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Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.
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Sermon Summary
Andrew Murray addresses the pressing question of why the church has failed to embody God's love as Christ did, emphasizing the need for complete devotion to God's Word. He acknowledges human weakness but argues that it is often underestimated, leading to a lack of reliance on the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Murray asserts that the church's low state stems from a misunderstanding of God's commands and promises, which are often interpreted in a limited human sense rather than their intended divine power. He calls for a deeper pursuit of God's Spirit to realize the grace and devotion that God desires from His children.
The Question Will Be Asked: How Is It, if God…
The question will be asked, and it is most needful and natural that it should be asked: How is it, if God really meant his children thus to bring his love to their fellowmen in the way Christ brought it, by living and dying for it, how is it that the church has failed so terribly? Does God’s Word actually teach and claim such entire devotion? Is it indeed an attainable degree of grace, a state that can actually be realized? Or must we not take into account the weakness of human nature, and consider the present state of the church as about all that could really be expected? We must indeed take into account the weakness of human nature. But only in a much greater degree than is usually done. It must be seen that human weakness is such utter impotence that it makes the life of God on earth an utter impossibility except as the supernatural power of the working of God’s Spirit is waited on and experienced. And if the question be again asked how it is, if the declarations of God’s Word are so plain, that this power of God’s Spirit is not more sought and known, the answer leads us again to what we have called the root evil of the low state of the church. It is because God’s wonderful commands and promises are all understood and accepted in a certain human sense, and not in their divine quickening meaning and power. (Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 61)
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Andrew Murray (1828 - 1917). South African pastor, author, and revivalist born in Graaff-Reinet, Cape Colony, to Dutch Reformed missionary parents. Sent to Scotland at 10, he studied at Aberdeen University and Utrecht, Netherlands, returning ordained in 1848. He pastored in Bloemfontein and Worcester, later moderating the Dutch Reformed Church’s Cape Synod. In 1860, he sparked a revival in the Orange Free State, preaching to thousands across racial lines despite apartheid’s rise. Murray wrote over 240 books, including Abide in Christ (1882) and With Christ in the School of Prayer, translated into dozens of languages. His emphasis on holiness, prayer, and divine healing influenced global Pentecostalism. Married to Emma Rutherford in 1856, they had eight children, four becoming missionaries. He founded theological seminaries and the Huguenot College for women. Despite chronic illness, he traveled to Europe and America, speaking at Keswick Conventions. His devotional works remain widely read, shaping Christian spirituality across denominations.