Turn with me please to the book of
Philippians again.
When Brody started to read, I thought, there
it goes.
But he didn't read anything that I got
on my mind.
Philippians in chapter 2, and we're going to
read at verse number 1.
Now, last night we mentioned the idea of
spiritual preparation.
We'll touch that just a little bit.
But we're going to look here at spiritual
discernment.
Spiritual discernment.
Philippians in chapter 2, verse number 1.
If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy.
That ye be like-minded, having the same
love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind.
Let each esteem other better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of
others.
Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of
no reputation, took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men.
And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name, which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and
things in earth, and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence, work out your
own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his
good pleasure.
Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that
ye may be blameless and harmless to sons
of God, without rebuke in the midst of
a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye
shine as lights in the world.
Holding forth the word of life, that I
may rejoice in the day of Christ, and
that I have not run in vain, neither
labored in vain.
Lord, bless to us the reading of his
word and what we've been privileged to listen
to already this morning.
Spiritual discernment.
And particularly, it's been upon my heart as
we live in this crooked and perverse nation.
We read that here and the Philippians would
have understood what that meant as Brodiarty gave
the context of the book under the subject
of Rome.
But many of God's people today are extremely
disappointed.
Many of God's people today in this world
in which we live, we find ourselves in
times that have not been seen in any
of your generations that are alive today.
How do we behave ourselves?
How do we discern spiritually what to do,
how to behave, how to act in this
present evil age in which we are in?
And just very simply, I want to appeal,
especially to the young people here this morning,
if you're going to be able to discern
what to do with your life.
And you young people, just to say, you
older ones, older than myself, we have no
clue what these young people are going through.
The times are very, very troublous.
And so you young people, if you're going
to make decisions and go on for God,
you're going to need spiritual discernment.
And I'm not here up here to preach
on this because I'm an expert at this.
It's because I struggle with this just like
everyone else.
But if we're going to try to manipulate
through this lifetime, we're going to need God
to guide us.
And we look to that, but we're also
going to understand the context in which we
live.
And what I want to say by that
is just this, we need to understand where
we are in this world.
We need to understand where we are.
We need to understand what we are as
God's people.
If we're going to get help with spiritual
discernment, we need to understand who we serve.
And if you can keep these three questions
in mind as you're going through this life,
you're going to be told things that are
contrary to what you hear this morning.
We're living in a world that is a
crooked and a perverse nation.
I love the phrase here that Paul uses
to the Philippians.
He says to the Galatians, it is a
present evil world.
This is not new in the big picture
of mankind.
What we're seeing in morality and its failure
and what we're seeing in sin and its
increase is not new to this generation.
It's happened over and over and over again.
Come with me quickly in your mind to
Noah's day.
The thoughts and the intentions of men were
only evil continuously.
God moved.
Come to Sodom and Gomorrah.
And there's a man Lot and his soul
was vexed daily, just like yours is vexed
daily.
With the unlawful deeds of the things that
we see and that we hear.
So this is not new.
There is nothing new under the sun.
It's just new to us.
And so if we're going to have spiritual
discernment, first of all, I want to just
mention about the spiritual preparation.
Spiritual preparation and Joshua, we read last night,
the two times that sanctify yourself is used.
One is they were to prepare to receive
a blessing and then they were to sanctify
themselves when Achan had sinned.
And the secret sins must be revealed.
And just to sum that up for those
who weren't there last night, and this is
going to be important for us for today,
because if we're going to have a successful
spiritual discernment, we have to be spiritually prepared.
And what they had to do in those
days is they were going to empty themselves
and they were going to be dependent upon
God.
They were going to be quiet.
They were going to be honest, but they
were going to be expectant.
And when you come to chapter three, where
they're about to cross to Jordan and they
were there in all the anticipation of God
working a wonder, they were dependent upon God.
They were empty of self.
They were quiet.
They were honest.
And they were looking forward to the blessing.
In chapter seven, it was the same.
Israel could not prosper because of the hidden
sin.
And again, they would be empty.
They would be dependent.
They would be quiet.
They would be honest.
They would be expecting the truth to come
out.
And so now you and I, in this
world in which we live, how do we
live for God?
We need spiritual discernment.
And to understand the atmosphere in which we
live is a start.
