Genesis 3:7-13 NKJV  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  (8)  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  (9)  Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”  (10)  So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  (11)  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”  (12)  Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”  (13)  And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• And Eve did eat, and Adam with her, did eat.
  • They ate the forbidden fruit, after being tempted by Satan…
  • After longing for the sin, gazing ate it, considering it.
    • Eve walked over, and Eve did eat.
    • And she handed the fruit to her husband with her and he did eat.

Genesis 3:7a NKJV  Then the eyes of both of them were opened…

• Opened to what?
  • Where they blind before?
  • No, they certainly can see, as we talked about last week when Eve looked at the fruit and Eve SAW…
    • She used her eyes to long after what was forbidden… so her eyes worked fine.
  • So what does it mean that the eyes of both of them were opened?
    • It means the eyes of their conscience.
      • The eyes of their conscience were opened.
  • Now I have talked about this many times when presenting the gospel, but let’s make sure it sinks in for todays message… because here is where Adam and Eve gained a conscience…
    • Conscience = To have the knowledge of right and wrong.
      • Prefix “Con” =  “with”
      • “Science” = “knowledge”
      • Con + Science = “with knowledge”.
• So the word “conscience” literally means “with knowledge”
  • And this morning we are going to talk about why having a conscience is a terrible thing…
    • Now I am not talking about consciousness, which is the idea that we are awake, and alive, and aware, and have free will.
      • No, I am talking about the little cricket on our shoulder that tells us what it thinks is right and wrong.
        • The problem is that the cricket is corrupted, confused, and bloated… the cricket of conscience is a burden that I don’t think God ever meant us to bear…

• The Burden of Conscience…
  • I recently read my children the classic book “Pinocchio”… the original, not the Disney version…
  • And in it, a talking Cricket is supposed to be Pinocchio’s conscience…
    • So the slide shows Pinocchio carrying around this giant cricket, which represents his conscience, as a burden to heavy to properly carry…
      • And that brings me to my first point this morning: Conscience is a burden we were not meant to bear.
      • But before we dive into it, let’s just pray.

• Point one this morning, Conscience is a burden we were not meant to bear.

Point One – Conscience is a Burden We Were Not Meant to Bear

Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  (17)  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:25 NKJV  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3:6-7 NKJV  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  (7)  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

• This morning I am going to, and already really have, made a proposition that maybe you have never heard before…
  • I am going to suggest to you that your ability to consider what might be good, and what might be evil… your conscience that tells you through a twisted and corrupted lense…
    • The very fact that you have this knowledge of good and evil… this conscience… with knowledge… this conscience all men have… it is burdensome.
      • It is not good.
      • It is not what God intended…
      • It is exhausting, it is difficult to carry, and it causes a lot of problems.
    • Now bare with me for just a minute, because I have a whole puzzle here that needs to be put together, but if you are just looking at one peace you are going to be confused…
    • But let’s start but just applying some logic.
• God created man and woman. He said it was very good.
  • God had man and woman in a perfect Garden, in which they could all eat freely of any tree, except for one, the knowledge of good and evil.
    • And that set up, where one tree was forbidden, was very good.
      • And in this moment, this time of very good, this time of perfection, Adam and Eve’s eyes had NOT been opened to the knowledge of good and evil.
      • They did not carry this knowledge, and them not carrying this knowledge was very good! Ignorance is bliss. They were ignorant of good and evil, and they were in bliss.
• You see before they had a knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve simply had a knowledge of “God said”.
  • It was not “What is right and what is wrong” it wasn’t “What is good and what is evil” it was simply “What did God say”.
    • So Adam and Eve had free will, yes, they had a choice to make…
    • But their free will was not muddied by this moral decision making… they did not have to figure out what the right thing to do was in any given situation… they did not ever have to have a conversation with a cricket about is this right or wrong… they simply knew “This is what God said to do, this is what God said not to do” and the choice was simple “Obey God and live” or “Disobey God and die”.
      • In this scenario God was the only moral standard. Right and wrong centered soul and completely around what God said.
      • Emotions did not come into play… logic did not come into play… the judgment and thoughts of others had nothing to do with it…
        • It was simply “This is what God said”.
          • And so the only moral decision Adam and Eve had to make was “Will I obey God and not eat this fruit… or will I disobey God and eat of it”.
        • But Eve did eat, and her husband with her did eat… NOW WATCH AS THE BURDEN OF CONSCIENCE INSTANTLY HITS.

