God-given ability to discern
what I'm hearing. To know the difference between
law and grace. I want to be able to hear. And
I'm not talking about some kind of intellectual attainment that
gives me some kind of advantage over somebody else. I'm not talking
about that at all. I'm talking about the God-given
ability to be able to hear and to know what I'm hearing is from
God or whether it's of man. Don't you want that discernment?
And I want to be able to judge right. Not judge according to appearance
like our Lord said, but to judge righteous judgment. I want to
be able to judge right. And the only way you and I can
have this discernment is if God gives it to us. And the only
way we can judge right is if the Lord enables us to do so.
But this is something that I desperately want for myself. And this is
something that I desperately want for you. A discerning ear
so you can hear the difference. So you can know what is of the
Lord and what is not of the Lord. Don't you desire that for yourself?
I pray that God gives us this gift as we look at this passage
of scripture together. Now the Lord is speaking to the
people, to the crowd, and he rebukes them for their inability
to discern and to judge rightly. In verse 54, and he said also
to the people, When you see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway
you say, there cometh a shower. And so it is. By deductive reasoning,
you see this cloud coming, looking like there's rain in it, and
you say, there's going to be a shower. And there is. And when you see
the south wind blow, south of them was a desert, you say, there
will be heat. That just seems to make sense.
If the wind's blowing from the south where the heat, the desert
is, there will be heat. And it cometh to pass. And he
says in verse 56, and this is strong language, he said, you
hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth,
but how is it that you do not discern this time? A lot of things
you can discern. You can make accurate predictions
from things you see in life, but how is it that you can't
discern this time? The blame lies with you, he's
saying to these people. You ought to have this discernment. Now, why? Well, the Bible tells
plainly what Messiah is like. You read the Old Testament and
you're going to find out a beautiful picture of who Messiah is. You read the words of the Old
Testament and you'll find out exactly who he is and what he's
like. The Bible tells us what it will
be like when he comes and even when he would come. In Daniel
chapter 9, Daniel tells us that the Messiah will come 490 years
from now. That 70 times 7 is 490 years. I mean, there it is in the Bible.
The Messiah will come in 490 years. 490 years later, the wise
men, the Magi from the East, they come to see him who was
born King of the Jews. They knew he was going to be
coming at this time because the Bible said he would be coming
this time. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us we're going to come the
second time. He says, nobody knows. Nobody knows. And the
thing you can count on is if somebody says, here's what'll
come, that's what he won't come. You can just be sure of that.
But there's so much in the Bible regarding the Messiah. The Messiah would give sight
to the blind. He would make the deaf to hear. He would raise
the dead. It's obvious that I am he and you don't discern it. You can't see it. Anybody could
see it if they would, and you don't see it because you do not
want to see it. The thought lies with you. Why
do you not discern this time right now when the Messiah is
right before you and you can't see it? And then he said in verse
57, yea, and why even of yourselves Just common sense ought to enable
you to judge what is right, but you don't do it. The judgments
you make are wrong. And the problem is not lack of
intelligence. The problem is not lack of information,
right information. The problem is a sin problem. If I lack discernment, if I lack
the ability to judge, the problem is a sin problem. on my part. Now let me show you this in John
chapter 7 verse 16. Would you turn with me there
to John chapter 7 verse 16. The lack of ability to discern
is an unwillingness to do his will. That's all it is. Look
in John chapter 7 verse 16. Jesus answered them and said,
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me If any man will
do his will, if that's my desire, to do his will, whatever that
is, if any man will, if that's his desire, his will, is to do
his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God
or whether I speak of myself. Now, anyone who wants to do his
will will know. And if we don't want to do His
will, we will not have this discernment and this judgment. Now may the
Lord God make me willing to do His will. May He make that the
great desire of my heart to do His will, to hear His word. Because where there's a willingness
to do His will, there will be this knowledge and this understanding
of what we're hearing. And if there is a unwillingness
to do His will, we won't have discernment and judgment. Lack
of discernment and lack of judgment is a sin problem. It's not an
intellectual problem. It's not lack of information. It is a sin problem. And if I
have a lack of discernment in hearing, you know, hearing is
a gift of God, isn't it? You know, the Lord said, he that
hath ears to hear, let him hear. Hearing is the gift of God. I
thought of what the wise man said in Ecclesiastes chapter
5 while I was sitting there. He said in chapter 5 verse 1,
keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. And this
is what this is. The house of God is not this
building. Not at all. The house of God is the gathering
of God's people here to hear the word of God. The house of
God has nothing to do with the building. It's being here to
hear the word of God. He said, keep thy foot when thou
goes to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do
evil. Be not rash with thy mouth and
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God.
