'And to Be Desired to Make One wise.'
The sermon highlights the dangers of worldly wisdom and the importance of seeking God's will.
Andrew Murray emphasizes that humanity's spiritual nature is designed to know and enjoy God, yet it often seeks wisdom in the world instead. This pursuit leads to a reliance on worldly reasoning, which becomes an obstacle to experiencing God's love and fosters pride. He illustrates this struggle through the temptations faced by Jesus, highlighting the dangers of self-sufficiency, materialism, and pride. Ultimately, Murray calls for a return to seeking divine wisdom rather than worldly knowledge.
Text
'And to be desired to make one wise.' Man has a spirit capable of knowing and enjoying God. That spiritual nature was turned to the world to seek in it and its wisdom the knowledge of good and evil. And so the wisdom of this world, with its boasted reasoning about God and good, has become the great enemy of the love of God, and the chief source of that pride of life in which men content themselves without God.
In our Lord's temptations we have exactly the same three tendencies illustrated. First came the satisfying of the bodily hunger by his own power without waiting for God's will.
Then there was the lust-of-the eyes temptation in the kingdoms of the world shown to him.
And then the appeal to the pride of life in the call to prove himself the son of God.
(Excerpted from The Coming Revival, by Andrew Murray , pg. 29).
Sermon Outline
- The Human Spirit's Capabilities
- Man has a spirit capable of knowing and enjoying God
- This spirit was turned to the world for knowledge and wisdom
Key Quotes
“The wisdom of this world, with its boasted reasoning about God and good, has become the great enemy of the love of God, and the chief source of that pride of life in which men content themselves without God.” — Andrew Murray
Application Points
- We must be careful not to seek wisdom and knowledge from the world, but rather from God.
- Pride of life can be a major obstacle to our relationship with God.
- We must seek to know and enjoy God through our spiritual nature.