I would like to read the same Scriptures that we read yesterday morning: 1 Corinthians 2.
1 Corinthians 2:14-15:
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him;
and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual discerneth all things, and he himself is discerned of no man.
Philippians 1:9-11:
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in full knowledge and all discernment,
so that ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent,
in order that ye may be pure and without offence for Christ’s day,
being complete as regards the fruit of righteousness, which is by Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.
We are fellowshipping on this matter of spiritual discernment. I hope that everyone senses the desperate need of spiritual discernment, because we are living in such a day of great confusion.
We need spiritual discernment that we may be able to distinguish between true and false, right and wrong, spiritual and natural, soulish and spiritual, God’s will and man’s idea.
We live in a world of great deception, and we need spiritual discernment to see through the counterfeit, the darkness that is around us.
Spiritual discernment is necessary for us to live a life that is pleasing to God, that walks in the will of God. So, dear brothers and sisters, our burden is that, in these last difficult days, God will grace us with spiritual discernment.
We mentioned yesterday morning that spiritual discernment is not a natural endowment. You know, we are all made differently. Some people are naturally endowed with more keenness of senses; they seem to be able to see things more clearly. But this is not what is meant by spiritual discernment, because spiritual discernment is not something natural.
Spiritual discernment is not deep knowledge of the world. Some people have lots of worldly experience, and because of that they seem to have a kind of perception that other people may not have. But, brothers and sisters, this is not what we mean by spiritual discernment.
As a matter of fact, the more deeply you are wise and prudent in the world, the less spiritual discernment you have. You remember what our Lord Jesus said when He was rejected in Capernaum, Chorazin, and these places where He had worked many wonders and spoken many words.
You remember our Lord Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and said:
Father, I thank Thee, because this is Thy good pleasure.
Thou dost reveal Thyself to babes,
but from the wise and prudent Thou dost hide Thyself.
So, dear brothers and sisters, it is not worldly wisdom that we are talking about.
Spiritual discernment is not psychic power. Especially in these last days, the enemy is trying to stir up psychic power. But this is not what the Lord wants. It is something from God, something from the Holy Spirit, something that, deep in our spirit, is given to us as a discerning power.
So, brothers and sisters, spiritual discernment is the spiritual ability to distinguish between good and evil, between true and false, between flesh and spirit, between self and God, and even between what is of God and what is of man. That is spiritual discernment, and that is something we need very much in our days.
Now this morning, we would like to go a step further and see: how do we come to this spiritual discernment? Unless you realize the need of it, and furthermore realize that you do not have it as you should, then I think it is time for us to talk about how we can attain this spiritual discernment.
But before we do that, I think we would like to clarify one thing. Spiritual discernment is different from that spiritual gift which you find in 1 Corinthians 12:10.
For the sake of the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit manifests Himself in the Body, in different members of the Body, by giving them different spiritual gifts. One of the spiritual gifts is the discerning of spirits.
Discerning of spirits is a gift. It is a spiritual gift; it is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. So, to some members of the Body, the Holy Spirit gives such a gift, that they are able to discern spirits.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, there are many spirits in the unseen world: not only the Spirit of God, not only good angels and good spirits, but there are many angels who have rebelled against God—evil spirits.
So, we need to be able to discern whether it is God’s Spirit or whether it is an evil spirit. As our brothers have all mentioned, Satan himself transforms himself as an angel of light. In other words, you find that evil spirits sometimes try to imitate the Spirit of God, and that is the reason why we need the discerning of spirits.
This is given especially to some members of the Body of Christ. Not all members of the Body of Christ have such a gift. I thank God because He does not give the same gift to everybody, because He shows us how we need one another.
No one of us is perfect, complete, or has every gift. If you did, you would not need your brother or sister anymore. But God is after the Body, not just any individual. We need one another. So that is the reason why you find God gives to some members the discerning of spirits.
Especially in times of revival, you know, when a revival comes, the Holy Spirit is working in a very prominent way. But when the Holy Spirit is working in such a manner, evil spirits try to confuse, and they come in and work very hard.
That is the reason why, especially in revivals, when the manifestation of the Spirit is so prominent, you find all kinds of confusion beginning to come in. It is the enemy trying to confuse and perplex people.