You see, the reason there needs to be
discernment at all is because of the opposites
of where we are.
We're living in a sinful world and yet
we're part of a spiritual holy kingdom.
Two places at once.
We're walking on the sands of time and
yet we are in a spiritual kingdom.
And so we're going to only be able
to be in one place at a time.
And the sad reality is, and I'm not
trying to be mean, I'm trying to be
honest, most of us are living double lives.
Six and a half days out of the
week we're conformed to this world.
And the other half a day, on the
Lord's Day morning, our mind and our focus
are here.
I wish I could say it was that
way for Sunday night and Wednesday night, but
you brethren know in every assembly it's not
that way.
And so the problem then is our discernment.
And we go out into the world and
we go to work and we go to
school and we go about our daily things
and we are conformed to this world while
we're in the world.
That's not right.
And then we try to turn the switch
or flip the switch and we come in
to the presence of God's people and we're
going to be now spiritually discerning and we're
going to do the right thing and the
God honoring thing and it doesn't work very
well.
And could I say this, that maybe in
my life that is why my spiritual existence
is shallow and spiritual power is weak and
maybe the blessing of the gospel is skimpy.
Spiritual discernment.
This chapter two of Philippians kind of takes
in, it takes in the whole idea.
So now remember, this is a crooked and
a perverse world.
Crooked and perverse.
It's a warped and a winding world.
And perverse, it is a misinterpreted world.
Everything is twisted.
Discernment is necessary.
How is it going to start?
It's going to start with spiritual preparation.
And last night we made the application of
preparing for this conference this weekend and to
seeking the Lord's presence and the Lord's voice
and the Lord's power.
But we need spiritual discernment in this world
in which we live.
We need spiritual discernment in the assemblies of
which we form a part of.
And you've just heard about that in an
aspect.
So how are you going to know what
to do?
How are you going to know when to
do it?
How are you going to know how to
do it?
It'll be when we're empty of self, when
we're dependent upon God, when we're hushed in
our spirits, when we're honest before God and
we look to him expectantly, to his word
to be a light unto our path.
This is Christianity 101, brethren.
We need to confess our sin.
We need to read our Bibles.
You want to know what to do in
your life?
Keep a short account with God and read
your Bible.
It's that simple.
The spiritual discernment, understanding where we are, we're
in a place that hates God.
It's kind of like Daniel in a godless
world.
And there the young men were and did
they not need spiritual discernment?
What happened when they got there?
Oh, their menu was changed.
Their food was changed.
Their name was changed.
They tried to change everything about them and
the world is trying to conform you to
its image and change everything about you as
well as about me.
But those men had spiritual discernment.
They had conviction and they knew that they
needed the God of heaven.
Those men were willing not only to suffer
reproach and not only to suffer persecution, but
to honor their God.
They were willing to trust him with their
life.
Can you trust him this morning?
You must trust him this morning.
And what we have here is understanding just
a little of where we are.
Let's look at this a little about what
we are.
What we are.
What are you in Christ?
You're a son of God positionally.
You're chosen.
You are sanctified.
You are set apart.
You are holy.
You see the conflict.
Perverse versus holiness.
It is the battle that rages inside of
every one of us.
How do I know what is right in
this world?
So we understand where we're living in this
world.
But to understand what we are, you have
been placed here, every Christian here, by divine
providence, by divine plan to live in this
day and age.
Smile, please.
God has made you who and what you
are, the way you are, for it's by
the grace of God that we are what
we are.
And God has made you who and what
you are by his grace.
And he has placed you in this world
at this time.
For a very specific purpose.
That only you have been gifted, have been
called, have been chosen to do.
That gift should give you the chills.
The tingly should go up and down your
back.
Do you understand what that means?
When God takes a human being, when God
takes one of his creations, and he moves
them and he places them where he wants
them, at the time that he wants them,
there is no greater privilege upon this earth.
Think about that for a moment.
When you see Adam and Eve placed in
the garden, God said they may have everything
but the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil.
The knowledge of good and evil belongs to
God.
God expected Adam and Eve to obey.
That's all that they needed to do.
But they sinned.
Eve was deceived.
Adam sinned willfully.
They disobeyed God.
And all God's what he had called very
good was contaminated by sin.
For you and I, God has put us
here.
What does he expect of us?
To fight the battle on our own?
