Now, in the book of Malachi chapter
3, I want to take you back to verse 18, the last verse of chapter
3. I came to the end of the last
message and read this verse, but I didn't get to comment much
on it, so I want to really spend most of my time right here. But
I wanted to read it in context for this reason. The title of
the message this evening is Spiritual Discernment. Spiritual discernment. Verse 18 says, then shall you
return and discern. That's what he's talking about.
Spiritual discernment. Discern between the righteous
and the wicked. Between him that serveth God
and him that serveth him not. Now as I said when I read this
passage, you know, when you look back, Malachi chapter 3, beginning
there at verse 13, all the way to the end of this chapter. The
Lord made a distinction between the wicked and the righteous.
Look back at verse 13. Here's his description of the
wicked. And this isn't the first description of the wicked we
have in the book of Malachi, certainly not in the whole Bible.
But listen to how he sets one in contrast to the other. Verse
13, he says, Your words have been stout or hard or proud against
me, against the Lord. He's talking about unbelievers
here. What he's describing here is the natural man, dead in trespasses
and sins. This is total depravity. You
know, people use that theological term. Sometimes I think we get
in our minds some kind of an image of just a monster or something
like that, but here's a person or a group of people who are
in unbelief and just speaking hard words, proud words. And he says, your words have
been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet you say, what have
we spoken so much against thee? In other words, how have we spoken
against you? And that's another trait of the
natural man. It's ignorance. He speaks against
the Lord, but he doesn't know it. He's ignorant of it. Dead in trespasses and sin, spiritual
darkness. That's what that's all about.
That's what we all are by nature. If you know the Lord, if you
have any words of praise for the true Lord from the heart
now, not just from the lips, but from the heart, that's because
you've been born again by the Spirit. You've been made alive
quicken. But having been dead in trespasses
and sins, the natural man doesn't even know. In fact, while he
thinks he's praising the Lord, He can at the same time be speaking
stout words against the Lord. When Cain, for example, brought
the works of his hands, he had in his mind to praise the Lord,
but he was speaking stout words, proud words. Any sinner coming
before God thinking that he can be accepted and saved and washed
from his sins based upon anything other than the grace of God in
Christ, the blood of Christ alone, the righteousness of Christ alone.
That sinner is speaking stout words against the true and living
God. And verse 14, he says, you have
said it is vain to serve God. Now this was their perception
of things. What it was, you remember I told you, they were back in
the land of Judah in Jerusalem. They had been brought out of
captivity. They'd been in the land here about over a hundred
years. The temple had been rebuilt.
The city of Jerusalem, the walls had been rebuilt. and they were
bringing their, they were religious, they were dedicated in their
religion, but now they didn't worship God according to his
word. They worshiped their own way.
You remember, they didn't keep the Sabbath, and that Sabbath,
you see, that was one of the central issues of that old covenant.
You see, all of that was a picture of Christ and salvation by the
grace of God in him, and that Sabbath, that Sabbath day was
a picture of our rest, our eternal rest in Christ based on His finished
work. And so in not keeping the Sabbath,
not only did they show their contempt for God's commands,
they were showing their contempt for the Messiah. They were showing
their contempt for His finished work, His redemptive work. And
then they were bringing blemish sacrifices. You remember the
sacrifice, the animal sacrifice, the blood sacrifice, the burnt
offerings. It was to be a lamb without spot
and without blemish. They were bringing blemish, maimed,
defective sacrifices. Again, there's another picture
of our savior, the lamb of God, who offered himself without spot
unto God based on the sins of his people imputed, charged,
accounted to him. And he remained unblemished that
whole time, never having a sinful thought, never having a corrupt thought in his mind. And so when
they did that, not only again were they showing their contempt
for the commandments of God, they were showing their contempt
for the Messiah, for Christ and His finished work. So he says,
and they weren't being blessed in their land, they were going
through a drought, but then they looked at other nations where
there was no pretense of worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and they saw those nations prosper, and so their perception
of things, they'd say stuff like this, it's vain to serve God.
