Well, sir, get your Bibles out. I'm a stickler
for the Word of God. Oh, do you want to know
something? There is no substitute for the Bible.
I mean that with all of my heart. When you realize
that every human being Adam to the last person
who will ever be born. From the very beginning
to the very end, every person one day will be
judged according to, thus saith the Lord, the
Bible. It makes it a mighty important book, believe
me. This is the very word of God. Men and women
need to get... Back to the Bible, to thus saith
the Lord. All right, get it out. And again, we
are continuing our little heart -to -heart talk
regarding the gifts of the Spirit. Today, we're
going to talk about the gift of the discerning
of spirits. The 12th chapter, 1 Corinthians,
and as the gifts of the Spirit. or named, we
have these words, to another discerning of spirits.
Now, this may seem to contradict what John teaches
in the fourth chapter of 1 John, when he tells
us to cry the spirits. This might seem to some
to be a contradiction. The matter of trying the
spirits and the matter of the discerning of spirits.
Now, there is a difference between trying the
spirits and discerning the spirits. They are
not the same. Know that. When John said, try
the spirits, He was not talking about the same
thing that Paul was talking about here in the
12th chapter of 1 Corinthians. The discerning
of the spirits. Believers are instructed to try
or to test the spirits. That's what John was
talking about. How are we to try the spirits?
How are we to test the spirit? to find out whether
it is the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ,
the Holy Spirit, or whether it is the spirit
of the evil one, whether it is demon power, whether
it is the wrong spirit. We're told to try the
spirit, to test the spirit. But how? We test.
the Spirit by the written, revealed, inspired
Word of God. Any spirit that operates contrary
to the Word of God is not of God. Always know
that. Do you really know how important the Bible
is? That's what's wrong. Many of us have gotten
so Far away from the Bible. We've gotten so far
away from the Word of God. So far away from the
teaching of Christ that we scarcely recognize
the Scripture. When we hear it taught, when we
read it, we need to come back again to the Bible.
And I don't care who you are, what church you
attend. Whether you're Protestant, whether you're
weak Orthodox, whether you're Catholic, whether
you're Jew, whether you're Gentile, humanity
needs to come back again to thus saith the Lord.
Come back again to the Bible. Yes, ma 'am. And
when John was talking about trying the spirits,
he was talking about believers. putting the Spirit
to the test, and to test them by the written,
the revealed, the inspired Word of God. This
gift that the Holy Spirit gives, this wonderful
gift that's mentioned here in the 12th chapter
of 1 Corinthians, is something different entirely.
The gift of discerning spirits. I want you to
know something. It is not natural judgment. Some
people are just born with a natural sensibility.
They just naturally sense certain things. It's
a natural intuitiveness. But that which is spoken
of in the Word of God is not natural judgment
that some people have. It's not merely having
the supposed ability to detect demon power in
people. I really believe that any born -again,
spirit -filled person can detect demon power.
It is something that when you are sensitive to
the spirit, when you are filled with the spirit,
you can just naturally detect, sense demon power.
No. That's not what is involved here in the discerning
of spirits. And then, you know, I've seen a couple
old sisters in my lifetime who were dead sure
that they had the gift of discernment, and all
on earth they had was the gift of judging, and
they were awful good at that. At least they thought
they were. Oh! You know, they really went in
where angels feared to tread. They judged their
neighbors. They judged everybody in the church.
Oh, you got them in your church, too. Don't sit
there. You know, in your own church, in your
own assembly, you have some dear sister who's
dead sure she's got the gift of discernment.
She can tell you everybody in church who's demon
-possessed. She can tell you what's wrong with
everybody in the assembly because she professes
to have the gift of discernment. Forget it. All
on earth that she has is just a spirit of judging.
That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. And it
is not of the Holy Spirit. Let's get right down
now to what this discerning of spirits really
is. How should one define the gift of the discerning
of spirits? And I think I can best give the answer
in just these few words. We might say that the
discerning of spirits is a gift of the Holy Spirit
is enabled to see into the spirit world. Lot
saw something that those around him did not see.
Oh, I just love this portion of the Word of God.
