God's Spy in the Heart
Conscience is a powerful force that serves as God's spy in the heart, recording our secret sins and condemning sinful behavior.
Thomas Brooks emphasizes that conscience acts as God's spy within our hearts, serving as a personal tribunal that records our actions and thoughts. He illustrates how conscience functions as a witness, documenting every secret sin and wrongdoing, regardless of how well we try to conceal them. Brooks points out that even in the most hidden circumstances, conscience will ultimately reveal the truth and hold us accountable before God. The sermon highlights the inescapable nature of conscience, which serves as both a guide and a judge in our moral lives.
Text
Conscience is God's spy in the heart.
'Conscience,' says Philo, 'is the little tribunal of the soul.
Conscience is a thousand witnesses, for or against a man.
Conscience is a court of record, and whatever it sees it
writes down; and conscience is always as quick in writing
as the sinner can be in sinning.' The very heathen could
say that conscience was a god to every man.
Conscience, as a scribe, a register--sits in the closet of
your hearts, with pen in hand, and makes a journal of
all your secret ways and secret crimes, which are above
the cognizance of others. Conscience sets down the time
when, the place where, the manner how, and the people
with whom--such and such secret wickednesses have been
committed; and that so clear and evident, that, go where
you will, and do what you can, the characters of them shall
never be cancelled or erased out, until God appears in
judgment. Let a man sin in the most hidden seclusion
which human policy can contrive, let him take all the
ways he can to hide his sins, to cloak and cover his sin,
as Adam did--yet conscience will so play the judge, that
it will bring in the evidence, produce the law, urge the
penalty, and pass the sentence of condemnation upon him.
Sermon Outline
- I. Conscience as God's Spy in the Heart
- A. Definition of Conscience
- B. Conscience as a Tribunal
- C. Conscience as a Witness
- II. The Work of Conscience
- A. Recording Secret Sins
- B. Keeping a Journal of Sins
- C. Bringing Evidence to Light
- III. The Power of Conscience
- A. Uncovering Hidden Sins
- B. Condemning Sinful Actions
Key Quotes
“Conscience is a thousand witnesses, for or against a man.” — Thomas Brooks
“Conscience is a court of record, and whatever it sees it writes down; and conscience is always as quick in writing as the sinner can be in sinning.” — Thomas Brooks
“Conscience sets down the time when, the place where, the manner how, and the people with whom--such and such secret wickednesses have been committed;” — Thomas Brooks
Application Points
- We must listen to our conscience and take heed of its warnings, lest we fall into sin and face judgment.
- Our conscience is a powerful witness to our actions, and we must not try to silence it or hide from its truth.
- Repentance and forgiveness are available to us through Jesus Christ, and we must seek them out when our conscience convicts us of sin.