Here we're trying to serve God in the best way we know how,
and that was a lie. And we're not being blessed,
our crops aren't growing, our coffers are not full. And yet
we look at those Philistines over there or those other nations
and they're being blessed, they're rich. So what does that mean? What do we conclude? How do we
make a judgment here? That's what they're saying. Well,
we're going to judge that it's worthless to serve God then.
And so look at verse 14, he says, They say it's vain to serve God
and what profit is it that we've kept his ordinance? They didn't
keep his ordinance, but they claim to. It's like people today,
we all believe the gospel, they say. What do we? See, that's something we have
to understand. And they say that we have walked mournfully before
the Lord of hosts. In other words, instead of being
joyous, we're mourners. And now we call the proud happy.
Those proud, arrogant, heathen nations that didn't make any
pretense of worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
those proud, they're proud, they're proud, but they're happy. Well,
he'd already said, you're proud, you're proud too. Yea, they that
work wickedness are set up. They're set, you know, we'd say
it like this, they're set for life. They've got it made in
the shade. And yet they work wickedness.
Well, God is saying through Malachi, you're working wickedness too.
In fact, you're sinning with a higher hand than they are because
you have the light of truth in your camp. And it says, yea,
that they that tempt God are even delivered. They test God.
They don't believe God. That's what that means. And they're
delivered. So that was their perception
of things. All right. Now that's the wicked right there. That's the wicked. Well, in verse
16, he begins to describe the righteous. Now, the righteous
here is the spiritual man. This is the sinner saved by the
grace of God, chosen of God, redeemed by the blood, and regenerated
by the Spirit. He says in verse 16, then they
that feared the Lord. You see, by nature, no man fears
God. That fear there is not a phobia. It's not a legal terror. that
causes sinners to run and hide like Adam in the garden and hug
a tree, a tree of righteousness, self-righteousness rather, tree
of self-righteousness. But it's that reverence and respect
for God that springs from knowledge, a God-given knowledge by the
power of the Spirit wherein he shows us our sin and drives us
to Christ for all salvation. It causes us to reverence God
as the holy one, the just one. Yea, he is merciful, he is gracious,
but he's a just God and a savior. So they that feared the Lord
spoke often one to another, that's fellowship in the faith. It's
not just talking, it's worship. And the Lord hearkened, the Lord
heard, he hearkened, he listened, and he heard it. God hears the
prayers of his people. He communes with us. through
Christ, at the throne of grace and mercy. That's what that means.
Doesn't mean that we hollered loud enough that God finally
heard us. No, that's modern day religion there. If you holler
loud enough, speak often enough, and get at least 100 people in
your prayer chain, then he'll listen. No, no, no, no. That's
not what this is talking about. And a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought
upon his name. Now remember, we talked about that book of
remembrance. If it's talking about the book of God, it's talking
about the Lamb's book of life. That's what it's saying. Which
was written before the foundation of the world. It's not up there
that God is using a number two pencil with an eraser on it and
he pencils your name in, then you mess up and he erases your
name out and then you do good and he pencils it back in. No,
sir. No, that's the Lamb's Book of
Life is a book of God's sovereign electing grace in Christ. And then if it's talking about
God's record of his people, that's what it's talking about. But
then some commentators say that he's talking about the book of
remembrance for us there, it says for them. which would be
his word, recorded, written, his written word. God reminds
us all the time, and we need to be reminded from his word,
Genesis to Revelation, of his glory, of his grace. That's why he gave us the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper, this do in remembrance of me. Remember
me and I think about that often I think of both. I don't I don't
think it does damage to the scripture to take both both Interpretations
of that because I'll tell you what don't we all take comfort
in the fact that the Lord remembers us And yet he doesn't remember
our iniquities. He said their sins and iniquities.
