This is the Age of Information. However, not all of that information follows what God wants disciples of Christ to believe. This daily devotional looks at spiritual discernment and how we must tell the difference between right and wrong and not let the worldview perspective to knock us off the narrow path.
Nuggets
- We have to know obedience from sin.
- What the scientific false teachers are trying to tell us is that we only have to be concerned with what we see and do.
- Science has several laws that tell us what always happens under certain conditions – until science meets miracles.
- The scientific false teachers want to tell us that prayer means nothing.
- Disciples are told to pursue knowledge.
- We are not to follow the world’s attempts to figure out how God does what He does.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Vincent had a lot to say about discernment. He wrote, “Again, time ought to develop faith in the sense of spiritual discernment — clearer perception of the things [of] the unseen world. It is not strange if a young Christian simply believes in the things which are not seen. It is strange if the older Christian does not feel the power of the world to come.”
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That makes discernment very important to disciples. It is tied up in growing our faith.
Devotions in the How to Discern the Voice of God series
What Is Spiritual Discernment?
Spiritual Discernment of the True and not So True
Let's Put It into Context #1
Okay. We have to get this out of the way first. Morgan called false teachers those who “… are the ministers of the Word, whether they write or preach it.”
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I agree and disagree with that definition. I think false teachers can be more than just ministers of the Word.
It may have been true in Paul’s day that the false teachers limited themselves to teaching within the new church. They were trying to get the new converts to switch back to old ways.
I think false teachers today come in many different shapes and sizes. Oh, yes. There may be the wolves in the hen house these days trying to get disciples to compromise their beliefs.
I think the hen house knows no door now. I think there are false teachers in the world who are attempting to tear down the church from the outside as well as the inside. We must test many things that so-called experts tell us.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Discernment means we can evaluate the situation and recognize right from wrong. Applying that would mean that we gauge a situation and know how God would like us to act.
That is what discernment is, but we can’t just leave it at that. It isn’t just about doing what is right or wrong.
Disciples of Christ aren’t called just so we can act a certain way. Yes, we are to be different from the world. We are called to be obedient to God’s commandments.
It isn’t an academic knowledge of reality and existence. It isn’t just a head knowledge of Who God is and what He has done.
Most importantly, we are called to know God. Alexander put it this way. He wrote, “The Bible was not given to teach men philosophy, or the arts which have respect to this life; its object is to teach the true knowledge of God, and the true and only method of salvation.”
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It is knowing, believing, and submitting to God so that we can secure salvation. Salvation is deliverance from evil and the consequences of sins to replace them with eternal life and good.
God isn’t into a works-based salvation. He wants us to change our character to be more like His.
So, how do we do this? We are going to walk through Alexander’s sermon to see what we can mine from it. The purple headings are going to be his words.
The truths of God’s Word must be carefully distinguished from error.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I Jn. 4: 1 ESV)
Okay. That means we have to know right from wrong. In God talk, we have to know obedience from sin.
Obedience means to hear and carry out the instructions that God gives us. Sin is actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
Maclaren told us why we need discernment. He wrote that, in order to grow in godliness, we need to discern between good and evil. It is difficult as the world isn’t what it seems, and Satan tries to blind us.
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Yeah, we need all the help we can get.
It is easy to judge other people — which we shouldn’t do. What we should do is judge spirits to make sure they are not false teachers.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
How do we judge or try a spirit? Ferguson said it was different than trying a person. Instead, it is trying a principle.
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Ferguson warned of scientific false prophets, leading people astray in the interpretation of nature. He brought out three talking points of scientific false prophets. The blue headings are his words.
Nature at least in relation to this present life is supreme
What the scientific false teachers are trying to tell us is that we only have to be concerned with what we see and do. We are in control of the earth.
The best example of this is the discussion on climate change. They point to “… loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves” as evidence that the amount of greenhouse gases has increased. The greenhouse gases, which includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluoridated gases, cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere. They contend that we created the greenhouse gases.
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Do things we do damage the earth? Yes.
Is the earth going to be destroyed by what we do? No.
Yet, the scientific false teachers say themselves that the “Earth’s climate is changing at a pace and in a pattern not explainable by natural influences.” They want us to think the unnatural influences are what we cause.
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They refuse to acknowledge the supernatural influence: God. Jesus said that there would be signs of the end times.
- “You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (Mt. 24: 6-7 CSB).
