“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…” 1 Timothy 4:1-2
Do you remember the first car you owned? I do! Mine was a light blue, 1962 Ford Falcon. It was a piece of work, believe me. I never knew when I left home, on a given day, if I’d make it back or not. Other than that, it was a great car. But, to a teenager, a car is a car, right? One day I noticed a little red flashing on the dashboard. It was the heat indicator light. I ignored it cause you’re always in a hurry as a teenager, remember? Well it wasn’t long till I was on the side of the road, steam coming from the hood, then calling my dad for help. I paid a price for ignoring that flashing little red light telling me something was wrong under the hood!
KING HEROD AND HIS CONSCIENCE.
Like that little red light telling me something was wrong, God gave each of us a conscience to let us know when we’ve done wrong and things aren’t right with Him and others.
Romans 2:15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)
King Herod is a good, bad example of a person ignoring their conscience. King Herod had a decision to make one day and his conscience was troubling him greatly. It is interesting. Although he saw John, the Baptist as a threat to him, he admired him at the same time.
Mark’s Gospel says, “For Herod feared (respected) John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly” (Mark 6:20). This is amazing, considering the fact that John had stirred Herod’s conscience by calling him out on his sin. John was a fearless preacher who spoke the truth to everyone regardless of who they were or the positions they held. And Herod allowed it because he admired the great prophet.
What was the sin that Herod was involved in? The Bible simply says that he was married to Herodias, his brother’s wife. But it gets even worse, because Herodias was the daughter of Philip’s half brother, and that made her Herod’s niece. What’s more, Herodias had a daughter named Salome, whom Herod looked at lustfully. So, he not only married his brother’s wife, who happened to be his niece, but he also had a lustful eye for the daughter of Herodias.
But unlike her husband, Herodias wasn’t impressed by John. In fact, she hated him. The Bible tells us that “…Herodias had a quarrel (grudge) against him, and would have killed him; but she could not” (Mark 6:19). As a result, Herodias found another way to deal with John. She had Salome perform a little dance for Herod at his birthday party. And when Herod got all worked up, he offered to give Salome anything she wanted. Herodias had instructed her beforehand to ask for the head of John the Baptist, so she did.
Matthew tells us, “And the king was sorry (regretted it): nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.” Herod was more concerned about impressing people than doing the right thing. He made the offer, and he felt that he had to honor it to save face. He didn’t care about principle or doing what was right. He chose to ignore his conscience and do what he thought others expected him to do. That decision tormented Herod, and it seared what was left of his conscience.
WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS.
Completely unaware of it, king Herod’s conscience was dying. How do you kill a conscience? You do it a little at a time. You know something is wrong, your conscience troubles you about it, and you try to ignore it. Then as time passes, your conscience becomes numb, hardened and insensitive to wrong. Herod is an example of what our verses for today warn us about, “… in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…”(1 timothy 4:1-2)
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Keep a watchful eye on the dashboard of your heart!
Is your little red light flashing?
Do you need to look under the hood?
That little red light, left unchecked, will eventually burn out. The best way to deal with a troubled conscience is to get rid of what produced it, and that is sin. We should be thankful when our conscience troubles us when we’ve done wrong. Just as our body lets us know by a pain, when something is wrong, our conscious troubles us when we do wrong.
But praise God! Jesus Christ can forgive and cleanse our sin and resensitize the conscience. He died on Calvary’s cross and shed His blood for us. But first we must call our sin what it is. Confess it, forsake it and stop making excuses for it.
Think it over…
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