I will remember no more he doesn't hold them against us because
they're imputed charged accounted to Christ and Doesn't account
them to us. Christ put them away. I can't remember if it was Gary
or Jim said, cast them behind his back. Have you ever tried
to look at your back? You can't see it. And that's what that
means. That's figurative language showing
that God does not hold our sin against us. Christ put it away. He was made sin. He was made
a curse. He was made guilty for us. And so the Lord remembers us
in Christ. But I thank God also by the power
of his spirit in Christ, I remember him too. Because I'm so prone
to wander and forget. We sing that song, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. That's us, but he keeps us, doesn't
he? And he'll continually bring it
to our remembrance. through his word. And then it
says, they thought upon his name, that is his glory. It's the glory
of God in Christ that seals us, it's the glory of God in Christ
that motivates us, it's the glory of God in Christ that drives
us, and it's the glory of God in Christ that guides us through
this world. And then verse 17, he says, and
they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts. God takes full
possession of his children. He brings them into his family,
his household. The shepherd brings his sheep
into the fold. The father brings his sons and
daughters into the household. And it's all by redemption, the
redemption of blood through the blood of Christ, the redemption
of grace. And he makes us full-fledged
sons of God with a heavenly inheritance, and we cannot be disinherited
from him. We cannot. If the Son makes you
free, you shall be free indeed. And he says, in that day when
I make up my jewels, he's gathering his special treasure, his jewels. That's what he calls his people.
Jewels are worth some. And you see our worth and our
value is not in ourselves. It's not. It's in the glory of
God, because when he gathers his jewels together, his redeemed
ones by the power of his spirit, through the preaching of the
gospel, he is the one who gets the glory and the honor. He says, I'll spare them as a
man spareth his own son that serveth him. We serve him not
as forced legal slaves trying to pay a debt, but we serve him
as sons. We serve him not in order to
gain or maintain our position in his household and family.
We serve him because we have an assured, settled, secure position
already in his household and family. because of the firstborn
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, out of all that, that's
what he's done. He's made a distinction between
the wicked and the righteous. He says, then shall you return,
verse 18, and discern. He's talking about spiritual
discernment there. And this discernment, this separation,
we'll talk about this in a minute. I'll tell you what it all has
to do with. This distinction, let's say, between the wicked
and the righteous. What does it mean to discern?
You know what discern means? It means to see. It means you see things. He says,
then shall you return. When you return from wherever
it is you are, or from wherever it is I am, when you return,
you'll see things that you didn't see before. That's what that
means. You'll discern something, something
you didn't know and under, you were in the dark before, now
you're in the light. So it means to see, to see how with spiritual
eyes that you didn't have before when you return. You didn't have
them before, but now you have spiritual eyes. You'll hear things
you didn't hear before because now you have spiritual ears.
You'll understand things that you didn't understand before
because now you have a spiritual heart, a new heart, a new mind. In other words, discern means
to see with spiritual eyes in light of the glory of God in
Christ according to the word of God. To discern means to have
insight. You have insight now that you
didn't have before. It was a mystery to you. But
now it's been Revealed. Who revealed it? God did. By
His Spirit. It's vision. You have a vision
now. That you didn't have before.
It's an understanding. It means to distinguish. It means
to judge. To discern means to judge. It
means to see reality. This is how it really is now.