Genesis 3:6-11 NKJV  So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  (7)  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.  (8)  And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  (9)  Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”  (10)  So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  (11)  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

• Adam and Eve eat, their eyes are open to the knowledge of good and evil, they now have a conscience, a burden which they were not designed to bear, and they immediately fail at carrying it…
  • The eyes of booth of them were opened and the knew they were naked:
    • “Oh no, this thing is different than my wive’s… I don’t want her looking at it… what if God see’s it… I better cover it up… it’s not good for it to be hanging out for everyone to see.
      • *In girls voice* Oh… I don’t want Adam to see me naked like this… it is not good for these things to be seen… I am so ashamed… I better cover up… this is not good.
        • WAIT! Who told you it was not good? Because God created you naked and He said it was very good!
        • Now you are thinking about it and you are not so sure… you have decided with your conscience that it is not good.
          • Your conscience, paired with your sin, immediately brought your shame, Adam and Eve… before that there was no discussion to be had about clothing, because God did not say anything about it… all you needed to care about was what God said… that was it… now knew thoughts are entering your head… thoughts not from God… thoughts not even from Satan… thoughts brought on by the weight of conscience.
• So they cover themselves up with fig leaves… but then they hear God coming… so what do they do? They hide!
  • All of the sudden, with conscience comes fear.
    • Here is a feeling that Adam and Eve had never felt before… they were not designed to feel it… the feeling of fear…
    • And where is their fear directed? At the serpent? At each other? No, at the Lord.
      • And it is good they had that fear, because it shows at some level their conscience is working… because they sinned against a Holy God… and they now know, they have this knowledge of good and evil… they know that God is good, and they, because of their sin, they are evil.
        • They did not need that knowledge before… there was no need for a discussion of their own depravity and God’s holiness… it was simply “I am Adam, that is my wife Eve, and there is our Father God”.
          • “Well which one of you is more holy” the snake might ask…
            • What do you mean? I am Adam, that is Eve, and that is our Father… that’s it.
          • “Yes but which of you is separated from sin?”
            • What is this “Sin” you speak of. There is no sin here… there is just me, my wife, and my Father.
        • Before the fall life was so simple, and beautiful. It was just us and God.
          • Now, with sin, and with the knowledge of good and evil, there comes shame, and fear, and worry… there comes guilt, and judgment, and peer pressure… there comes logic, and debates, and internal wars within our beings.
  • Listen to these verses, written by Paul… Paul who wrote a third of the New Testament mind you… listen to this war Paul is having with himself, with his conscience, and tell me it does not sound chaotic, confusing, and burdensome.

Romans 7:14-24 NKJV  For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.  (15)  For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.  (16)  If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.  (17)  But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  (18)  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  (19)  For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.  (20)  Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.  (21)  I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.  (22)  For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.  (23)  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  (24)  O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

• Do you hear the chaos in Paul’s voice… do you see the burden he is trying to portray?
  • I have this war RAGING inside of me…
    • What I want to do, sometimes I don’t do it.
    • And what I don’t want to do, sometimes that is what I do…
      • And the law of God is beautiful… but there is this other law inside of me…
      • And I struggle to listen to the Law of God… because this other law inside of me is raging.
        • *increasingly desperate* And it… is just so exhausting… God is good, and sin is evil… and God is in me… but evil is there too.
        • *even more increasingly desperate* And good and bad, and righteousness and wickedness, and Holiness, and sinfulness, and my flesh and my spirit… ALL AT WAR… ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!
• Church, may I propose to you that this war that Paul is talking about, this internal war inside of him… this is a war we were never meant to have… but it is a war we must have… because we now, whether we like it or not, we now have the knowledge of good and evil.
  • And that knowledge is constantly talking to us… but we were not designed to have this knowledge.
    • We were not created with the intent of bearing the knowledge of good and evil.
    • So for God who is omnipotent and omniscient… he can carry the knowledge of good and evil and it is not a problem for Him.
      • God who is all powerful and all knowing has not issue carrying the knowledge of good and evil.
      • But we, we humans, who are not all powerful, who are not all knowing… we were not designed to carry the knowledge of good and evil, and so it becomes very burdensome to us.