For instance, during the Welsh Revival in 1904 and 1905, if you know the history, you know that in Wales there was a great revival. Many came to the Lord, and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit was clear.
But at the same time, the enemy came in and tried to imitate, counterfeit, and confuse people. Because of this, you find that later on Evan Roberts, in cooperation with Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, wrote the book War on the Saints, because that was the experience Evan Roberts had during the Welsh Revival.
With the knowledge Mrs. Penn-Lewis had, they wrote such a book that delivered many people who were in confusion and even in deception. So, especially at a time when the Holy Spirit is very clearly manifested, we need those with the gift of discerning of spirits.
But spiritual discernment is different from the discerning of spirits. Why? Because the discerning of spirits is a gift, and because it is a gift, the Holy Spirit gives it not to all, but to some, according to His will.
Spiritual discernment is not a gift; it is grace. Brothers and sisters, because it is grace, it is for all. That is the difference between gift and grace.
Whenever you come to a matter of gift, you will find that some have this gift and some have another gift. But, of course, every member has at least one gift, that we may function in the Body of Christ for the Body of Christ.
But grace is impartial. Grace is universal. Grace is given to all. Spiritual discernment is a grace, not a gift. That is the reason why it is open to all the brothers and sisters—to everyone. It is open to you; it is open to me; it is open to all. That is spiritual discernment.
In a sense, every believer has a measure of spiritual discernment. It comes with life.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are born again, born from above. You receive a new life: the life of Christ, God’s own life. Now, with that life, you receive a certain measure of spiritual discernment. It comes with life.
It comes with the quickening of your dead spirit. You know, we were all created with a spirit, a soul, and a body.
With a body, we have world-consciousness. We are aware of the world around us by our five senses. With the soul, we are conscious of ourselves, because we think, we feel, and we decide. With our spirit, we should be conscious of God, because God is the proper environment of our spirit.
But unfortunately, because of sin, the Lord’s word to Adam was:
Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Die on that very day, that very moment. But we know Adam lived to be over nine hundred years old, physically speaking, and he had sons and daughters. Soulishly speaking, he was alive; but his spirit was dead.
When sin came in, the spirit was dead. Now, it does not mean that the spirit, as a created organ, disappeared or was annihilated. No, it is there. But the spirit is dead to its proper environment. In other words, it has lost its contact with God.
That is the reason why, before we were saved, we had lost contact with God. God became unknown to us. People can communicate with evil spirits, but they cannot communicate with God.
But thank God, when you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are born again. He that is born of the Spirit is spirit. Your human spirit is quickened into life, renewed.
Not only do you receive a new spirit, so that your contact with God is instantly resumed, calling out, “Our Father,” but the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in your new spirit.
In Ezekiel, we are told that God said:
I will give you a new spirit, and I will put My Spirit into your spirit.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we who believe in the Lord Jesus receive a new life—the life of God, the life of Jesus Christ—and, at the same time, a new spirit with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When that happens, you find a certain measure of spiritual discernment dwelling within you.
You may not know much about the Word of God yet. You may be a new Christian. But, dear brothers and sisters, there is something in you that gives you a certain amount of spiritual discernment. It is the life in you; it is the Holy Spirit in you.
That discernment does not come from outward observation or knowledge. It comes from your spirit.
Some years ago, a man got saved. He came from a heathen background. He did not even know the Word of God; he was newly saved, but soundly saved.
He went to Boston. He got into a meeting and heard a message. Now remember, he was a new Christian. He did not have much knowledge of the Scriptures.
But when he was listening to the preacher, and the preacher said, “We are God-men,” something within him said, “No, it cannot be.”
Now, he could not explain it because he had no Scriptural knowledge. But somehow he said, “Something is not right.”
Later on he said, “To call a person a man of God, that is reasonable. But to call a man God-man, that does not sound right.”
Now remember, this was a new Christian. He had no Scriptural knowledge, but there was a certain amount of spiritual discernment in that person.
Our brother mentioned last night 1 John—little children, babes in Christ. In 1 John 2, you find that the apostle John said to little children, “You are living in the last hour, and the spirit of antichrist is everywhere.”
Now, how are you going to live through such a world? Babes are easily misled. They are swayed by every wind of doctrine. When people come in with one doctrine, you are blown in that direction; when people come in with another doctrine, you are blown in another direction.