No.
He expects us to obey.
Just like he expected Adam to obey.
God placed Adam in that place for a
purpose, for a reason.
And Adam's responsibility was to obey God.
And he failed.
Our brother mentioned about being a slave this
morning.
Not only we are the chosen of God,
we are the bond servants of God.
We are laborers together with God.
Now what I'm hoping the spirit of God
will do, what he has done in me,
is give you a light, a feeling, more
than a feeling, a reality of optimism.
Optimism.
For most assemblies that I visit, when we
talk in the interval or wherever, it seems
like we're always talking about the negative.
We're talking about the world.
We're talking about the drought, the dryness.
We're talking about all the bad things in
this world.
God has placed you as a light in
a dark world.
Again, chills down your spine.
He has placed you here as a representative
of himself and of his kingdom.
And we do need spiritual discernment.
So that's where we're living.
And that's who we are.
And you can see now the spiritual battle
that we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against spiritual wickedness in high places, principalities
and powers that are even greater than us,
but they're not greater than our God.
They are not greater than our God.
And so in this dark world, if we
are spiritually prepared, we will shine as lights
for God.
It's about time for tears now.
That should melt your heart to tears that
God has chosen you and God has chosen
me to be witnesses for him.
And perhaps the final days of this age,
you are blessed beyond measure.
The third thing we need to understand a
little bit is who we serve, who we
serve.
This whole chapter is all about the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And if we're going to have spiritual discernment,
we would do well to learn of him.
The one who always did the will of
the father, the one who was absolutely perfect
in every way, brought joy to the father's
heart.
And that is our goal, is it not?
To be more like him.
And here we read of this one and
how he lived in this world.
And again, you'll see here the spiritual preparation.
There was the attitude of humility.
The mind is mentioned four or five times
in these few verses that we have read.
And the Lord Jesus humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.
And so we'll understand here that if we're
going to have spiritual discernment and our humility,
we are going to be available.
For whenever God is placed in front of
us, whatever God has fitted us for, whatever
God has gifted us for, we're going to
be available in humility.
And so that when the call comes, the
heart is prepared spiritually to say, Lord, send
me, send me.
That was the mind of Christ.
Who shall I send?
And the son was willing to come and
he humbled himself and he became obedient unto
death.
He had the attitude of humility.
How many people in this world do you
read about every day with an attitude of
humility?
You must go to a special website on
the computer where all the humble people put
their name because they're so humble.
There are none.
Are there any in this conference today?
Loaded question.
Oh yeah, I'm a humble one.
The point is this.
When we look out into the world and
we see all the self-exaltation and the
self-glorification, when we come to a gathering
like this in local assembly capacity, an attitude
of humility should fall upon every heart.
Wrong.
An attitude of humility should have been seen
in every heart all week long.
That was the Lord Jesus Christ.
And some of you are great at business
and you are what the business world might
call sharks.
You know how to make a deal.
You know what leverage is and you know
how to use it.
That's the way the business world works as
a Christian with spiritual discernment.
Although you may have a job to do,
be humble, be humble.
The Lord Jesus had the greatest, he had
the greatest responsibility, didn't he?
And he was the most humble.
Spiritual discernment, humility.
The next one as we just trace down
through these imperatives really is, is in verse
number 12.
He says, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence.
Work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.
They were obedient.
I appreciated as these thoughts were coming to
me that they were just not obedient when
they were being watched by Paul.
They weren't just obedient when somebody was keeping
an eye on them.
They were obedient in his absence also.
When there's no Christians around, no overseers around,
are you consistent in obedience?
Consistent in obedience.
That is spiritual discernment.
Okay, they're there and they're telling me at
work to be crooked.
They're telling me at work that I need
to, that I need to cut the corners
like we heard.
They're telling me there that I need to
cheat the grade.
Push it a little bit more.
That was always in my industry.
Push the grade a little bit more.
Can't do that, can you?
Can't do that.
Why?
Because we're going to be obedient.
See, when we're humble, when we're obedient, discernment
takes care of itself because we're spiritually now
prepared for God to guide us and God
to direct us.
And always remember that it's always, it's always
God that does the work.
It's always God.
And so these Philippians, they were obedient and
they were working out their salvation and they
were living it out and feeling and trembling.
