"You
can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not
discern this time? Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge
what is right?"
Luke 12:56-57
"...do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God."
Romans 12:2
"Therefore be
wise as serpents and harmless as doves."
Matthew 10:16
"For you
were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as
children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is
acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with
the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."
Ephesians 5:8-11
"Be sober,
be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about
like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him,
steadfast in the faith...." I Peter
5:8-9
"...everyone who
partakes only of milk [elementary teaching] is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for
he is a babe. But solid food [solid Biblical teaching] belongs to those who are of full
age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil."
Hebrews 5:12-14
Only by His
Spirit can we discern what right or wrong
"...as it is written:
'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart
of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'
But God has revealed them to us
through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep
things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of
the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the
Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely
given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s
wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches...."
1 Corinthian
2:9-13
"For the
message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written:
'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of
the prudent.'
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not
know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message
preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and
Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the
Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to
those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthian1:18-24
"For the
word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from
His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to
whom we must give account."
Hebrews
4:12
The world
cannot discern God's will or standards
"...the
natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned."
1
Corinthian2:13
"You know how to
discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the
times. "
Matthew
16:3
"You love evil more
than good...."
Psalm 52:3
"...many false
prophets will rise up and deceive many." Matthew
24:11
"...in
latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to
deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons...."
1 Timothy 4:1
"Woe to those who
call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light,
and light for darkness.... Woe to those who are wise in their
own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
Isaiah
5:20-21
"They refuse to
return.
I listened and heard, but they do not speak aright.
No man repented
of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I
done?’
Everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the
battle.
Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times;
And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of
their coming.
But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.
How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’?
Look,
the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood."
Jeremiah 8:5-8
"The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know
it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man
according to his ways...."
Jeremiah 17:9-10
"My people have
committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living
waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no
water."
Jeremiah 2:13
"... to the wicked God
says: 'What right
have you to declare My statutes or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction
and cast My words behind you? ... You thought that I was
altogether like you; but I will rebuke you....'"
Psalm
50:16-21
God-given
discernment leads to Spirit-led action
"As you
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted
and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught,
abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware
lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit,
according to the tradition of men, according to the basic
principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
Colossians
2:6-8
"Preach the word!
Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke,
exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears,
they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn
their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
But you be watchful in all things..." 2
Timothy 4:2-5
"My son,
if you receive my words,
and treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for
understanding,
If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of
God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and
understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly."
Proverbs 2:1-7
"Folly is joy to him who is
destitute of discernment,
But a man of understanding walks uprightly." Proverbs 15:21
"And this I pray,
that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge
and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are
excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of
Christ."
Philippians 1:9-10
See also
See also
God's
eternal, unchanging Word
and
My High Tower: Seeing the
world from His perspective