It used to be how I thought it was. But now I see how it really
is. And what I thought it was wasn't
even close. That's what discern means. Another
word for this would be the word prudent. You know, the Bible
often uses the word prudent. A person who is prudent spiritually
is a person who can make wise choices because he sees things
the way they are. Proverbs 16, 21, listen to this,
it says, the wise in heart shall be called prudent or discerning. And the sweetness of lips increased
learning. Understanding is a wellspring
of life unto him that hath it, but the instruction of fools
is foulish. Discernment, one writer said
this, listen to this, this is good. He said, the ability to
think biblically about all areas of life. Without it, now without
discernment, people are at risk of being tossed
to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by
the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive. The less you're able to discern,
the more open you are to deception. Deception. And what is the measuring point
of this spiritual discernment? I'll tell you exactly what it
is. Look at verse two of chapter four. Here it is. Now the next
message is going to be entitled The Son of Righteousness, but
I want you to just get a little preview right here. But unto
you that fear my name shall the Son of Righteousness arise. You know who has spiritual discernment? those in whose hearts the son
of righteousness has arisen shining his glorious effulgent light
the light has come on and that light is Christ he is the son
of righteousness and out of the sun you'll get warmth you'll
get warmth we'll talk about that later on in that message and
you'll get joy and you'll get beauty. That's why the flowers
are the cutting. That's why you got the green
grass, the sun. They call that photosynthesis
in the physical realm, don't they? Well, there's a spiritual
photosynthesis. Our beauty is the sun of righteous,
but you'll also get light. And with that light comes discernment
so that our spiritual discernment, our spiritual sight and understanding
and distinguishing and judgment is always done based upon what
we know by revelation of the Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. And it's all discerned, all discernment. is to be made as it relates to
Jesus Christ and Him crucified in every area of life. In where
I go to church, where I don't go to church, in my fellowship
and friendships, in my marriage, in my children and how I raise
them. Everything is to be discerned
as to its value, its goodness or its wickedness in life. of how it relates to Jesus Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. Now the natural man has no spiritual
discernment. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter
2. The natural man, and that's all
of us by nature, he has absolutely no spiritual discernment. Now
he may have a lot of knowledge, and even some wisdom in a lot
of different areas. He may be able to invest his
money wisely and get a big return. He may be able to build buildings. He may be able to paint paintings
and write songs. He may be able to do a lot of
things in a lot of ways in a lot of different areas. But when
it comes to spiritual matters, of what is right and wrong, wicked,
righteous, what is value, he has no spiritual discernment.
That's what 1 Corinthians 2. And let me look back up at verse
12, because look at this in context. He's talking about the spirit,
the natural man, and how God has revealed the things of his
glory in Christ, the way of salvation, how God has revealed this by
his spirit. The Holy Spirit, the third person
of the Trinity who comes from the Father and the Son to give
us life and light, to give us the new birth. And he says, the
only thing a man can know naturally is what's in the spirit of man
naturally, the fallen, sinful, spiritually dead man. And the
only thing that can know the things of God is He who is God,
the Spirit of God. And it says in verse 12, now
look at verse 12 of 1 Corinthians. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world. That's the natural man. We didn't receive that from God.
We're just born that way. In other words, when we're born,
it's not like God had a vial of sin and He shot it into us
or something like that. It's just the way we're born.
But he says, but the Spirit which is of God. Now, when we're born
again by the Holy Spirit, we receive the Spirit which is of
God. We're quickened by the Holy Spirit
and the Holy Spirit himself indwells us and he implants the Word of
God. That we might know The things
that are freely given to us of God. That's discernment right
there. That's spiritual discernment
right there. You know the things that are freely given you of
God. Before you didn't know that.
Now go back to Cain and Abel because that's the benchmark.
Cain didn't know the things that are freely given. He thought
he had to work for them. He thought he had to earn God's
favor. That's why he brought the works
of his hands. I've got to do something. There's conditions
that I've got to meet, you see. He had no knowledge of the things
that are freely given. He had no discernment. I've got
to work for my righteousness. You see? But Abel knew himself. God had revealed to Abel some
things about his sin and his depravity, and he knew that he
could not earn salvation. He could not work his way to
righteousness. And so he saw by the preaching
of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit that in the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom Abel knew as the promised Messiah, the
Messiah to come, the God-man, that all the blessings of God,
of salvation, of forgiveness, of justification, of eternal
life, spiritual life and glory are freely given to a sinner
through Christ. That's discernment. Now look
at verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 2. Which things also we speak
not in words which man's wisdom teaches. Man's words will not
bring discernment. They'll bring confusion. And
boy haven't we seen that in the last few years. How man's words
will always bring confusion and dissension. Not discernment. But he says words which the Holy
Ghost teacheth. Now how does he do that? Through
the word of God. Comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. In other words, we don't measure
the spiritual by the natural. We measure the spiritual with
the spiritual. What does that mean? That means
we measure the value of something as it glorifies God, as it exalts
Christ, as it puts us in the dust where we belong, and as
it reveals that great salvation that is freely provided for sinners
through Christ. That's how we measure the value
of it. He says in verse 14, but now the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness
unto him. See, he has no discernment here.