Babes are easily swayed. Why? Because they do not have the right knowledge. But thank God, even babes in Christ, God has given provision to deliver us from deception.
Why? Because the anointing dwells in us. The Holy Spirit who dwells in us is the anointing. Why is He called the anointing? Because anointing means that ointment is softly and tenderly applied upon wounds and makes you feel comforted. That is the way the Holy Spirit works in our spirit.
He is there as our Teacher. He will teach us all things. Remember, these words are spoken to little children. As little children in Christ, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us is teaching us incessantly, in everything, great and small.
Whatever He teaches is true and is not a lie. How can we know whether this is a lie or whether this is true? Sometimes a lie looks very much like truth.
The Holy Spirit will teach you in great things and in small things, and whatever He teaches is true; it is not a lie. If you obey the teaching of the anointing, you abide in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, that is the reason why you find that even as little children in Christ, God has already given us a provision—a certain amount of spiritual discernment.
Now, of course, being young in spiritual things, you may be mistaken. That is the reason why, in the same portion of Scripture, the apostle John said:
What ye have heard from the beginning, let it abide in you.
If what ye have heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
In other words, because there is the possibility of being mistaken, you really need to go to the Word of God. Check with the Word of God. If you find it in the Word, or if you cannot find it; if it agrees with the Word or is contrary to the Word, then, with the leading of the Spirit within you and with the Word of God before you, you are able to discern what is of God and what is not of God.
Now, unfortunately, among God’s people there is a basic lack. After we are saved, we are not being taught this inward way of life.
We are being led away from living in the inward way of life—that is, a life of listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and having that inward relationship with God. We are led astray to the outward.
We are being taught many rules and regulations. We are told that if we want to be good Christians, there are certain things we should do and certain things we should not do. Further than that, we ourselves make many laws, rules, and regulations for ourselves.
We all have our own standard of what a Christian life is, and we make all kinds of rules and regulations for ourselves. We bind ourselves with outward laws and rules. Our walk is an outward walk, not an inward way, and because of that we neglect to hear the still small voice within us.
We do not have the habit. You know, there are spiritual habits we need to cultivate. Just as in our physical life there are certain good habits you need to develop, as Christians we need to develop certain spiritual habits.
If we do not develop these habits, then you find our spiritual senses are dormant; they are not being used.
So, dear brothers and sisters, it is very important that at the start of our Christian life we realize what God has given to us: life, a new life.
Spiritual discernment is a matter of life. It is not a matter of outside knowledge. Some people may have great knowledge, but they have little discernment. Spiritual discernment is based on life—the life of Christ in you, as manifested by the Holy Spirit.
That is the foundation of spiritual discernment. If you let this new life in you develop and grow, then your spiritual discernment also grows. If you neglect this inner life, then your spiritual discernment will not grow.
Every life has its nature. Our old Adamic life in us has its nature. What is its nature? It always goes in the direction of sin or rebellion. That is the nature of human life.
That is the reason why a baby, the first word he knows and says is “No.” That is the first indication of Adamic life—a life of rebellion. To sin is natural; not to sin is unnatural.
If you follow that natural life, if you develop according to the nature of that life, there is no reason to be surprised that you live such a corrupted, sinful life, because that is what it is.
But, dear brothers and sisters, God has given us a new life. It is God’s uncreated life. It is the life of Christ. It has been demonstrated on this earth. What kind of life is that life?
So pure, so holy, so righteous, so loving, full of light—no darkness at all.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the nature of this life in you. What you need is to cultivate that life and follow the nature of that life.
When you are faced with a problem, this life within you—the Holy Spirit who dwells in you—will tell you which direction to go. If you go in that direction, you feel peace and life within you. If you go against that direction, you feel death within you—spiritual death within you.
I believe, brothers and sisters, we all have such experiences. When we are faced with a problem, we do not know what to do. If we follow our natural life, our natural likes and dislikes, we will go a certain way. But somehow you find there is another life within you that is clean, holy, and separated, that shrinks back from such a way.
If you persist in following the natural life, what happens? That is the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. A Christian should not sin, but a Christian can sin.
Now, suppose you sin. What is the difference between you and a non-Christian? Outwardly, there may be no difference. But actually there is a difference. When a non-Christian sins, there is pleasure there. He feels comfortable. He feels that he has gained a false glory.