For God is in heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy
words be few. Speak, Lord. Speak, Lord. I want the Lord
to speak to me, don't you? I don't want to just hear the
words of a man. I want to hear the words of God
where he's speaking to me and I have the discernment and the
judgment to know that it's him speaking. and not just the speech
of a man. I want to be able to discern,
to know the difference. I want to know what is of God
and what is not of God. And this is not so I'll have
more knowledge than somebody else that doesn't have anything
to do with it. I want to have these hearing ears. I want to
be able to separate the precious from the vile. to know the difference
between grace and works, law and gospel, flesh and spirit,
human and divine. And I want to be able to judge
rightly, to judge not according to the appearance, but to judge
righteous judgment. That's what the Lord said in
John 17, 24. He said, judge not according to appearance, according
to the way things see. You know what? As far as appearance
goes, we'll never make a right judgment. It's not going to happen. Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment. You know, when men argue over
God's fairness and setting judgment on God, and that's what's happening
when somebody argues over God's fairness, over how he does something
and why he does something, what they're doing is all of a sudden
they become God's judge. I agree with that or I don't
agree with that, and that's a dangerous place to be. They're failing to judge what's
right. When men say that Christ died for all, but some of those
people he died for may be in hell anyway, they are failing
to judge right judgment, aren't they? They're discrediting the
justice of God. They're saying sin can be paid
for and he'll punish anyway. When people make grace an offer,
they are failing to judge righteous judgment. If all grace is an
offer, it won't do me any good. Grace must save. When men save
one who does not hear the gospel, but is still saved, and I'm talking
about the gospel of God's grace. I'm talking about the gospel
that I preach. Somebody doesn't hear that gospel, but they're
saved. They're failing to judge right
judgment. Now, this is something that is
very sobering to me, scary. I've seen churches lose their
ability to discern. I've seen it, to where they can't
see the difference. They're hearing error, and they
don't know. I've seen men and women who seem
to have judgment and discernment, and they lose it. And I fear
that happening to me. I fear it. I don't want that
to happen to me. I want me and you to be able
to discern when we hear, oh, the hearing ear is of the Lord. And you know, every church that
goes bad, and every local church will. This one will. If the Lord
doesn't come back, this one will. Every local church at one time
has lost the gospel. And it always begins with this
failure to be able to discern. And the failure begins in the
pulpit. That's where it begins. It begins
with me. If I lose my ability to discern,
you will too. You are what you hear. Now, there are also different
levels of discernment and judgment. Some have more discerning ears
than others. You know people like that. Some
that have a more quick understanding of what they're hearing than
somebody else. Well, that's the gift of God's grace. Some have difficulty
discerning the difference and they fail to judge righteous
judgment. Now, I do not want to happen to us what happened
to the Hebrews where Paul said, or whoever wrote Hebrews said,
you become dull in hearing, slow and sluggish in hearing so that
you can't really tell the difference. And let me remind you, I want
to repeat this over and over again, this is not about being
smarter than somebody else. This is not an intellectual attainment. This is something that God the
Holy Spirit gives you. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye are of the Lord. I want to be, as the wise man
said, more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. I want to be, as James said,
swift to hear. and slow to speak, slow to pop
off, slow to object, slow to wrath, but swift to hear. Don't
you want to be swift to hear? Somebody who hears what God says. Now the first thing that I thought
of when I was thinking about this subject was Samuel when
he was a little boy. Speak Lord, thy servant heareth. Now, the first thing that's necessary
for me to have any discernment and judgment and understanding
is for the Lord to speak to me. I need the Lord to speak to me,
not just a man. I need the Lord to speak to me
from His Word. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. Oh, speak to me, I'm listening. I think of Cornelius. He said
in Acts chapter 10, we are all here H-E-R-E, present before
God, to hear, H-E-A-R, all the things that God has commanded
thee. We are here to hear. Now would that be true of me? Am I here to hear? We're not here to see if we agree
with what we're hearing. We're here to hear. We're not
here to see if we can find fault with what the speaker is saying.