They're foolishness to him. The preaching of the cross is
foolish to them that are perishing. You mean to tell me God will
save me? Freely? Unconditionally? Without
any cause in myself? Without me doing anything? That's
foolish to the natural man. Oh, come on. Give me something
to do. Let me get baptized. Let me join
the church. Let me do this, that, or the
other. That makes sense to me. That's what the natural man said.
But their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them. He
can't discern them. He says, because they are spiritually,
look at it, discerned. seen, valued, judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth,
same word, discerneth all things, yet he himself is judged of no
man. In other words, it's not a judgment of the natural man
upon us. Natural man has no spiritual
discernment. Now go on to verse 16. He says,
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct
him? but we have the mind of christ now how do we have the
mind of christ well we have certainly have the holy spirit who indwells
and he's the he's one with the father in the sun but we have
built word of christ we have his work and that is his mind
you want to know what dot you know people all time grants and
while one of what the will of god is well right there it is
now i know in providence their things we don't know that what
each day hold i know that But the natural man has no spiritual
discernment. One more verse on this subject.
Look at 1 John 3. 1 John 3. Listen to this. Verse 1 of 1 John 3. He says,
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
1 John 3 and verse 1, that we should be called the sons of
God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. The world discerns us not, because
it discerned Christ not. By nature, what does the book
of Isaiah say? How did we esteem Christ? We
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, cursed of God. That's
the natural man. But oh, when the Holy Spirit
gives us life and discernment, our perception of things change,
don't it? Now He is my life. Now Christ is my life. That's what I'm talking about.
Go back to Malachi 3. Now, he says there in verse 18,
then shall you return. You see that in verse 18? He's
not talking about a relocation in geography here. He's not talking
about the people returning to the Holy Land, as they say. They're
already there. He's not talking about them moving
anywhere else geographically. He's not talking about real estate
here. When he says, then shall you return, you know what he's
talking about? He's talking about repentance. A change of mind and heart. Doesn't refer to place, it refers
to a state of mind when you return. You see, by nature, we call good
evil and evil good. But all who are brought by the
power of God to turn to Christ have been brought to repentance
so as to discern, to judge between the righteous and the wicked.
Now, first of all, let me give you some things about that. First
of all, we learn from this that spiritual discernment is a gift
of God's grace. We don't have it naturally, and
you can't educate a person into it. You can't do it. Just like faith is a gift, for
by grace are you saved. Through faith, that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Faith is a gift of God. We don't have it naturally. Spiritual
discernment is. And so is repentance. All of
these are gifts of God's grace in Christ. You know, it takes
the Holy Spirit by the word of God in a sovereign, powerful
work of regeneration to give a sinner spiritual discernment. Turn to Philippians chapter 3.