• I made this Title Slide, well, AI made the image, to illustrate the point.
  • Pinocchio was given this talking cricket to be his conscience… to be the voice to tell him what is right and what is wrong.
    • Now in the Disney movie, the cricket is called Jiminy Cricket and Jiminy goes with Pinocchio on his adventures, pleading with the puppet to do the right thing, though he is often ignored by Pinocchio…
    • But in the original book, which is MUCH BETTER, in the original book the Cricket talks to Pinocchio, and the very first time that the Cricket tells Pinocchio what is right and what is wrong, Pinocchio get’s annoyed, and crushes the cricket with a brick.
      • In the original Pinocchio book Jiminy Cricket is killed almost immediately… because Pinocchio did not want that annoying voice in his life.
        • And I think from the worlds perspective that is far more realistic…
        • The world does not like their conscience, so they try to twist it… they try to justify it, and many times they try to kill it…
          • They try to kill their conscience by drowning it in a bottle.
            • Trying to numb it with alcohol.
          • They try to numb their conscience with sexual partners.
          • They try to numb it with drugs.
          • They try to numb it with harmful friendships and relationships.
          • They try to numb it by focusing on their career and hiding behind a desk in a nice office or at work in a field away from their problems.
          • There are so many ways that the world tries to numb and kill their conscience…
            • But we are not the world, we are Christians. So, like Paul, we decide we are going to fight… we are going to fight for what is right, even if it is exhausting… but that brings up another problem… point two this morning…
• Conscience is a Burden we are Really Bad at Carrying.

Point Two – Conscience is a Burden We Are Really Bad at Carrying

Genesis 3:9-13 NKJV  Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”  (10)  So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  (11)  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”  (12)  Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”  (13)  And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• Conscience is a Burden We are Really Bad at Carrying.
  • Along with the knowledge of good and evil came the knowledge of their own sin.
    • Now they felt burdened to make it right themselves.
    • Because they think they know what is right, and therefore they want to make it right before God shows up.
      • So the first thing they do is try to cover their shame, so they sew fig leaves together.
        • And check this out, that is a job God never asked them to do…
        •  even before the curse we see Adam and Eve creating labor for themselves… a labor that they thought necessary to make up for their sin, a labor brought on by the knowledge of good and evil and the knowledge that through their sin they are now infect evil.
      • *Pretend to have burden* “Agh… I now know right and wrong… good and evil… and I have chosen evil… I know, I will make fig leaves! That will make it better, that will make this burden lighter…”
    • Then they hear God coming…
      • *Pretend to have burden* “Ahhh… no, no, no, no… I am not read, I’m not ready… I need more time to figure this burden out… I just will hide behind this tree…”
    • Then God says “Did you eat the forbidden fruit”
      • *Pretend to have burden*  “I can’t handle this… maybe if I just blame someone else this burden will be a little lighter on my shoulder… maybe then I can catch my breath and figure this thing out”…
      • *Trying to lift* “The woman YOU gave me Lord”
        • Notice Adam blames both God and Eve!
        • Then Eve tries…
      • *Trying to lift* “Not me Lord, the serpent it was HIS fault”
        • No it wasn’t Eve, the serpent did not force you to eat.
        • And Adam, Eve did not force you to eat.
          • Why are you casting blame? It’s stupid, and it is a terrible way to try to carry the burden of conscience.
• You see we are really really bad at carrying the burden of conscience…
  • Why? Because we were never created to carry this burden.
    • So it presses us hard.
    • It exhausts us.
    • It discourages us.
    • It wars withinside of us.
      • We were not designed to carry this burden. We are Christians so we refuse to try to numb the burden or kill the burden…
      • But even carrying it seems difficult… it sure seems like that is what Paul is portraying as he talks about the war withinside himself.
• How many times have you struggled to figure out the right thing to do?
  • How many times have you agonized anxiously wondering if you made the right choice…
  • Or if you WILL make the right choice.
    • Have you, like I have, spent hours, days, weeks, even months crying out to God for wisdom and clarity in a situation.
      • “God I don’t know what is right, I don’t know how to proceed… I don’t know what you want me to do!”
        • It can be an agonizing prayer.
        • And again I suggest that God did not mean for us to have that kind of agony.
• We don’t need to agonize over how to carry the burden of Conscience, we were not designed for that…
  • And when we do we can often times figure out what is good and what is evil, we have that ability now… but many times it is through trials and tribulations that we come to those conclusions.
  • And y’all, even non-Christians have a conscience and are able to discern right from wrong… and even for them it is a conflict… that is what Romans 2:14-15 says.
    • As humans with the knowledge of good and evil we are able to figure out what is right and what is wrong most times… not all times because we just were not designed for this knowledge… but most times we can figure it out if we are honest with ourselves and don’t kill our talking cricket before we leave the room…
      • BUT MAN IS IT A BURDEN… and one we just are not good at bearing…
• But I have good news, saints, because we serve a God who sent His son to die for us… and at the foot of the cross there is a place with a sign that reads “Leave your burdens here!”
  • Ok there is not really a sign there but you get my point…
    • And I will conclude with this… Lay your Burden Down at the Foot of the Cross.