If that's what we're doing, we're in a wrong spirit. We're here
to hear. Oh, would to God that you and
I would have this discernment and judgment in this thing of
hearing. Now turn with me to 1 Kings chapter
3. There's a few scriptures I want
to look at with regard to this. 1 Kings chapter 3, beginning in verse 5. In Gibeon,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, by night, and God
said, ask what I shall give thee. Now what if the Lord said that
to you? What is it you want? What is a desire? Whatever it
is you desire, I'm going to give it to you. What would you ask
for? Well, I don't even want to tell you the things that would
come up into my mind that I would ask for. There's all kinds of
things that I can see myself asking for. But look what Solomon, the wisest
man to ever live, asks for. And Solomon said, Thou hast shown
unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy. according as he
walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness
of heart with thee. And thou has kept for him this
great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his
throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord, my God, thou
has made thy servant king instead of David, my father, and I'm
but a little child. I know not how to go out or to
come in. And thy servant is in the midst
of thy people which thou hast chosen are great people that
cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. And here's what
I'm asking for. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern
between good and bad. Give me understanding, give me
discernment. For who is able to judge this
thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord
that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, because
thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life, neither has thou asked riches for thyself, nor has thou
asked the life of thine enemies, but thou hast asked for thyself
understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I've done according to
thy words. Lo, I've given thee a wise and
an understanding heart, so that there was none like thee before
thee, neither shall there be any arise like unto thee. And
I will also give thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches
and honors, so that there shall not be any among the kings like
unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways
to keep my statutes and my commandments as thy father David did walk,
then I'll lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke, and behold,
it was a dream, And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the
ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered up burnt offerings
and offered peace offerings and made a feast to all his servants.
Now, Solomon asked for wisdom. And you know what I think is
amazing? If you read on in the life of Solomon, if you read
on into his life, he dies. You wouldn't even know he's a
believer unless the Lord told you he was. His heart was turned
by many other women to worship their gods. And what this is
a reminder to us is man at his best state, Solomon, is what? Altogether vanity. But when he was, by the grace
of God, practicing this wisdom, look what he did in verse 16.
Then came there, now this is after God had granted him this
wisdom. Then came there two women that
were harlots unto the king and stood before him. And the one
woman said, oh my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house
and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. We both
had a baby about the same time and it came to pass the third
day after that I was delivered that the woman was delivered
also and we were together. There was no stranger with us
in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child
died in the night because she overlaid it. She rolled over
on it and smothered it to death. And she arose at midnight and
took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid
it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when
I arose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was
dead. But when I considered it in the morning, behold, it was
not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay,
but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And she
said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son.
Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith,
This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead. And the
other saith, Nay, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the
living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought
a sword before the king, and the king said, divide the living
child in two, and give her half to the one and half to the other.
Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king,
for her bowels yearned upon her son. And she said, oh, my lord,
give her the living child, and in no while slay it. But the
other said, let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
Well, if you love the child, you won't suffer to be divided. If you love the truth, you won't
suffer the truth to be divided. But if you don't love the truth,
divide her up. Let everybody get half and half.