I go to this passage quite often, but it's one of the best examples
of the very thing I'm talking about here. Philippians chapter
3. The Apostle Paul talking about
his own conversion here. Now here's Paul without spiritual
discernment. Look at verse 4. Here's Paul,
here's Saul of Tarsus in his natural state, no spiritual discernment. He says, though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised
the eighth day. He discerned at one time that
that meant something as far as recommending him to God. He says,
of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. Now, all those things he thought
he judged at one point in time, his vision, that was his way
of looking at things, that these are the things that make a sinner
righteous before God. These are the things that recommend
me to God. These are the things that God
will look at, look at me and he'll say, he'll say, oh, I'm
gonna give him blessings. But what happened now? Look at
verse seven. But what things were gained to me, those I counted
loss for Christ, the son of righteousness. His perception changed. What
happened to him? Well, he's born again by the
Holy Spirit. on the Damascus road. His perception at one time
is Christ is cur- Jesus of Nazareth is a malefactor, a criminal,
a cursed one. And I'm gonna wipe his name off
the face of the earth. That was his, that was his discernment
before. But God struck him down on the
Damascus road. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Blinded him first, didn't he,
physically. Showing his spiritual blindness.
and then brought him to see something he'd never seen before. The glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And he says in verse eight, yea,
doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but dumb that I may
win Christ and be found in him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law but that which is through the faith or
faithfulness of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith, their
spiritual discernment. That which is highly esteemed
among men, no spiritual discernment, is an abomination to God, spiritual
discernment. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't we done many wonderful
works? No spiritual discernment. The
Lord said, Depart from me ye that work iniquity. I never knew
you. Spiritual discernment. Secondly,
spiritual discernment is seeing all things in light of Christ
and as they stand in relation to Christ and Him crucified.
Who He is. You see, it all goes back to
this, What think ye of Christ? That's where spiritual discernment
begins, centers, and ends, right there. Who is He? He's the Son
of God incarnate. He's the God-man. Anything less
is an idol. Anything less is an idol. And
when we talk about spiritual discernment, we're not saying
that when God saves us, we automatically become judges of men's hearts. No, sir. We must understand reality. I mean, here comes a fellow along
and he says to you, he says, now, Ron, I don't believe in
God. I don't believe in Jesus Christ. I don't believe in heaven.
I don't believe in hell. I don't believe in any of that
stuff. Now, you don't have any problem discerning that that's
an unbeliever. I mean, what's he got to do,
slap you in the face with a cold fish or something? That's an
unbeliever. And then there are degrees of
people who have professions of faith. But this doesn't mean
we can be judges of every man's heart, but it does mean that
we are brought by God the Holy Spirit to conviction. We know
the reality of what wickedness is and what righteousness is
in light of the truth as it is in Christ. That's what he's talking
about here in Malachi 3.18. All who are in Christ righteous. All who are without Christ wicked. You know why this thing of discernment
and judgment is so misunderstood? Because of a misunderstanding
and a misuse of a popular verse. Matthew 7 and verse 1. What does
it say? Judge not that you be not judged.
People go around and they say, well I don't judge anything.
You judge everything. You do. And what is he forbidding there?
What is the Lord forbidding when he says judge not? He's forbidding
self-righteous judgment. That's what he's forbidding.
He's forbidding judgment based on outward appearance. Do you
know in the same passage, Matthew 7, if you go down and look at
verse 15, you know what he says there? He says, beware of false
prophets. How are you going to beware of
them if you don't judge them to be false? And what is the standard of judgment?
Well, 1 John chapter 4 tells us, he says, believe not every
spirit for there'll be those coming claiming to speak by the
Spirit of God who'll deny the humanity of Christ. There'll
be those coming denying the deity of Christ, the doctrine of Christ. That's the issue. Well, let me
close with this. Spiritual discernment is something
believers must have and must cultivate. It's growing in grace and knowledge. Let me show you this in Hebrews
chapter 5. He's talking here about false professors who are trying
to bring believers back under the law of Moses. And what he's
telling them is you need to discern the reality here. You need to
see something that you're not seeing the way you need to. And he talks about Jesus Christ
who's so much better than the angels, so much better than Moses,
so much better than Aaron and that earthly priesthood and that
earthly tabernacle. The fulfillment of the whole
Old Testament. The fulfillment of all righteousness. Why would you want to go back
to those burdensome elements when you have Christ? That's
what he's saying. And so he makes a distinction
here between Christ's eternal priesthood through the type Melchizedek
as contrasted with Aaron, whose priesthood was a human priesthood.
