Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The Word of God ties the conscience to the condition of our heart. If your heart is not pure, the conscience will not exhort you to good deeds.

Luke 11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.

Do you think we see what we are doing as being an evil thing? Our conscience tells us what we are doing was good and right. A conscience does wrong if the heart is wrong. You must always guard your heart and protect it.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

The conscience is a function of the mind. It is a reasoning power which weighs character against desire. All healthy humans have this power of reasoning. It is developed, learned through training and practical exercise. There are consequences for actions, we must weigh penalty against desire. Christians do not own the corner on a good conscience. Non-believers can be just as law abiding as Christians.

Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

The conscience we are seeking to discover here goes above and beyond the natural, beyond developmental training, beyond historical insight. The conscience we seek to develop is one which is a reflection of the changed heart, the new creature, the new man in Christ. It will serve you to stay out of trouble areas where the law allows access.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life

Keep here is the Hebrew word natsar which means to guard with fidelity.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Remember from John 10:10 that Satan is a thief and this gift given to us by Christ is a precious thing that Satan wants to steal from us. He attacks our peace with worldly cares and concerns.

Matthew 10:35-37 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

The enemy will attack your peace with God using your strongest allegiances and those may well be those of your own household. When I turned to Christ my own brothers turned against me. Painful as that was I had to choose Christ over family when family could not accept the new me.

I cannot imagine what my life would have been like if I had denied Christ for the sake of my sinful brothers. I did not and His peace remained with me. As hurtful as it was, the peace of God ensured my joy remained intact and the love continued to work in my life.

Romans 9:1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

1 Timothy 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The new hearts barometer for peace is our new conscience.