I think I have never owned a Bible, but what
I've had this portion of the Word of God march.
with a red pencil. Just for my own satisfaction,
I read it ever so often. The 19th chapter of
Genesis. And you will remember that when I had
a previous series of messages on angels, I read
this portion of the Word of God to you. You can
see how real angels are. Oh, believe me. Angels
are real in my life. And when David said he shall
give his angels charge over you, he meant exactly
that. This very hour, I believe that out there
on the battlefield, there are legions of angels
who are protecting. Our boys. That mother's son.
Listen, precious mother, you have not prayed
in vain. Precious little grandmother out there,
and I feel sorry for the boy who does not have
a godly mother or a godly father or a precious
old -fashioned grandmother or some saint of God
who's praying for him. given to individuals is
the power of prayer. And he has literally tens
of thousands of thousands of angels who guard,
who protect, who care for the children of God.
Little do I know, little do you know how near
we have come to danger. had it not been for the
protection of the angel, the Lord. That's scripture.
That's the word of God. And yet, I have never
seen an angel. I can tell you that I have really
seen an angel. But there's one who has. I wish
right now I could bring him and say, sit down,
Mr. Lott. Sit down by my side. Tell me all about
that wonderful experience. When you were the
possessor of that wonderful gift whereby you
were enabled to see into the spirit world. This
is what he saw. And there came two angels to
Sodom it even, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom.
And Lot, seeing them, rose up to meet them. And
he bowed himself with his face toward the ground,
and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I
pray you. into your servant's house, and carry
all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise
up early, and go on your way. And they said,
Nay, but we will abide in the street all night.
And he pressed upon them greatly, and they turned
in unto him, entered into his house, and he made
them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread,
And they did each. I do not believe that anyone
else saw what Lot saw. But he had been given
that wonderful gift, which enabled him to see
into the spirit world. These were angels. Angels
with bodies. And angels... are just as real in
your life and just as real in my life as they
were in the life of Lot. Only he was given a
gift whereby he could see into the spirit world
and he saw them. I do not believe that anyone
else around him saw what Lot saw. When an angel
appears in the presence of a number of God's
people in spirit form, Only those who have the
gift of the discerning of spirits will see the
angels. Ezekiel saw the overwhelming revelation
of the glory of the Lord. What the cherubim beneath
the throne, no one else saw. No one else saw
what Ezekiel saw. Later, while Ezekiel was sitting
in his house, elders of Israel before him, he
was carried away in the Spirit to Jerusalem.
And he saw the things that were taking place
in that city. The Holy Spirit had given him a
gift whereby he could see the things that were
taking place in that city. Read it. It's in the
37th chapter of Ezekiel. No one else around him
saw it. One of the greatest things, and oh, they're
just portions of the word that mean an awful
lot to me. It's all wonderful, of course. But
there's something about the seventh chapter of
Acts. It's the stoning of Stephen. Let me read
it to you. For, beloved, this is one of the greatest
examples of that which I am trying to say to
you. And the best way that I can express it is
just letting the word of God speak. And when
they heard these things, they were cut to the
heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, And remember
something. This is just before his martyrdom.
He was standing in the council. He was not on
the streets. He was not at this moment being
stoned. He was not dying at this moment, as some
would have you think. Some would have you believe
that he was in a coma. Some would have you believe
that he was dying. He had all of his senses.
It was as he stood in the council and he, being
full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly
into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus
standing on the right hand of God and said, behold,
I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God. Then they cried out
with a loud voice and stopped their ears and
ran upon him with one cord and cast him out of
the city and stoned him. But remember something.
God gave him that glorious gift of revelation.
That glorious gift of looking into the spirit
world before a stone ever touched his body. Oh,
that's thrilling. And I do not believe that there
was one in that council who saw what he saw.
Not one. Even that man nearest him saw. what
he saw. Let me ask the question and answer it
again. How should one define the gift of the
discerning of the spirits? We might say that
the discerning of spirits is a gift of the Holy
Spirit to an individual. to a person by which
the possessor is enabled to see into the spirit
world. Remember, over and over this gift was
exercised by Jesus. In the 10th chapter of Luke,
the scripture says, he saw Satan as lightning.
fall from heaven. That's the word of God. Amen.