And he says, Melchizedek, look at verse 11, Hebrews 5, of whom
we have many things to say and hard to be uttered. Now it's
not hard because these are deep doctrines. They're hard because
of their state of mind. Seeing you are dull of hearing.
He says, for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need
that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the
oracles, the word of God. And are become such as have need
of milk and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is
unskillful in the word of righteousness. What is the word of righteousness?
It's the preaching of the son of righteousness. For he's a
babe. But strong me belongeth to them
that are of full age, mature, grown up, he says, even those
who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil." To know the difference. So this is something we need
and we need to cultivate by attending ourselves to the word of God.
Study, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. We need it
because we have to make choices every day in our lives concerning
issues that honor God or don't honor God. That's why Paul wrote
in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, he said, in everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. Quench not the
spirit, despise not prophesying, that's preaching the word. Prove
all things, test all things, hold fast that which is good,
abstain from all appearance of evil. We have to do that every
day. We need it because there are
false prophets in this world. Romans 16.15 says, mark them
which cause division among you, contrary to the doctrine which
you've been taught, and avoid them. How are you going to do
that except you have spiritual discernment? Paul said in 2 Corinthians
11, he said, I fear for you. lest you be deceived by Satan's
subtlety, just like Eve was deceived. He said, for if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus or another gospel by another spirit. In
Galatians chapter one, he said, if any man cometh, if any creature,
if we or any other creature preach any other gospel to you than
that which we've preached, let him be anathema. How are you
gonna know the difference? He said in Galatians 5 once,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. What if you
can't recognize and discern the yoke of bondage? What if they
sneak it in on you? Grow up is what he's saying. He said, in the last days there'll
come false Christ and false prophets who will show great signs and
wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive
the very elect. We need it because it's one of
God's means to preserve us. The scripture tells us to examine
ourselves whether we be in the faith. Can you discern that? Can I? What's he talking about? Well, you know what most people
do when they go to that verse? That's 2 Corinthians 13, 5. They
say, well, do I believe enough? Or do I have enough faith? That's
not what that is saying at all. Listen to it. Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Test your
own selves. Know you not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. Examine
yourselves whether you be in Christ. Am I looking to Christ
and him alone or am I looking somewhere else? For salvation,
for forgiveness, for righteousness, for security, for assurance.
Where are you looking? That's what he's talking about.
You say, well, listen, you ask most people today about salvation,
about 90% of the time, what do they do? They go back to a profession
they made when they was a teenager or earlier. And I'm gonna tell you something,
that's not right, that's bad. Where am I looking today? To
whom am I looking today? Can I honestly sing from the
heart? My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
That's self-examination. And I'll tell you why we need
to be Astute in this thing of spiritual
discernment Jeremiah said it this way in Jeremiah 79 said
the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked
who can know it We can't even trust our own heart in this matter.
Where do we go then? He says in verse 10. I the Lord
searched the heart. I Test the reins even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doings How does God do that? I'll tell you exactly how through
his word. I Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
8 and verse 20, he said, to the law and to the testimony, if
they speak not according to this word, there's no light in them. Our Lord spoke to his disciples
in John chapter 7 and he made this statement, verse 24. He
said, judge not according to the outward appearance, discern
not according to the outward appearance, but judge righteous
judgment. Now let me ask you a question.
How in this world can we, who are so sinful and so ignorant
in so many ways, how can we judge righteous judgment? How is that
even possible? Not but one way. Let this word
speak. Right here. Whatever this word
says, do it. However this word says to do
it, do it that way. That's right, in every area of
life. And if God ever brings us to repentance, we turn unto
Him, then we'll be able to discern these issues as God reveals them
to us. All right.