Conclusion – Lay Your Burden Down at the Foot of the Cross

• Listen, if all you get from this sermon is this, then I have done well… there is a better way, an easier way, a way of freedom and liberty that does not involve such a heavy burden.
  • It is what I as a pastor have been trying to show you all for years.
    • That if you would freely sacrifice your right to discern what is right and wrong, and simply return to the ethics of the garden… your life will be so much easier.
      • You can choose today, to be like Adam and Eve before the fall.
      • You can choose today to not be the morality to police… to not be the one who decides what is right and what is wrong.
      • You can choose today to honor and obey the Lord, and His law and simply say “I do what God tells me to do, and I don’t do what God tells me not to do… that’s it”.
      • You can choose today to open your Bible, Read it, and Do What it Says.
    • Man, look at the very first Psalm, it will tell you how wonderful it is to sacrifice your ideas of what is good and what is evil, and to just simply trust the Lord.

Psalms 1:1-3 NKJV  Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;  (2)  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.  (3)  He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

• Blessed is the man who’s delight is in the Law of the Lord… He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water… whatever he does shall prosper.
  • Don’t worry about what the world says, what culture thinks, what wicked people suggest… just trust God’s law.
    • “But society says this is good”
      • I don’t care, I delight in the law of the Lord
    • “But I saw on the news that if you would just…”
      • I don’t care man… I delight in the law of the Lord
    • “But everyone does this every once in a while”
      • I don’t care, I delight in the law of the Lord.
    • “But I was talking to a bunch of people and they don’t think that sounds very loving… shouldn’t you instead”
      • No, man, I delight in the law of the Lord.
• Psalm 1 says to delight in the Law of the Lord and Meditate on it Day and Night…
  • The more and more you read your Bible, you study your Bible, you meditate on the words of your Bible…
    • The less and less you will struggle to know what to do in any given situation… because you know the Word and you just do what it says.
      • I firmly believe that if EVERYONE in this church knew the Word of God, delighted in the Word of God, and obeyed the Word of God that we would be an incredibly blessed and prosperous church.
      • And so, until the day I die, I will preach that Christ Jesus came to save sinners, forgiveness of sins is through Christ alone… and if you are forgiven and born again then you simply need to Open Your Bible, Read it, and Do what it says.
  • By the way, before Paul said all of that about the war of his conscience raging inside Him… this is what he said…

Romans 7:12 NKJV  Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

• And directly after the tirade about this war inside him this is what he says…

Romans 7:25-8:2 NKJV  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  (2)  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

• Adam and Eve’s sin brought death and sin into this world, and with it this new law they created for themselves with the knowledge of good and evil.
  • A law that said they must achieve righteousness on their own.
    • They must be good enough, and holy enough by their own works and their own strength.
    • A law that made excuses, and hid from shame, and created new labors to try to cover up wrongdoing.
    • But a law that ultimately leads to death.
  • But God’s Law is better, it is a law of life, it is a law of liberty, it is a law of blessing.
    • Through Christ we can chose to obey God… and through Christ we can find forgiveness when we don’t.