Spiritual Discernment

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

“For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18

TEXT VERSE: 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

I want to point out to you over in 1 corinthians 2:14 that there is a natural man and there is a spiritual man. Meaning that if you’ve never been saved by the grace of God that you’re still in the natural. There’s only one thing that I have found that we can get from God while in the flesh and that’s Salvation. Paul said I knew the Lord one time in the flesh and after I knew him that one time, I didn’t know him anymore in the flesh. Because now I know he’s a Spirit. Paul was birthed into the family of God on the road to Damascus and he became a spiritual man. You can work all you want to and you can come to the house of God all you want to and you can do all things you want to in the flesh; but it will not feed you spiritually in the flesh. If you want to get blessings from God tonight, the Bible says that God is a spirit and you must worship God in Spirit and in truth. The Bible says that the flesh will profit you nothing tonight. I want to preach a message I don’t believe I’ve ever had the opportunity to preach. I want to preach on spiritual discernment.

Now let me share these verses. Romans 8:6-8 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

I want to please God not only tonight but everyday and that’s what I think you need to have. Now listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 16:2-3 “When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky: but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”

Beloved, we have the wrong thing on our minds. We need some spiritual discernment in our spiritual minds and not in our natural mind. We need to always have Jesus on our heart, our mind, our lips, our walk, and in our talk. There’s too many Christians today living after the old natural man. Trying to please self. Trying to please the devil. Trying to please sin. The Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. You’ve got to get absent from the body and get present with the Lord tonight.

I want to show you what Spiritual Discernment is. A lot of Christians don’t know. I’ll go as far as to say that a lot of preachers don’t know. They can get up in the flesh and get in God’s way. If you’re going to preach the gospel, Paul says you better live the gospel. I want to show you some things on how Jesus used spiritual discernment and I want to apply it to your life. If it’s good enough for Jesus to do it then it’s good enough for us to do it.

NUMBER ONE: Turn to John 13:1 “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” Now, I want you to notice what I noticed in this verse. I want you to notice what Jesus knew. He knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world. If that’s not spiritual discernment, I don’t know what is. Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world! Now don’t you be mistaken, we’re not Jesus. We can be a lot like him, but we’re not him.