What wisdom he displayed at this time. Verse 27, then the king
answered and said, give her the living child and no wife. She is the mother thereof. And
all of Israel heard of the judgment with the king had judged and
they feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of God was
in him to do judgment. Turn to first John chapter four. Now, these are the things that
cause discernment. First of all, there's a love
for the truth, a love for the child. If you love the truth,
if you love the child, the gospel's a person. You won't suffer him
to be divided and one doctrine hacked off and another doctrine
hacked off. You must have the whole truth if you love the truth. Now, if you don't love the truth,
you can suffer it to be divided. Now, look in 1 John 4, verse
1, John says, Beloved, Believe not every spirit. Now he's not talking about a
bodiless spirit, some ethereal spirit. He's talking about preachers
at this time. Preachers. People bringing a message. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits. Put them to the test whether
they are of God. because many false prophets are
gone out into this world. Don't just believe somebody because
he claims to be a preacher. Put him to the test. Try the
spirits, whether they be of God. Don't you want to hear somebody
that's of God? I mean, if I'm going to hear a man preach, I
want to make sure God has sent that man to preach. I don't want
to hear somebody that God hasn't sent. I have no desire for that
at all. Try the spirits. Put them to
the test, John says, whether they be of God. And then he gives
this as a way to test them. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God, verse 2, every spirit that confesseth. that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof you've heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. Now, I used
to look at that passage of Scripture, and I think, that seems so simple.
Everybody believes that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
do they? Now, what is it that I'm confessing when I confess? And remember, this confession
is a public confession. It's not just talking about what
people say while they're conversing together, but this has something
to do with a public confession, what a preacher says publicly.
You see, what a preacher says publicly is what he really believes. The other stuff doesn't even
count. What does he say publicly? Well, every spirit that confesses
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Now, in
that simple, and that's what I, the truth is so simple, in
that simple confession, we have the whole Gospel. Jesus Christ
was before He came. He's the eternal Son of God. All that God is, He is. Every attribute in the Father
is in the Son. He was before He came. He came in the flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. And whatever it was He came into
the flesh to do, that's what He did do. And this is so important
and it's so simple. Matthew 121, the very opening
chapter of the New Testament, Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
For He shall save His people from their sins. That's what
He came to do. He came to save His people from their sins. And
that's what He did. That's what He accomplished.
He saved His people. from the penalty of their sin?
There's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He
saved his people from the power of their sin? There was a time
when I couldn't believe any more than I could create the universe.
There was a time when I had no love for God and couldn't muster
it up. There's a time when I knew nothing of repentance. There's
a time when I knew nothing of a holy nature. I do now, because
I've been saved from the power of my sin. I'm not under the
dominion of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under law. but you're under grace. There
was a time when I had no love for Christ or his gospel, and
I do now. Why? I've been saved from the
power of sin. And one of these days, bless
God, I'll be saved from the very presence of sin. I won't sin
anymore. Whatever it was he came into
the flesh to do, that's precisely what he did. Now you hear a man
preaching that he's of God. You hear a man leaving out any
of that. that He was before He came, that
He came in the flesh, and that He did precisely what He came
to do. You hear a man leaving out any
of that. He is not of God. Turn to Hebrews chapter 5. Whoever wrote Hebrews, Says in verse 11, of whom, speaking
of Melchizedek, I love to read about Melchizedek in Genesis
chapter 14 when Abraham offers tithes to Melchizedek,
the priest of the Most High God, the one who didn't have any father
or mother, didn't have any genealogy, didn't have any descent, made
like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually. In my mind,
I have no doubt that Melchizedek was the Lord Jesus Christ. It
was called a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And one of the reasons I believe that is because he
offered bread and wine. Since when does a priest offer
bread and wine? The Lord Jesus does because he's
the sacrifice and he offered bread and wine. And the writer
of the Hebrew says, I've got a lot of things to say about
him, verse 11, of whom we have many things to say and hard to
be uttered, seeing that you are dull of hearing. You can't hear like you once
did. You become sluggish in hearing.