- “People will faint from fear and expectation of the things that are coming on the world, because the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Lk. 21: 26 CSB).
Life as we know it might be altered. It is because of the results of sin. The earth was cursed when God was handing out punishment from the original sin: “… cursed is the ground for thy sake …” (Gen. 3: 17 KJV).
Glossary
God has not given control of the earth to humans. He firmly keeps His hand in control.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Natural or physical law is absolutely uniform or unbending, and has been so since the creation of the universe
Science has several laws. A middle school physical science textbook states “a scientific law is a statement describing what always happens under certain conditions.”
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Always. Nothing else is going to happen.
Until Jesus calms the sea (Mt. 8: 23–27, Mk. 4: 35–41, and Lk. 8: 22–25). Until Jesus turns water into wine (Jn. 2: 1-11). Until Jesus is raised from the dead (Mt. 28; Mk. 16; Lk. 24; Jn. 20).
Science, meet miracles. They do happen.
God is in control. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1: 37 ESV). He can make the impossible happen.
The human race is to be elevated, regenerated, or truly developed from the basis of nature, and in accordance merely with natural laws
To the scientific false teachers, it is all about obeying the laws of nature. Those who study them and do are wise and will succeed in a good life on this earth.
The scientific false teachers want to tell us that prayer means nothing. They contend there is no god capable of changing the laws of nature.
Are they going to be in for a rude awakening!!!
Ferguson didn’t mince words. He wrote, “When the plague comes this spirit declares that prayer is useless, and that the only thing that can save us is to perfect our sanitary arrangements. This is a spirit of antichrist, for it is the denial of a moral government in the Scriptural sense of the word.
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We know this is important. A sign of the end times is the rise of false teachers.
To read a devotion in the How Do We Know Until We Know series, click the button below.
But it is necessary to divide the truth not only from error, but from philosophy, and mere human opinions and speculations.
“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2: 8 ESV)
Let’s get a more in-depth definition of philosophy. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, philosophy is “pursuit of wisdom” and “the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group.”
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Okay, putting that together with what we already said, philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge regarding reality and existence to form basic beliefs and attitudes.
Paul wasn’t knocking philosophy. Disciples are told to pursue knowledge. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ …” (II Pet. 3: 18 KJV).
Sometimes, we need help to interpret what we are reading. Davenant wrote, “Although the principles of our religion are derived from God, yet there are many examples and illustrations which cannot be understood without the aid of human literature. Its references to the heavenly bodies require the knowledge of astronomy; to animals, of natural history, etc.”
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What Paul is telling us is to not follow the world’s attempts to figure out how God does what He does. Our knowledge and ability to understand only go so far.
We aren’t on God’s level. We will only partially figure things out at best.
How is it going to take us captive? It will make us sin.
- Our faith will decrease.
- We will stop seeking God.
- We will rely on ourselves and other humans to explain things and tell us how to think, feel, and react.
Davenant warned us that philosophy should not creep into our worship of God. He wrote, “Philosophy is to be listened to when it pronounces about things subject to itself, but when it would determine concerning the worship of God and salvation, etc., which are beyond the grasp of reason and depend wholly on revelation, it brings nothing solid or true.”
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Making the Connections
We know governments of this world are necessary. Ferguson wrote, “In as far as the kingdoms of the world are necessary to maintain order, to suppress violence, and repel invasion, they are the ordinance of God, but in so far as they perpetuate injustice and wrong, of course they cannot be of God …”
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We know we do not want to follow the Antichrist. We don’t want to get knocked off the narrow way.
Glossary
These false teachers can disseminate their information through a variety of means, and they don’t have to be scientists. Books, television, podcasts — the platforms these days are limitless. They could be a politician or a social expert.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
It boils down to us evaluating what is being presented to us based on what God says in His Word and tells us through His Spirit.
How Do We Apply This?
“Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments” (Ps. 119: 66 NASB)
Discernment can only come from God. He through His Spirit is to be our Teacher.
We have to prayerfully consider what information is coming our way. We have to keep our faith in God. Faith is the belief that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
We have to compare the knowledge presented to us to what God’s Word says. We have to remain obedient to His laws and commandments.
Father God. We want to follow You. We do not want to be pulled from You by the worldview. Help us to not be caught in its lies. May we always focus on growing in grace and knowledge of You. Amen.
What do you think?
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