But with a Christian, if you sin, you feel miserable. Why? The new nature within you says, “That is against my nature.”
Brothers and sisters, as believers, how we need to follow the new nature within us. If you develop that nature, it becomes a habit. When habits are formed, character begins to appear. The personality of Christ is revealed and manifested in your life.
So, dear brothers and sisters, spiritual discernment is a matter of life. There is no shortcut to spiritual discernment. You need to follow life. Seek eternal life, as the Scripture says. Follow life.
You need to exercise your spiritual senses. You know, brothers and sisters, in Hebrews 5:14 we are told that babies can only take milk.
What is milk? Milk is predigested food. A baby cannot eat meat or solid food. So, the mother eats meat and solid food, digests them, and after they are digested, they become milk for the baby to nourish the baby.
Why is it that babies cannot consume solid food? Because they are not skillful in it. They have not been exercised.
But when you are grown up, you are able to consume solid food because you are skillful. You have exercised your senses, and having exercised your senses, you are able to consume solid food. Spiritually, this is the same thing.
We need exercise. You remember Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:7-8:
Exercise thyself unto godliness.
We need to exercise ourselves unto godliness. Physical exercise, the exercise of the body, has little profit. There is some profit. Especially with young people, you need physical exercise. You cannot study all day; you need to take time out for physical exercise. It is good for your body.
But physical exercise profits little. It gives you a healthy body, that is all, and it is only for a short time—for the duration of your life. But spiritual exercise, exercise unto godliness, is profitable not only in this age, but even in the age to come.
But, brothers and sisters, do we exercise spiritually? What is spiritual exercise?
You know, in Roman days, especially among the Greeks, their ideal of beauty was bodily beauty. So they sent their children to gymnasiums to develop a well-formed body. They went through all kinds of exercises under a tutor so that they could develop an all-around, beautiful body.
But as believers, we need to go into the gymnasium too. Our gymnasium is the world—your everyday life, everyday occurrences and events, people you meet, things you face, and events that come to you. All these are the instruments in the gymnasium, and we are there to exercise.
We are there to exercise our spirit under a Tutor, of course. Physically, if you want to exercise, you need an instructor; otherwise, you may hurt yourself. Spiritually, the same thing is true.
For us to have spiritual exercise, we need a Tutor, an Instructor. Thank God, He has provided us with the Instructor, the Holy Spirit. He is our Instructor. He knows exactly what we need to develop our spiritual discernment.
So He puts us into all kinds of circumstances. Dear brothers and sisters, we often say that to a believer there is nothing by chance. God has ordered the details of our life. The Holy Spirit has arranged every circumstance for us. We call it the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Here you find that He arranges all kinds of circumstances and puts us in them. But there, He wants us to exercise our spirit. Dear brothers and sisters, the more you exercise your spirit, the sharper it becomes.
We need to exercise our conscience. A Christian conscience is very important.
You know, in the world, everybody has a conscience. That is the last trace of the function of the spirit that still remains. Thank God for that, because otherwise we would never be saved. God left a little trace of conscience so that our heart can be pricked and our conscience can be pierced.
But, to fallen man, the conscience is not the standard, because the standard of conscience is God—not culture, not history, not custom, not teaching. It is God.
So the conscience of an unbeliever is not dependable. Even a man may say, “I do everything by my conscience.” A cannibal can eat another person and feel very proud of it; it does not even bother him.
But to a believer—brothers and sisters, especially young brothers and sisters—the moment you are saved, your conscience, through the heart, is cleansed, and God becomes the standard of your conscience.
The Holy Spirit is speaking to you through your conscience. Sometimes we say that conscience is the voice of God. We need to learn to listen to the voice of our conscience.
Oftentimes you find there is a battle. Your reasoning says yes, but your conscience says no. Listen to your conscience. You need to exercise your conscience.
When your conscience is pricked, when your conscience is touched, do not quench it. Do not neglect it. Listen to it. Pay attention to it.
We need to keep a conscience without offence before God and men. That is exercising our spiritual sense. When you exercise your spiritual sense, then your spiritual discernment gets sharper.
In whatever area you are being dealt with by God, in that particular area you are very sensitive. Whenever something happens in that area, you discern it immediately—not only in yourself, but in other people.