For when for the time you ought to be teachers, You have need
that one teach you again what be the first principles, the
ABCs, the elementary truths of the oracles or the words of God,
and have become such as have need of milk and not strong meat. Now, before we look at verses
13 and 14, let's see what these elementary principles are. Chapter
six, verse one. therefore leaving the principles,
the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, what would happen if you never
got the ABCs down pat? You wouldn't be able to read,
would you? You have to learn the ABCs. You
never leave the ABCs. Every time you read, you're using
the ABCs. But if you never learn them,
you'll never really be able to read. Now, I want to be grounded
in the ABC so I don't have to try to figure out how to spell
something or what is being said. And that's exactly what he's
talking about when he's talking about these elementary principles
of the gospel. He's not saying we leave these
and go on to something else. He said we shouldn't have to
be laying this foundation again and again and again. What happens
if you're always having to do foundation work? Superstructure
never goes up. If there's always problems with
the foundation, the superstructure never goes up. Now, what are
these ABCs of the gospel that I must be founded in or I'll
be dull of hearing and I'll be a babe in grace? Well, he names
them. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection, unto
maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works. That's the first thing he says.
Do you know any work that you have or I have before regeneration,
before God the Holy Spirit has done a work of grace in our hearts,
is a dead work. It's not saving. There's no good
to it. You know the very act of free
will, all men having a free will, and you of your free will decided
to believe. That's a dead work. That was
done in regeneration. Any work before God saved you
and revealed Christ to you was a dead work. There's no saving
power in it. It's to be repented of. I repent
of that dead work. I repent of all dead works. And
I've got to be founded in that. And if I start thinking some
of those works before regeneration were not dead works, well, I've
got to be taught the ABCs all over again. And next he says,
faith toward God. What is faith toward God? It's
so simple. Abraham believed God. He believed
what God said. Abraham, see the stars? Can you
count them? No. So shall your seed be. Abraham
believed God with no evidence other than the Word of God. He
believed what God said. That's faith in God. When I believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm having faith in God. He's God.
He's God. And I'm resting, I'm trusting
Him. Faith in God. Believing what
God says. And he says, thirdly, in verse
two, of the doctrine of baptisms. Notice the doctrine of baptisms. There are several baptisms mentioned
in the New Testament. There's water baptism, baptism
by immersion. We read of the baptism of the
Holy Ghost, being immersed in the Holy Ghost. We read of the
Lord being baptized or immersed in the fire of God's wrath. But
whatever baptism signifies, here's the key to understanding it,
it has something to do with union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what I'm confessing in Believer's Baptism. When I'm immersed under
the water, what I'm saying, here's my only hope that I'm united
to Him, that when He lived, I lived. that when He died, I died. When He suffered the wrath of
God, I did too. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised right with Him. As He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, I'm there too. That's the doctrine. That's the
teaching of baptisms. Whether you're talking about
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, whether you're talking about
Christ being baptized and immersed under the wrath of God, we're
always talking about, I was in Him when it took place. The doctrine
of baptisms is the doctrine of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the fourth thing he
mentions is verse 2, the doctrine of the laying on of hands. Now
let me assure you that the doctrine of the laying on of hands is
not when a bunch of preachers get around another preacher and
they all lay their hands on him and so he's ordained. Where in
the world is that in the Bible? It's not. Let me tell you that.
It's not. It's not, you know, getting men's affirmation. That's
just man-made. Laying on of hands is not when
you see these Pentecostal preachers or whatever, they'll lay their
hands on somebody and say, receive the Holy Ghost. All of a sudden
somebody receives the Holy Ghost and they fall backwards and all
that foolishness that goes on under the name of religion. That's
all phony. That's all it is. The laying
on of hands represents the priest laying his head on the hands
of the sacrifice. signifying the transference of
the guilt of Israel to that sacrifice and the innocence of that sacrifice
being transferred to the people. What that's talking about is
the transference of guilt and the transference of righteousness. That's the heart and the soul
of the gospel. I listened to a man just yesterday
and he was preaching from a passage and I wanted to listen. I was
listening wanting to hear something good. I wasn't listening wanting
to hear something bad or listening with a critical ear. I was listening
praying that the Lord would give him something to say to the people
and to me. And no mention was made of the
righteousness of Christ. No mention was made of the imputation
of guilt or the imputation of righteousness. And I thought,
boy, That fellow, he ought to sit down until he learns the
gospel, learns how to preach. Oh, the laying on of hands has
to be in every message. And the fifth thing he mentions
is the resurrection of the dead. Now, Christ was raised from the
dead. Why was he raised? God was satisfied
with what he did. We're raised spiritually. God
gives us life. It's a spiritual resurrection.
