if you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter how far you have gone away from God, there's only one step to come back to Him, and that one step is to confess your sin, turn away from sin and receive Jesus as your only Savior and the true King of your life. Now let me tell you one more thing. Holy Spirit doesn't shout, he only whispers. He deals with us with subtle prompting. More than that he doesn't knock on the door of your heart forever. Every time you say no, your conscience becomes a little harder and a little more calloused. No-transcript.
Speaker 2:Some of you who've listened to my podcast remember the story of a patient of mine who listened to the voice of an evangelist on the radio every day at 5.30 am for over 40 years and when I met him he was in dire straits. He was in congestive heart failure and I went to see him in the intensive care unit and I realized that his days were numbered and I shared the gospel with him. And after sharing the gospel with him, I asked him to pray with me to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior. And he honestly looked at me and said I would love to, but I can't. And I asked him why not? And he he couldn't give me an honest answer. He just said he couldn't. I discharged him from the hospital and just a few weeks later he was back again in severe congestive heart failure and once again I shared the gospel with him and I begged him to make things right between him and God. And with tears in his eyes, he told me that he really, really wanted to, but he just couldn't.
Speaker 2:And this scenario played itself out multiple times over several months, where he would come to the hospital in heart failure, he would be in the ICU, I would share the gospel with him and he would sincerely say to me I would like to, but I can't. I just can't. I don't know why, but I can't. And over time I perceived that this man had heard the gospel every day for 40 years and he had never prayed a prayer to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. And what had happened to this man is his conscience had become calloused, his conscience had become seared as with a hot iron. And even though he would listen to a gospel presentation and even though he really wanted to pray now to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, he couldn't. He just couldn't because he had come to a place in his life where he could no longer respond to the voice of Holy Spirit. Now, dear listeners, some of you out there are precariously close to the same place where this patient of mine had become.
Speaker 2:And I'm saying to you do not, do not, please do not say no to Holy Spirit over and over again. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. Call upon Him while he is near, seek Him while he may be found. Do not say no to Holy Spirit repeatedly and allow your conscience to become calloused, insensitive and seared as with a hot iron. Today is the day of salvation. Listen to my voice when I'm saying to you of salvation. Listen to my voice when I'm saying to you today is the day that you must respond to the gospel invitation.
Speaker 2:The Holy Spirit speaks to you and me through our conscience, and there's great value in having a conscience that is sensitive to the voice of Holy Spirit. And he is saying to you have you eaten from the tree in the middle of the garden, of which I said to you that you shall not eat? And yes, the answer is yes, we have all eaten from that garden. And the voice that says to you and me that we are naked and exposed and vulnerable and guilty is the voice of Holy Spirit. He is the one who convicts us of sin. And let me encourage you.
Speaker 2:Let today be the day that you fall on your knees, confess to God that, yes, I am a sinner and I have fallen short of the glory of God, and I have fallen short of the glory of God. Ask Him for His forgiveness. Allow Jesus to wash you as white as snow in the blood of the Lamb and let this be a great day in your life when you become a member of the family of God, become a citizen of heaven, become a child of King and put on a snow white robe of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray for you before I begin this podcast and I will pray for you after this podcast, but you must make the decision. I cannot make the decision for you. Today is the day of salvation. You're listening to Devotions with Dr Papa. If you like what you hear, I pray that you will follow, like or share, download these podcasts, tell your family and friends and we'll be back again next week. Until then, may the Lord bless you real good.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