But in places where you have neglected your conscience, you will be kept in darkness, both in yourself and in other people. You will not be able to detect it because you have not exercised your conscience to distinguish between good and evil.
We need to exercise our intuition. That is the direct knowledge from God. God speaks to us directly, to our spirit. It is not information that we gather from outside; it is a direct speaking of God.
We need to exercise our intuition. We need to exercise our communion power—to commune with the Lord. The more you commune with the Lord, the keener will be your perception.
Exercise, brothers and sisters. There is so much we need to learn. As a matter of fact, not only our spirit, but all the functions of our spirit need to be exercised. The more you exercise them, the sharper they become.
But even our soul needs to be exercised too. We need to exercise our will to submit to the will of God. We need to exercise our mind to have the mind of Christ.
We need to exercise our emotions, that we may be delivered from natural emotion and that our emotions may become the expression of the love of God, of the love of Christ.
That is why we need to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord. This is exercise. It is exercise in the soulish realm, and we need to exercise even spiritually in the physical realm.
You remember Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27:
I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage.
We will not allow our body to rule over us. The body has its own lusts and passions. We need to control it and put it under us. That is not asceticism—you are not mistreating your body. No, that is discipline.
We will not be controlled by the passions of our body, but we are able to put it under us and become slaves to the righteousness of God. These are exercises.
Dear brothers and sisters, Christians today are not exercising. We do not even know how to live a Christian life. We all live outwardly. It is not real.
A real Christian living is a life with spiritual exercises going on all the time, led by the Spirit of God, increasing in the knowledge of God, knowing Him, gaining Christ, and with our spiritual discernment increasing all the time. It comes with life.
Spiritual discernment is sacred.
You know, in spiritual things, on the one hand it is glorious, but on the other hand it is very dangerous.
Spiritual discernment is a glorious thing, because you are able to discern and know what is right and what is wrong; know God’s will and man’s opinion; know what is of yourself and what is of God; what is of the soul and what is of the spirit; what is of the world and what is of God. I mean, it is glorious.
But it is very dangerous. Spiritual discernment, if it is not exercised with humility, is the most dangerous thing.
Spiritual discernment has to be accompanied by humility. As a matter of fact, spiritual discernment is self-knowledge. You know yourself.
Brothers and sisters, you cannot know God if you do not know yourself. But you will not be able to know yourself by yourself. Our heart is deceitful above all things.
Self-knowledge comes through dealings, through discipline, through exercise, through the growth of life. As you grow in the Lord, you know more of yourself. You know more how miserable, wicked, and without any good you are in yourself.
This gives you the knowledge of yourself, and with this knowledge you know God—how good, how perfect, and how glorious He is.
But unfortunately, you will find that if spiritual discernment is developed, and you develop to a certain point, you may begin to be proud of your spiritual discernment because you can see what others do not see.
When pride begins to come into your life, brothers and sisters, that is a downfall. You enter into deception, and that deception is the darkness of all deceptions.
You become proud, you become critical, and you become hard. You are totally deceived. You think you are always right. You think you always see the right thing, and because you see, you cannot bear other people.
This is the risk, the danger, of spiritual discernment. Therefore, spiritual discernment has to be accompanied by humility.
As a matter of fact, it should humble you, because if you can discern, you see how bad you are, how wicked you are, and how nothing you are. Everything is God’s grace, that you can even exist.
Everything is grace, grace, grace. It should humble you. It should not elate you. But unfortunately, that is just what we are, and we fall into deep deception.
So, dear brothers and sisters, there is a warning here. Spiritual discernment is not for boasting. It is not for criticizing.
It is for your spiritual maturity, and it is for your spiritual ministry. With spiritual discernment, you are able to minister to your brothers and sisters because you know what they need and you know where they are.
You are not deceived by outward appearance. You touch people’s spirit; you sense what is within, and you are able to help where other people are not able to help. That is the use of spiritual discernment.
So, dear brothers and sisters, seek spiritual discernment. But remember: always give love and humility.
Lord, there is something that Thou dost desire to give to Thy people, something desperately needed and important to our own selves and to the maturity of the church.
Lord, we do pray that if it is Thy will, we want it. But we want it for Thee, not for ourselves. Oh, keep us always in humility and in love. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.