We're going to enjoy the final resurrection when we're going
to be raised with glorified bodies. Oh, the resurrection of the dead.
When Christ was raised from the dead, I was too. What a glorious
thought. That's in every sermon we preach
somehow. And then the last thing he mentions
is eternal judgment. Eternal judgment. Not just judgment,
but eternal judgment. You know everything God does
is eternal. Everything He's done now, He already did. He already
did. That's because of who He is.
Now, it's a hard thing for us to grasp, but it's not a hard
thing to believe, because this is God. Everything He does is
eternal. Why Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. The writer to the
Hebrews said in Hebrews 4.3, the works were finished. from the foundation of the world. Don't you love it that way? Eternal
judgment. Now these are the ABCs of the
gospel. And if someone always hedges
on these things, if they go off on these things, they're going
to become dull in hearing. Now look back in verse 12. For
when for the time you ought to be teachers, Hebrews 5.12, you
have need that one teach you again which be the first principles
of the oracles of God and have become such as have need of milk
and not of strong meat. You know, milk is these six principles. You can't take the strong meat
of the word. What's the strong meat of the
word? Things like love, forgiveness, being a merciful
person. That's the strong meat of the
word. You see, when someone's a babe, they'll turn those things
into works. You're saying, well, you're preaching works. You're preaching
works. No, I'm not. But that's what
someone who is dull of hearing, that's how they'll respond. Why?
That's works. He says in verse 13, for everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness.
And that word unskillful actually is unexperienced. You know, grace. what we call sovereign grace.
It isn't just a doctrine you give. He'd say, I believe it. It's something you experience.
It's something you experience that you're totally depraved. You experience that? Oh, you
experience your absolute desperate need of God choosing you, and
Christ dying for you, and God the Holy Spirit giving you life,
and God preserving you. It's experience. It's not just
something you give a scent to. It's experience. For everyone
that uses milk, they're not grounded. They always have to have the
foundation. Brought to them again is unskillful in the word of
righteousness. He's a babe, but strong meat belongeth to them
who are of full age, who are mature, even those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil,
to see the difference. Now may the Lord ground me and
you in repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine
of baptisms, and laying on of hands, and resurrection of the
dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do, he says,
if God permits. One other scripture, Philippians
1. Philippians 1, this is Paul's
prayer for the Philippians. He says in verse 9, and this
I pray, Philippians 1, 9, this I pray that your knowledge
may abound yet more and more. Did I read that right? No. He said, this I pray that your
love may abound. yet more and more in knowledge
and in all judgment. And my marginal reference says
sense or discernment that your love to Christ, your love to
his people, your love for the gospel may abound more and more
in knowledge, saving knowledge and all judgment, that you may
approve things that are excellent. And my marginal reading says
that you may try things that are different, that you might
know the difference. I pray that your love would abound more and
more in knowledge and all discernment, that you might be able to know
the difference and approve of what is more excellent, that
you might know the difference so as to, from your heart, approve
what is excellent, approve what is true, approve. Now that is the work of God.
that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ. Now, may we be enabled by God
to discern this time. This time. Not finding a false refuge in yesterday
or tomorrow. May we be enabled by the grace
of God to discern this time and to judge rightly. And only God can give us that. I pray that we all make this
our prayer. Lord, give me this discernment.
Give me this judgment. The hearing ear. That means more
than hearing audibly, you know it. That means to hear so as
to hear the word of God. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye are of the Lord. Let's pray together.