They weren't, their works weren't their salvation and
they were living out the enjoyment of their
salvation and the responsibility of their salvation and
they were living the gospel.
And that's a great way to find spiritual
discernment.
And Brody's already touched on this quite extensively.
Live according to the gospel.
According to the gospel.
That nothing would hinder the work of the
gospel.
The spiritual discernment, who we serve.
The Lord Jesus, obedience.
Obedience.
Sometimes God doesn't give us what we want.
He gives us what we need.
He always gives us what we need.
He gives us probably every need.
But can we be honest today?
Do I really want to obey Him?
Some, there may be some here and it's
never crossed your mind.
That you profess to be saved and now
you've been saved for many years and you've
never shown any act of obedience really per
se, personally for the Lord Jesus.
If that's you here today, something's wrong.
I have no desire to please the Lord.
I have no desire to go on.
Just go with the flow.
And then the old brethren say any old
dead fish can go downstream.
But when the time comes and there's a
stand that needs to be taken, sooner or
later even, the Lord brings out the secret
disciples like Joseph of Arimathea.
What was it that brought Joseph out of
hiding?
It was the fact that as he waited
for the kingdom of God, the king had
been rejected.
And our king has been rejected.
And the Lord Jesus has been despised and
rejected of men.
Does it not stir an affection of love
and motivation for His honor to be obedient
unto Him?
His obedience.
Number 14, verse 14, it says, Do all
things without murmurings and disputings.
Be safe to say then, if we're murmuring
and grumbling and complaining about everything that we're
involved in that we're maybe not very spiritual
discerning.
Christians are great complainers, aren't we?
We really are.
We're good at it.
Because after all, we're justified in it, right?
We're only complaining about the sin of others,
by the way.
We're only complaining about the shortcomings of others.
And we're murmuring.
Children of Israel murmured against God.
I hope none of us are murmuring against
God.
Children of Israel, they murmured against God.
God had to move in judgment to correct
their thinking.
That's not out of the realm of possibilities
for us.
And if we are murmuring against God, maybe
we should pray that He would change our
thinking.
How many people do you know in this
world that aren't murmuring?
Everybody's complaining.
Everybody's murmuring.
You see why we're lights in the world?
How many happy people are there in this
world?
You folks here live in rural America.
And the farming communities are still somewhat friendly.
Somewhat friendly.
They're busy.
They don't have time for you.
But they're still somewhat friendly.
But I can tell you this.
You go to a metropolis somewhere, and you
go down the street, and you can't get
anybody to look at you, let alone smile
at you.
I was in Pennsylvania having breakfast.
There was some, I don't even remember what
it was.
It was gross.
They wanted to have me experience some Philadelphia
breakfast thing.
It was there, and the waitress was an
older lady.
And the brother who took me to this
place, he had to take a phone call.
And I was just being friendly.
I was being Midwest friendly to a Philadelphian.
And the brother comes back, and she says
to him, what's the matter with him?
Just being friendly.
Just being smiley.
Just not complaining.
Just being humble is spiritual discernment.
You know, it's a choice.
It's a choice.
And he was absolutely without murmuring, wasn't he?
As a lamb dumb.
As a sheep before his shears is dumb.
He opened not his mouth.
The bitterest agonies of the olive press of
Gethsemane, where he sweat as it were great
drops of blood.
He was still always in the will and
in the mind of God.
He didn't grumble.
He didn't murmur.
He didn't argue.
He's our example.
Last point, verse number 18.
It says, for the same cause also do
you joy and rejoice with me.
Joy and happiness, you know, are not the
same.
They are not the same.
There can be true joy and sorrow.
There can be true joy and suffering.
And oftentimes it is, in retrospect, the greatest
times in our lives of joy when suffering
was upon us and the Lord was near.
And for those of you that have gone
through those trials, some of you have said
that you wouldn't trade them for anything in
this world.
To know the nearness of the Father of
heaven.
How are we going to live in this
world?
How are we going to finish out our
days?
We need spiritual discernment.
We need the word of God.
We need each other.
We need the teachings of the doctrines of
the scriptures.
We need a clear conscience.
We need clean hands.
We need Christ.
Are you spiritually prepared today to be used
of God?
Are you discerning the call from his voice?
For spiritual discernment.
And Lord bless his word.